I never understood the concept of one’s IQ. I always thought it was measured by ones understanding of the world around them, but someone told me that it’s more a test to measure ones ability to reason. What does an IQ test actually measure? And is it really all that important?

Question

I never understood the concept of one’s IQ. I always thought it was measured by ones understanding of the world around them, but someone told me that it’s more a test to measure ones ability to reason. What does an IQ test actually measure? And is it really all that important?

In: Other

Answer 1

[Here is a good article on it.](https://www.verywellmind.com/history-of-intelligence-testing-2795581)

A few notable excerpts,

“During the early 1900s, the French government asked Binet to help decide which students were most likely to experience difficulty in school. The government had passed laws requiring that all French children attend school, so it was important to find a way to identify children who would need specialized assistance.”

” This first intelligence test, referred to today as the Binet-Simon Scale, became the basis for the intelligence tests still in use today. However, Binet himself did not believe that his psychometric instruments could be used to measure a single, permanent, and inborn level of intelligence.

Binet stressed the limitations of the test, suggesting that intelligence is far too broad a concept to quantify with a single number. Instead, he insisted that intelligence is influenced by many factors, that it changes over time, and that it can only be compared in children with similar backgrounds. “