A High IQ and why sometimes it doesn't do you a damn bit of good.

Randomly googled an IQ test

The first question was

1.Which one of the five is least like the other four?
Dog Mouse Lion Snake Elephant

It could be dog, because it has the least letters.
It could be snake, because it's the only reptile.
It could be elephant, because it's giant compared to the others.
There's no right answer on this one.
If you think the way the people who made the test do = You're intelligent
You think another way = You're stupid
I'm not trying to be funny, it's true.

This is some random free test on the internet, I don't know if the real IQ tests are like that.

I still think that IQ sucks :D
 
NeverAmI said:
In my personal experiences, I have found that people skills are vastly more beneficial than high IQ 90% of the time.
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:nod: I'm pretty much of the same opinion.

Not only that, but IQ is specific only to certain types of environments and roles. It'll do wonders in some situations, count only partially in others, and be worth absolutely squat in yet other sets of circumstances. It's a wonder that it's valued so strongly by society.

A more complete (although not necessarily exclusive) picture:

- IQ
- Wisdom
- Common sense
- Street smarts
- EQ
- Social skills (if not considered part of EQ)

I'm not sure whether I consider the following to be a component of EQ, but I think they're also relevant:

- Self-awareness
- Curiosity
- Resourcefulness
- A desire to learn (lifelong learning across all domains of life, not only academic learning)
- Open-mindedness
- Adaptability
- Perseverance
- Self-confidence
- Support/resources

These qualities are more important in some realms than they are in others, but generally speaking, they are vital toward success in various spheres of life. IQ is only one piece of a greater puzzle.
 
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arbygil said:
She has a bit of a point, though, [MENTION=947]aeon[/MENTION]. The earlier IQ test creators did so for a specific purpose, and it wasn't 100% pure.
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I agree she had a point. I thought that point was in error.

arbygil said:
This PBS transcript goes into a bit of it (it starts with SAT knowledge):http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/sats/interviews/lemann.html
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Yes, and the information in this article would refute her statements.

arbygil said:
And this is another article about it: http://www.fairtest.org/racism-eugenics-and-testing-again.
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This speaks to how testing of intelligence has been (ab)used, but it doesn't support her assertion.

arbygil said:
The book, "The Bell Curve" also speaks a lot to racism and IQ tests. There's evidence to support that IQ tests aren't the innocuous tests they seem.
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Who thinks they are innocuous? I don't, at least as it concerns how the results are used, and indeed, it has been used for all manner of things I do not value.

arbygil said:
Here's another good skeptic's article, with references at the conclusion: http://www.skepdic.com/iqrace.html
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Again, this speaks to how testing of intelligence has been (ab)used, for purposes racial and otherwise, but it doesn't support her assertion whatsoever.

arbygil said:
(I had to add one more, since this one was so interesting: http://www.udel.edu/educ/gottfredson/30years/Nisbett-commentary-on-30years.pdf)
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That was interesting, thanks for the link. I don't think it speaks to her assertion though.


cheers,
Ian
 
aeon said:
I agree she had a point. I thought that point was in error.



Yes, and the information in this article would refute her statements.



This speaks to how testing of intelligence has been (ab)used, but it doesn't support her assertion.



Who thinks they are innocuous? I don't, at least as it concerns how the results are used, and indeed, it has been used for all manner of things I do not value.



Again, this speaks to how testing of intelligence has been (ab)used, for purposes racial and otherwise, but it doesn't support her assertion whatsoever.



That was interesting, thanks for the link. I don't think it speaks to her assertion though.


cheers,
Ian
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I didn't say she was 100% right; more I was saying she had a small point. Her direct claims were on the off-side but, she did have a point in what she was saying, that the IQ tests weren't necessarily created altruistically.

In other words I can see where she got her reasoning, and I can't say her reasoning is without merit. It's not baseless. It's not 100% sound, but it has value.
 
Personally, I've not had much problems in spite of my IQ. I think I'm lucky. My IQ ranges between 135-145, from the different tests I've done over the years.

I first was identified with "high IQ" when I was 9, in a nationwide test. After they identified each one of us as "the top 1% of the cohort", we were invited to join a Gifted Education Program, which is pretty much like AP or CP classes. This programme changed my entire life. I would not be the way I am today, something I like about myself, if not for that programme. I spent my entire childhood dreaming in classes because I found the material really easy, to the extent that on my own, I was doing Maths and English three years ahead of the syllabus, and was still scoring close to 100% on each test. Joining this program challenged me more and developed my thinking to the way it was today.

But the best part about this programme was getting to mix with people who understood me. I knew what others meant when they said things, and they knew what I meant when I said something. We felt understood, and we had teachers who nurtured us to stretch the limits of our thought and our maturity of thought. This made a huge difference - by the end of the three year programme, we were (well, at least in my opinion) not only more developed thinkers, but also more mature thinkers. I think, if I was never identified into this program, I'd be a lot less mature, a lot more judgmental of people, hold more stereotypes of the way people are.. etc.

Of course, IQ doesn't mean you'll be good at what you do or hardworking or mature or wise. All of that are vastly more important than IQ.

I guess the crux of the matter isn't about IQ and whether IQ is good or bad. IQ is a tool. How people use that tool is a different thing. It's like fire. You don't hate fire for burning down the building, you hate the arsonist. For me, IQ turned out to be used really well. The OP really got screwed over by IQ and IQ tests... which isn't good. What we should consider is using IQ to help the individual first, before helping society. Otherwise it'll be counterproductive, like in the case of the OP.
 
Mine is 132. People say I'm bright, but I don't think the number means jack s*$%. Probably a better indicator of success is how well and how quickly you adjust to your surroundings. Your comment about clinging to sanity in a crowded high school definitely struck a chord though. I think I'd shoot myself right in the face if I had to do that over again.:mhula:
 
Majesty said:
Randomly googled an IQ test

The first question was

1.Which one of the five is least like the other four?
Dog Mouse Lion Snake Elephant

It could be dog, because it has the least letters.
It could be snake, because it's the only reptile.
It could be elephant, because it's giant compared to the others.
There's no right answer on this one.
If you think the way the people who made the test do = You're intelligent
You think another way = You're stupid
I'm not trying to be funny, it's true.

This is some random free test on the internet, I don't know if the real IQ tests are like that.

I still think that IQ sucks :D
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I agree!

Though answer is 4 mamals, 1 reptile, therefore it's Snake. ;)
 
Chessie said:
142

I hate that number. I know it's a little irrational to hate a number, but that's the number I have a beef with and I gotta say that from day one since I sat down to take that battery of tests back in high-school I've had a personal loathing of that number that most people find in soldiers hating the enemy.

It's my IQ.

I realize those numbers are a bit arbitrary and you can re-write a test to fuck with them in about a hundred different ways but where I was at, they treated that number like it was gold. Suddenly I was in advanced placement classes. Never mind I'd flunked two grades out of sheer apathy for the material being taught or I couldn't bring myself to socialize with the students around me because their emotions were like waves of violence being inflicted on my person.

One Fourty Two was a magical number. It's completely worthless because it is all on the right side of my brain. I could push through a complex math problem if I had time and a reason. I could tell you why one chemical mixed with another if I could be bothered.

I didn't care to be bothered. Being an INFJ, I was clinging to sanity by my fingernails in a series of massively over-populated schools, surrounded by people who could barely write their names because the school-system was so badly underfunded in my home state. They expected great things...but what they got was a sad little hippy kid with a stack of poetry and short stories and a grade-point average that would shame a retarded monkey. I think my GPA when I dropped out of highschool was .8. Homework was a non-entity and my parents cared. They really tried hard, fighting their own neurotic behavior to try to help but they were against a number of tides, their own psyches included.

The administration would have preferred to eject me rather than risk me bringing the school's gradepoint average down because No Child Left Behind would have cut them further.

Our brains are tools. What I wanted more than anything was unfettered access to the internet and for everyone to leave me alone with it. Five years after I left school entirely I got my wish. Suddenly I was saturated in knowledge.

My IQ never landed me a job. I am not a super-logical person. I prefer to sit with a book and our society doesn't value people who think intuitively or who can't show their work no matter how often they may be right. I have an intuitive understanding of quantum physics but if you asked me to lay down the math, I'd have to sit for hours just holding the pencil and then I might try to write you a story about it. It would be sad to watch.
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Very late reply.

I graduated school at the top of my year, did well at university, and had a high paying job for two years. But I was miserable and frustrated.

I now do my own thing, live in virtual poverty, but I'm actually close to full contentment and a feeling of being engaged with life.

In the last couple of years I had my IQ tested and was in the 99th percentile. It really isn't a source of ease with the modern world.
 
Small minds always have an easier time being happy in a world like this subsisting off social noise and meaningless distraction while those of above average or higher are often left with mental health issues from seeing the obvious of what the human experience has amounted to.

Bonus

 
Pin said:
I think that IQ is hardly important past the 80s, what ultimately matters is the economic structure of a society. In a proper society, the cream rises to the top.
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I think a minimum of one standard deviation above average iq is required to rise to the top, but it is far from the only thing.

Regardless of whether one rises through ability, affability, competitiveness, sheer hard work, innovation, or a combination of persistence and luck.... One has to be at least as good or better than other people playing at the same game.

Too high an IQ is likely to make one cynical about society and whether one rises will probably be more determined by a strong irrational driver. Eg, some people are neurotic about appearing poor, so they cannot be rest until they're billionaires.
 
I think IQ only matters as much as you make it matter. For a long time, seeing high IQ as being some kind of exclusive club that most people weren't members of and should want to join, and now, it just seems arrogant to think it matters a hill of beans if you can't do right by anyone. So what if you have high IQ if your brains just makes you think you're better than anyone else or if you use it to make yourself superior rather than doing good? It bothers me more that you're supposed to feel less than if you're not one of the high IQers. Doesn't make anyone better and doesn't make anyone a god. And we hold people in such high regard for it, assuming they know more than they actually do. Having a high IQ doesn't make you all-seeing or all-knowing. If you view it as a gift, you can do amazing things with it, and yeah, why not enjoy it. But it shouldn't be the judge of anyone's value. If you have a higher IQ and are arrogant, I'd say, get over yourself and do something to benefit the world rather than thinking you're high above everyone or think you can't be bothered with those who don't see the world the way you do.
 
Our brains are tools.
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There you said it. If there isn't anything to do with those tools you are pretty much useless indeed. I think that one of the major problems being talented is that you get the feeling of being alone, lacking company alike to do something. I think pursuing academics is never a waste of time. Many have suggested me to do so, but I might apply for a job in IT soon as I have some papers that might help.

My IQ never landed me a job.
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A career counselor once asked me if paying a bill would make me happy. It made me wonder if it really would be so. Perhaps, get a sense of moving forward financially. Perhaps it would bring some hope towards a more secure life. I don't know. But it surely has helped me to land jobs with high IQ, the different thing is that did I enjoy those jobs. And the answer frankly is a no, as you might have presumed already. Those were some great experiences though. I realized I worked best on my own for example, and that I was capable of socializing in a manner I hadn't expected, realized a confident part of myself and that I had to work on controlling myself and realizing my true wants for life. There is no one answer what to do. I think that is why Elon Musk for example has quite the few projects going on. He knows he can do it all with the right people.

"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge, but imagination" Albert Einstein
So you'll figure it out for sure some day. He also played the violin so there's plenty of things you can practice. Think outside capital terms and let it flow, I'd say. Still practicing on writing, I'd like to practice the piano too and maybe build things.
But patience is a virtue which I haven't practiced enough for sure.
 
Majesty said:
Randomly googled an IQ test

The first question was

1.Which one of the five is least like the other four?
Dog Mouse Lion Snake Elephant

It could be dog, because it has the least letters.
It could be snake, because it's the only reptile.
It could be elephant, because it's giant compared to the others.
There's no right answer on this one.
If you think the way the people who made the test do = You're intelligent
You think another way = You're stupid
I'm not trying to be funny, it's true.

This is some random free test on the internet, I don't know if the real IQ tests are like that.

I still think that IQ sucks :D
Click to expand...

Snake, Duh....it hasn't a leg to stand on, either. Crawls and does not walk. On and on.
 
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Why would anyone with a very high IQ wish for others to know? A high IQ would know trouble was waiting and would want it kept secret.

In my opinion, the IQ tests they give are looking for a different sort of intelligence, not for all A's. Example: how many triangles do you see? Multi-directional looking, crossing lines, changing sizes, and the likes or simple mind?

Example: the three squares marked in sequence with nine squares asking which of the nine would be next after seeing two. Nothing to do with anything but your ability to figure things out.
 
just me said:
Why would anyone with a very high IQ wish for others to know?
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Agreed. In America, "undeserved" qualities like very high intelligence and wealth can be looked at as elitist. Someone who joins an organization like Mensa will probably be viewed by some as a smug douche. In contrast, you'll garner a lot more respect with an exclusively flannel wardrobe and making shitty art out of macaroni.

I think it's one of those things you share with close friends who won't judge you and would honestly try to think of ways you could use said traits to improve yourself or the world around you.
 
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