Abstract
The hypothesis that best explains the Flynn effect is the “rising tide” hypothesis: as public health, in general, improves, children become healthier and better able to demonstrate their innate intellectual ability. Improved health leads to improved mental acuity; if a child is not riven with chronic diarrhea, he will be better able to focus, better able to think, and better able to learn. There is a simple truth here: what is good for the body is good for the brain. Physical health and intellectual health are inseparable; if a child is physically stunted, he will be cognitively stunted as well [1]. However, there is a larger truth here: any intervention that is good for children is good for society, since children are society’s most precious resource.
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Steen, R.G. (2010). Increasing IQ and Social Justice. In: Human Intelligence and Medical Illness. The Springer Series on Human Exceptionality. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0092-0_13
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