Consideration of cognitive variance components potentially solves Beauchamp’s paradox

Beauchamp (1) presents a paradox: There is genetic selection favoring reduced time spent in education, or educational attainment, among the contemporary population of the United States, amounting to an expected decline of 1.5 mo per generation. Despite this finding, the average time spent in education among this population has increased by 24 mo per generation (1). This paradox is analogous to the one that confronted psychologists when it was discovered that the total-scores obtained from intelligence tests (IQ) were rising sharply (this being the Flynn effect), rather than falling over generations, as predicted by negative associations between IQ and fertility (2). Beauchamp treats educational … [↵][1]1Email: Michael.Woodley{at}vub.ac.be. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1