Is IQ the be-all end-all?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, average IQ means average intelligence. All that means is that the majority of the population has a similar IQ. It does not measure EQ, sociability, resilience, grit, likability or foretell future academic or career success, happiness, earning potential or anything else. So in answer to your post subject: not the be-all, end-all, at all. Not even half the picture.

+1. I have a cousin whose IQ is genius level. I mean 99.9 something percentile. He’s also deeply schizophrenic and paranoid. Before that set in during his late 20s, his parents sent him to elite private schools, where he couldn’t fit in socially and became a discipline problem. Ended up with middling academic performance, went to a very average college, dropped out after a year, went to a different one, took years to complete his degree and got flagged as a violent threat to the school at one point. Now he can barely hold a job and thinks intelligence agencies are after him.

He’s still super smart and can do incredible math and consume mass amounts of information quickly. But no one cares. He’s one small step from being homeless.

Google, "the law of diminishing returns in IQ".

That is unequivocally false. The data indicates that higher IQs are still beneficial even at the extreme upper end of the ability distribution. https://infoproc.blogspot.com/2014/07/success-ability-and-all-that.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, average IQ means average intelligence. All that means is that the majority of the population has a similar IQ. It does not measure EQ, sociability, resilience, grit, likability or foretell future academic or career success, happiness, earning potential or anything else. So in answer to your post subject: not the be-all, end-all, at all. Not even half the picture.

+1. I have a cousin whose IQ is genius level. I mean 99.9 something percentile. He’s also deeply schizophrenic and paranoid. Before that set in during his late 20s, his parents sent him to elite private schools, where he couldn’t fit in socially and became a discipline problem. Ended up with middling academic performance, went to a very average college, dropped out after a year, went to a different one, took years to complete his degree and got flagged as a violent threat to the school at one point. Now he can barely hold a job and thinks intelligence agencies are after him.

He’s still super smart and can do incredible math and consume mass amounts of information quickly. But no one cares. He’s one small step from being homeless.

Google, "the law of diminishing returns in IQ".

That is unequivocally false. The data indicates that higher IQs are still beneficial even at the extreme upper end of the ability distribution. https://infoproc.blogspot.com/2014/07/success-ability-and-all-that.html

That’s a blog.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you guys even know your IQs?

I know my kids' IQ scores because both of them had the WISC administered as part of a larger evaluation by a psychologist.

I don't know my own IQ although I was in a GT program as a child that tested IQ (my mother had the report but lost it and doesn't remember). DH same. I don't intend to tell my kids their scores.

Were your kids evaluated because of learning disabilities? Those are the ones that also have deeper evaluations from a psychologist and educational testing to see what grade level the student is at in every subject.

Legitimate IQ tests take 1 to 2 hours to administer and it’s best taken with only a specialist in the room.

My magnet kid had an extremely high IQ. Among the highest scores in the state. Self starter, and I just let her be. Finished a top Ivy in three years. No guarantee of happiness though and I worked, and still do, at making her a happy person. My other daughter is close in scores and went to a similar school and is happy and a busy mom which makes her pleased. Both are successful today.

I was born a very premature twin and went to a children's hospital out of a fear I would be slow. I came to reading late but the school identified a high IQ for my brother and me. My single mother had no academic background whatsoever other than struggling through high school, and circumstances were tough. She was a modest and humble person who didn't tell us our scores but the school later did as part of a scheme to get us to aim high (don't think it would be done today). My mother was of the type that you are only as smart as the last smart thing you did, so IQ and notions of innate intelligence was minimized. It is odd - I had limited self esteem over academics but really a positive thing. I started to do well in school when the attitude hit that the more you know the less you actually know. And I didn't do it to please Mom. She was indifferent to A's or C's.

My brother was a PHd in Econ and he was very adept at statistics. IQ on the extremes offers some insight. The bottom ten percent does not do well and compassion is in order. The top 1 percent typically is advantaged but no guarantees. Historically the military makes the most use of IQ scores (using ASVAB as a surrogate).

I asked him to watch the great documentary Last Chance U about football players - most with poor academic records - who went to a junior college in Mississippi as their last chance to be eligible for D1 football. These kids would by and large test poorly on IQ tests. For a handful, the low scores unfortunately reflected their ability. But for most, IQ tests started to lose their meaning. These kids were from poor backgrounds, but they were bright and engaging and fun to be around. Often very insightful. Their tutor (a saint) made academic headway with them because she recognized they had ability but almost no academic background. The show should make anyone think twice about the predictive factor of IQ. Focus, resilience and hard work matter. One African American mother (very well meaning) had such poor experiences with schools she had a hostile attitude towards the tutor. When visiting though, she saw what someone who truly cared for her son could do. To her credit, she had nothing but praise. This kid no doubt tested low on the IQ scale prior to this experience but the test didn't mean anything. The kid went on to a D1 SEC school and graduated.

That documentary sounds good. Mississippi is dead last with regard to quality of schools, health, nutrition, just about everything so it’s not surprising these kids weren’t all that educated. I don’t know why they would test IQs at that late stage.

I don’t understand your story. You went to a children’s hospital out of fear of being slow? Did your mother take you? Because you write later that your mother didn’t worry about things like IQ tests.

The school identified a high IQ for you and your brother. What does that mean? And how did they identify your kids IQs?

[Anonymous]

You asked if a kid scores average on iq tests, is he average? In general, yes but I think it’s important to look at intelligence subscores, at qualities that are not tested (whether they are talents or character/ personality qualities) and the environment in which the child is raised.

But if you are talking about success, that can be dependent on so many other things: education, hard work, field of work, luck, personality, gender / race. Even looks and height/ weight can play a part in success.

One of my children has an average iq but tremendous artistic talent. He ended up on a full talent scholarship to a good university. He eventually went into business and has done well for himself. He is tall, good-looking, male and charming and I am sure those things have helped. (He is not a millionaire but makes decent money.)

I also have two daughters, both with 130 IQ. They also went to excellent universities on scholarships. One has chosen an artistic field so her career has been rather unstable. The other has had health issues which have impacted her career.

[Anonymous]

There is a high correlation between mental illness and very high intelligence. Also, the intellectuals benefits of high IQ tend to drop after late 20’s. People just get less sharp over time, but knowledge and experience can compensate.

It can be hard to for very high IQ people to relate to normal or low IQ people. They don’t understand that others don’t understand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a high correlation between mental illness and very high intelligence. Also, the intellectuals benefits of high IQ tend to drop after late 20’s. People just get less sharp over time, but knowledge and experience can compensate.

It can be hard to for very high IQ people to relate to normal or low IQ people. They don’t understand that others don’t understand.

I think they understand intellectually, but it hard to constantly remember that you can essentially be speaking a foreign language to some people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a high correlation between mental illness and very high intelligence. Also, the intellectuals benefits of high IQ tend to drop after late 20’s. People just get less sharp over time, but knowledge and experience can compensate.

It can be hard to for very high IQ people to relate to normal or low IQ people. They don’t understand that others don’t understand.

I think they understand intellectually, but it hard to constantly remember that you can essentially be speaking a foreign language to some people.

I have an iq of 140 and I often don't know what people know or don't. I can just as easily be accused of talking over someone's head as of talking down to them. But even worse than that is I often seem to interpret the same facts differently as other people so if I don't spell out what I'm thinking, people will often make assumptions. This happens at work and in general social situations a lot (like dealing with the kids' schools).