Is IQ a good measure of intelligence?

Discussion in 'The Cesspool' started by Phill, Mar 31, 2016.

?

Is IQ a good measure of intelligence?

  1. Yes

    40.0%
  2. No

    60.0%
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Phill Banned Banned

    Messages:
    144
    Why or why not?

    I think it is, because IQ is the best predictor of success or failure in a range of tasks considered to require "intelligence". Further, those with low IQs are rarely or never found in high IQ occupations, such as hard science academics. This is found across cultures, and no-one has succeeded in making a test which produces equal results between races and nations, yet has predictive validity for intellectual activities as defined in each culture. Despite claims to the contrary what it means to be "intelligent" is pretty consistent across cultures.

    Also the positive manifold of correlations between IQ subtests yields a general factor which itself correlates with a number of biological brain measures.
     
    Last edited: Mar 31, 2016
  2. Guest Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  3. Beer w/Straw Transcendental Ignorance! Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    6,549
    I'm sure I could score 0 on an I.Q. test if it was written in Putonghua.
     
  4. Guest Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  5. Sarkus Hippomonstrosesquippedalo phobe Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    10,359
    I don't think it is too good a measure, as I tend to score quite highly in them.

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
    sideshowbob and Beer w/Straw like this.
  6. Guest Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  7. sideshowbob Sorry, wrong number. Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    7,057
    Isn't that circular? Aren't you just saying that IQ tests are a the best predictor of how well you will do on an IQ test? If you're defining "intelligence" in terms of IQ tests, how can IQ tests fail to predict intelligence?
     
    Yazata likes this.
  8. Phill Banned Banned

    Messages:
    144
    No, obviously tasks other than IQ tests. There are any number of tasks and activities people would say require intelligence, and IQ is the best known predictor of performance in those. Therefore IQ correlates well with what people consider to be intelligence.
     
  9. exchemist Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    12,454
    It may be a good measure in some respects, but like many things it is very imperfect, for reasons that have been adequately rehearsed elsewhere. Saying something is the "best" predictor, compared with a load of others that are worse, does not by itself prove much.
     
    Yazata likes this.
  10. Phill Banned Banned

    Messages:
    144
    Can you go through some of the reasons rehearsed elsewhere? Surely if IQ is a good predictor of all of the tasks which require intelligence among other things, then it is getting pretty close to intelligence, and any lowering of the correlations is due to the fact that individual tasks are affected by other variables.
     
  11. iceaura Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    30,994
    That is a false claim. It is a lousy predictor, to the point of being indistinguishable from a coin flip in many such fields.
    That is a true claim. But it's informational content is blurred by sociological circumstance - high IQ occupations are sociologically screened to some much-debated extent.

    Temple Grandin has some interesting things to say along these lines. http://io9.gizmodo.com/5951788/temple-grandin-has-a-brain-like-no-one-elses
     
  12. Daecon Kiwi fruit Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    3,133
    It's been my experince that IQ tests focus mainly on pattern recognition. Admittedly it's been over a dozen years since I took one. I even have my Mensa certificate somewhere.
     
  13. exchemist Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    12,454
    They were raised on the other thread you started, the one attempting to show that blacks are less intelligent than whites (I think it was, though I only skimmed it).
     
  14. sculptor Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    8,466
    Not a perfect test...............but, then again what, created by man, is perfect?
    The question obtains: Is there a better test for general cognitive ability out there?

    How do you account for the Flynn effect?

    The IQ tests do not test for practical intelligence, curiosity, or creativity?
    Important ingredients for a developing mind?

    The brain is constantly changing. Should we not expect the mind to follow? Or, does the mind lead the changes in the brain?
     
  15. PhysBang Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    2,422
    Unless there are compounding factors that makes someone good at both, like social status, wealth, and other environmental effects.

    Racists do not like to think about these things, but they exist.
     
  16. sideshowbob Sorry, wrong number. Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    7,057
    Give us a half-dozen examples.
     
  17. Phill Banned Banned

    Messages:
    144
    Sorry but I think it's better not to clog up the thread explaining total failures to understand simple statements and typing out things anybody can find themselves.
     
  18. Phill Banned Banned

    Messages:
    144
    I'm guessing I'm a "racist". What is your definition of "racist"? Of course "racists" (anyone who disagrees with the "no differences" extreme Communist dogma) are by definition ignorant, so won't think about those things, and even when they did, right in the thread before your comment, they still didn't, because they are ignorant racists, who just don't understand that all humans are exactly the same.

     
    Last edited: Apr 1, 2016
  19. sideshowbob Sorry, wrong number. Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    7,057
    So you have nothing to back up your claim?
     
  20. PhysBang Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    2,422
    You can guess about yourself all day, I don't care. I was just pointing out why racists like to defend the idea of IQ tests. If you think you're a racist, then go ahead and call yourself one.
     
  21. PhysBang Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    2,422
    Shhh... don't ruin the idealized fantasy by asking it to be compared to reality.
     
  22. Phill Banned Banned

    Messages:
    144
    So you are unable to explain what a "racist" is and are clogging up the thread with meaningless nonsense?
     
  23. Beer w/Straw Transcendental Ignorance! Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    6,549
    Are you a racist?
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page