I hear people say that high IQ doesn’t mean you are automatically good at something, but what does it mean then, in terms of physical properties of the brain? And how do they translate to one’s abilities?
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I think the best answer is close to what another person commented here:
Shape and spatial reasoning, pattern recognition, memory, sometimes things like reading comprehension, vocabulary and logic, and I would add also processing speed, but I wanted to add some anecdotal experience of mine. I have a very high IQ score, sitting at 148, (while having crippling ADHD) and I routinely tutor people with recorded scores of 80-90, who have been tested because of testing for discalculia and dyslexia, as well as some extremely brilliant STEM undegrads. The difference in learning between me or the STEM undergrads and the people with an IQ in the 80-90s is staggering. They need things spelled out explicitly, can’t generalize or really struggle with that (example: they can solve 2A = 10, then A = 5, but they can’t understand quickly 2X= K), struggle with logical inferences, are way slower in “connecting dots” and identifying causal relationships, and struggle way more in following logical reasoning and coming up with their own. With patience, consistency in their craft’s practice and a good teaching method they can get very good results, but they are simply slower and since they struggle to traslate what they learned in one field to another one they often incurr in many roadblocks.
Though I truly do think communicating their IQ results to them is harmful, because when people close themselves up in “roles” -as, for example, the “dumb one”- it’s very hard to get them to even try, worsening the situation immensely.
Not much. It’s not a perfect system and its main use is establishing baselines and reference points when testing groups of people for certain things but it’s not objective by any means. For example if I’m conducting a study on a group of people on their cognitive abilities, having them take IQ tests helps give a reference to compare them by. It’s not that it’s an absolute measure of intelligence but in that particular case its problems are somewhat mitigated by the fact that all participants take a test.
But there are several issues with it. For one it only tests certain abilities, and a lot of it revolves around math to a degree. You’re not asked to solve equations but you are often asked to analyse number sequences and discern patterns in numbers and the like. I get why, since in many ways being good at math and having high intelligence are considered tautological, but there’s issues with that. Obviously not all smart people are good at math and not all people good at math are necessarily smart.
Math, is a learned skill. If you sit down and study math you get better at it, and that’s arguably the main flaw tih IQ tests as well. They can be trained, you can take IQ tests repetitively and get increasingly higher scores. That doesn’t mean you’re getting smarter by studying a specific set of exercises, it just means you’re getting better at IQ tests, which proves that they’re not objective. An objective intelligence test would produce the same results no matter how many times you took it.
The idea that you can quantify and accurately measure intelligence or even define it accurately is itself up for debate.
Not much. It’s not a perfect system and its main use is establishing baselines and reference points when testing groups of people for certain things but it’s not objective by any means. For example if I’m conducting a study on a group of people on their cognitive abilities, having them take IQ tests helps give a reference to compare them by. It’s not that it’s an absolute measure of intelligence but in that particular case its problems are somewhat mitigated by the fact that all participants take a test.
But there are several issues with it. For one it only tests certain abilities, and a lot of it revolves around math to a degree. You’re not asked to solve equations but you are often asked to analyse number sequences and discern patterns in numbers and the like. I get why, since in many ways being good at math and having high intelligence are considered tautological, but there’s issues with that. Obviously not all smart people are good at math and not all people good at math are necessarily smart.
Math, is a learned skill. If you sit down and study math you get better at it, and that’s arguably the main flaw tih IQ tests as well. They can be trained, you can take IQ tests repetitively and get increasingly higher scores. That doesn’t mean you’re getting smarter by studying a specific set of exercises, it just means you’re getting better at IQ tests, which proves that they’re not objective. An objective intelligence test would produce the same results no matter how many times you took it.
The idea that you can quantify and accurately measure intelligence or even define it accurately is itself up for debate.
I think the best answer is close to what another person commented here:
Shape and spatial reasoning, pattern recognition, memory, sometimes things like reading comprehension, vocabulary and logic, and I would add also processing speed, but I wanted to add some anecdotal experience of mine. I have a very high IQ score, sitting at 148, (while having crippling ADHD) and I routinely tutor people with recorded scores of 80-90, who have been tested because of testing for discalculia and dyslexia, as well as some extremely brilliant STEM undegrads. The difference in learning between me or the STEM undergrads and the people with an IQ in the 80-90s is staggering. They need things spelled out explicitly, can’t generalize or really struggle with that (example: they can solve 2A = 10, then A = 5, but they can’t understand quickly 2X= K), struggle with logical inferences, are way slower in “connecting dots” and identifying causal relationships, and struggle way more in following logical reasoning and coming up with their own. With patience, consistency in their craft’s practice and a good teaching method they can get very good results, but they are simply slower and since they struggle to traslate what they learned in one field to another one they often incurr in many roadblocks.
Though I truly do think communicating their IQ results to them is harmful, because when people close themselves up in “roles” -as, for example, the “dumb one”- it’s very hard to get them to even try, worsening the situation immensely.
I think the best answer is close to what another person commented here:
Shape and spatial reasoning, pattern recognition, memory, sometimes things like reading comprehension, vocabulary and logic, and I would add also processing speed, but I wanted to add some anecdotal experience of mine. I have a very high IQ score, sitting at 148, (while having crippling ADHD) and I routinely tutor people with recorded scores of 80-90, who have been tested because of testing for discalculia and dyslexia, as well as some extremely brilliant STEM undegrads. The difference in learning between me or the STEM undergrads and the people with an IQ in the 80-90s is staggering. They need things spelled out explicitly, can’t generalize or really struggle with that (example: they can solve 2A = 10, then A = 5, but they can’t understand quickly 2X= K), struggle with logical inferences, are way slower in “connecting dots” and identifying causal relationships, and struggle way more in following logical reasoning and coming up with their own. With patience, consistency in their craft’s practice and a good teaching method they can get very good results, but they are simply slower and since they struggle to traslate what they learned in one field to another one they often incurr in many roadblocks.
Though I truly do think communicating their IQ results to them is harmful, because when people close themselves up in “roles” -as, for example, the “dumb one”- it’s very hard to get them to even try, worsening the situation immensely.
There have been efforts to take “how good is your brain” and answer the question with a single number, the larger the number the smarter you are. The idea being you can use this as a predictor to select the best minds for certain training and education. It’s supposed to be unrelated to how much you have learned. So if I take an IQ test as a child, and I take an IQ test after college, I should score about the same because my IQ isn’t about how much I know.
But in practice, all the questions are answered via knowledge. People test higher with repeat attempts and study. So IQ is not a number attached to this underlying brain capacity. Many/most consider the idea of IQ flawed to the point of meaningless because currently there is not that separation from knowledge.
Further complicating and discrediting IQ is that it’s mostly used by elitists and supremacists as ‘evidence’ and rarely used by productive organizations as a predictor for anything (because it doesn’t seem to actually work).
There have been efforts to take “how good is your brain” and answer the question with a single number, the larger the number the smarter you are. The idea being you can use this as a predictor to select the best minds for certain training and education. It’s supposed to be unrelated to how much you have learned. So if I take an IQ test as a child, and I take an IQ test after college, I should score about the same because my IQ isn’t about how much I know.
But in practice, all the questions are answered via knowledge. People test higher with repeat attempts and study. So IQ is not a number attached to this underlying brain capacity. Many/most consider the idea of IQ flawed to the point of meaningless because currently there is not that separation from knowledge.
Further complicating and discrediting IQ is that it’s mostly used by elitists and supremacists as ‘evidence’ and rarely used by productive organizations as a predictor for anything (because it doesn’t seem to actually work).
High IQ generally means you have strong cognitive capabilities. Things like pattern recognition, memory, comprehension, reasoning, and abstract thought.
Physical properties of the brain, we don’t totally know. It’s speculated that more brain mass = more IQ by some but the brain and how certain parts of it operate are very complicated and IQ is not a perfected measurement so it’s really hard to tell.
Someone with high IQ might have a stronger and more accurate “intuition.” They may “get” the problem and solution faster. They may also be faster at learning things and dealing with complex problems that are cognitively challenging.
You are correct, it doesn’t mean you are automatically good at something. There are some negatives associated with high IQ such as correlation with higher volumes of mental illness, for example. High IQ individuals are also a product of their environment like anyone else. Most of those individuals end up separated from the typical group during school in adolescence through advanced learning programs and just other kids recognizing that individual is particularly smart – some don’t like that too much.
Not everyone with a high IQ is successful either. There are other factors that are not really effected by IQ which correlate to success. Things like conscientiousness and neuroticism also impact how quickly someone might pick up new skills. For example, someone who is really smart but not very dutiful will face struggles in their career due to their poor work ethic.
High IQ generally means you have strong cognitive capabilities. Things like pattern recognition, memory, comprehension, reasoning, and abstract thought.
Physical properties of the brain, we don’t totally know. It’s speculated that more brain mass = more IQ by some but the brain and how certain parts of it operate are very complicated and IQ is not a perfected measurement so it’s really hard to tell.
Someone with high IQ might have a stronger and more accurate “intuition.” They may “get” the problem and solution faster. They may also be faster at learning things and dealing with complex problems that are cognitively challenging.
You are correct, it doesn’t mean you are automatically good at something. There are some negatives associated with high IQ such as correlation with higher volumes of mental illness, for example. High IQ individuals are also a product of their environment like anyone else. Most of those individuals end up separated from the typical group during school in adolescence through advanced learning programs and just other kids recognizing that individual is particularly smart – some don’t like that too much.
Not everyone with a high IQ is successful either. There are other factors that are not really effected by IQ which correlate to success. Things like conscientiousness and neuroticism also impact how quickly someone might pick up new skills. For example, someone who is really smart but not very dutiful will face struggles in their career due to their poor work ethic.
High IQ generally means you have strong cognitive capabilities. Things like pattern recognition, memory, comprehension, reasoning, and abstract thought.
Physical properties of the brain, we don’t totally know. It’s speculated that more brain mass = more IQ by some but the brain and how certain parts of it operate are very complicated and IQ is not a perfected measurement so it’s really hard to tell.
Someone with high IQ might have a stronger and more accurate “intuition.” They may “get” the problem and solution faster. They may also be faster at learning things and dealing with complex problems that are cognitively challenging.
You are correct, it doesn’t mean you are automatically good at something. There are some negatives associated with high IQ such as correlation with higher volumes of mental illness, for example. High IQ individuals are also a product of their environment like anyone else. Most of those individuals end up separated from the typical group during school in adolescence through advanced learning programs and just other kids recognizing that individual is particularly smart – some don’t like that too much.
Not everyone with a high IQ is successful either. There are other factors that are not really effected by IQ which correlate to success. Things like conscientiousness and neuroticism also impact how quickly someone might pick up new skills. For example, someone who is really smart but not very dutiful will face struggles in their career due to their poor work ethic.
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