"General knowledge" is the body of facts that most people know and are assumed to know. But how general is it? How does it change over time?
A lovely little study from Kent State University has revealed how American students in 2012 performed on a comprehensive test of general knowledge that was developed in 1980. By comparing the results on each question with the original scores from college students three decades ago, the changes in knowledge were made clear. Here's the paper: General knowledge norms: Updated and expanded from the Nelson and Narens (1980) norms A lot of the changes were unsurprising. Many of the questions concern 1970s pop culture and it's to be expected that no-one know them today. However, other results are more interesting. Knowledge of hockey has increased: out of 300 items, a question whose answer is "puck" used to be #16 from the top in terms ...
