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This article first appeared in issue 16 of our free digital magazine. Full of curiosity.
In the popular imagination, IQ is considered the gold standard for measuring intelligence, the perfect measure of a person’s brain power. But not everyone is completely sold on the promise.
Some argue that it risks becoming reductive and fails to account for the rich diversity of the human mind. Conversations about IQ also tend to reek of pseudoscience. At worst, IQ scores can and have been used as weapons by racist ideologies to spread hatred and discrimination. So, are there any benefits to IQ scores?
What is IQ score?
IQ tests changed the world, but they had humble beginnings. Its origins can be traced back to 1905, when psychologists Alfred Binet and Théodore Simon designed a test to find out which French schoolchildren needed additional support with their studies. .
The children’s performance in three key skills – verbal reasoning, working memory, and visual-spatial skills – was assessed against their peers, and their abilities were quantified based on this.
Although this became the basis for modern intelligence tests, it was not until 1912 that the term IQ (for intelligence quotient) was coined by German psychologist and philosopher William Stern.
Modern IQ tests are based on similar principles to those administered to French children about 120 years ago. People are assessed on specific cognitive skills, such as verbal reasoning, working memory, and visual-spatial skills, and their performance is compared to a representative sample of the population.
The average IQ score is set at 100, with approximately half of those tested having scores above 100 and half having scores below 100. It also has a standard deviation of 15 points, with approximately two-thirds of all test takers receiving a score between 85 and 85. 115. Classifications vary, but anything above 120 is generally considered “very high” or “excellent” and below 80 is called “very poor” or “borderline failure.”
What can you actually learn from IQ scores?
Countless studies have attempted to relate IQ scores to all sorts of things. One commonly seen relationship is that people with higher IQ scores tend to have more success in professional fields. Some studies suggest that people with higher IQs tend to be more likely to perform well in school, have successful careers, and enjoy financial comfort.
Some former US presidents have repeatedly downplayed the IQs of their rivals while boasting about their own IQs without providing any evidence for their claims.
However, this association has not been found in other studies. Another study found that regardless of differences in apparent intelligence, people with better rational thinking skills were less likely to experience negative life events, such as racking up large credit card debts, unplanned pregnancies, or being suspended from school. It was found that there was a tendency for the number to be significantly lower.
Similarly, many manifestations of raw brain power, such as creativity, emotional intelligence, and practical technical skills, may not be accounted for in standardized intelligence tests.
Just a few years ago, scientists at University College London identified that young people’s general decision-making abilities are particularly strong among young people who have strong social relationships among their peers. Interestingly, however, there was no relationship between participants’ IQ and this apparent display of social intelligence.
This begs the question: can human intelligence be reduced to a single number?
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This is a very simple idea, but it can encourage unscientific claims. At the most superficial level, the alluring promise of tell-all intelligence scores can attract pseudoscience like hornets to a picnic.
For example, Leonardo da Vinci is said to have had an amazing IQ score between 180 and 220. There is little doubt that this quintessential “Renaissance man” truly possessed an astonishing intellect, but how can anyone come to any firm conclusions about his IQ? Unknown. He sits down and takes the test.
IQ scores have also been used as empty rhetorical weapons. Some former US presidents have repeatedly downplayed the IQs of their rivals while boasting about their own IQs without providing any evidence for their claims.
The ambiguous story behind IQ
One of the first instances in which IQ-like tests were widely adopted was during World War I selection for the U.S. military. To determine which recruits would be assigned which tasks, they were given an intelligence test devised by psychologist Robert Yerkes. He later became a major figure in the eugenics movement.
Approximately 1.7 million men were tested, and researchers obtained vast amounts of data detailing intelligence and demographics. To some scholars who perused the results, this seemed to prove some truth. That is, intelligence is genetic and innate, and precisely it can be reduced to one number.
Due to the rampant prejudices of the time (the United States was still 50 years away from eradicating Jim Crow laws) and nationalism, this discovery quickly became embroiled in many ugly debates about race. This result was hijacked by eugenicists, who made misleading claims that certain racial groups, namely black people, were fundamentally less intelligent. They do not take into account the wealth of environmental factors that may explain within-group differences, much less the fact that many of the recruits tested were first-generation immigrants who did not speak English as their first language. This fact was not taken into account.
According to their hypothesis, your financial income, job performance, and likelihood of crime could all be predicted by your IQ.
Race and IQ were falsely linked and used to promote eugenics policies aimed at improving the genetic resources of the United States. Yerkes himself, the inventor of the so-called Army Alpha Test, once said, “As a nation, we cannot afford to ignore the threat of racial degradation.”
This idea proved difficult to kill. It has been bubbling beneath the surface of American society for two decades.th The book’s publication in 1994 sparked a major scandal. The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life By psychologist Richard J. Herrnstein and political scientist Charles Murray.
The basic premise of the book was that IQ has a greater impact on people’s personal outcomes in life than their socio-economic status. According to their hypothesis, your financial income, job performance, and likelihood of crime could all be predicted by your IQ.
Academics and journalists alike have excoriated the book’s findings, claiming that its arguments are ill-founded, full of errors, and reek of social Darwinism.
nature and nurture
Since then, many people have objected to the dangerous suggestion that genetics and race can be used as reliable predictors of intellectual ability, pointing out that many analyzes do not take environmental factors into account. There is.
Rather than looking at race alone, which itself is a nebulous and socially constructed concept, it is much more accurate to understand it through the lens of social deprivation and poverty. Racial minorities often belong to marginalized communities with poor access to health care and education and a high risk of discrimination and violence. When these environmental factors are properly accounted for or removed, large differences in IQ disappear.
It’s not hard to find real-world evidence to support this argument. In 1984, researcher James Flynn made a groundbreaking observation. IQ scores rose rapidly from his 1930s to the end of the 20th century.th century. The difference in IQ points per decade ranges from 3 to 5, corresponding to an average increase of 13.8 IQ points in just 46 years.
This leap forward is too rapid to be explained in evolutionary terms, but it is consistent with broader social and environmental trends, including improved nutrition, fewer infectious diseases, improved education, and rising standards of living.
This pattern can be seen even in developing countries today, where researchers have found that IQ points rise rapidly as countries become richer and provide more welfare to their people.
History has shown that IQ scores and general intelligence tests can fall into the wrong hands and be used to reinforce prejudice. This is at risk of happening again in an increasingly polarized world. But dig a little deeper and you’ll find that these ideas contain far more promising and less fatalistic lessons for the world. Simply put, a better life produces a better brain. If we spend our energy enriching the lives of many people rather than sowing division, humanity’s collective wisdom could flourish and benefit us all.
curios magazine A digital magazine published by IFLScience featuring interviews, experts, in-depth research, interesting facts, news, book excerpts, and more. Issue 19 has been published.
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