The g beyond Spearmanʹs g: Flynnʹs paradoxes resolved using four exploratory meta-analyses

When IQ tests are ranked by the magnitude of their score gains over time, this hierarchy lacks a positive correlation with the same tests ranked by their g loadings. Therefore, Jensen declared IQ gains “hollow” and, by implication, extended this judgment to score gains that indicated that blacks had made IQ gains on whites. We offer four exploratory meta-analyses that apply Jensenʹs method to the subtest score differences between normal subjects and those suffering from certain afflictions: iodine deficiency (K = 6, N = 196), prenatal cocaine exposure (K = 2, N = 215), fetal alcohol syndrome and degree of fetal alcohol syndrome (respectively, K = 1, N = 110; and K = 3, N = 125), and traumatic brain injury (K = 14, N = 629). All of these create a substantial cognitive deficit in those afflicted. However, the correlations between subtest score differences and g loadings run from − 0.23 to + 0.12, with an unweighted average of 0.00.