The Average IQ
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@doctor-phibes said in The Average IQ:
I think the IQ test is completely flawed as measure of intelligence. The tests seem to be all about being good with patterns and numbers. I don't see how that equates to intelligence, and before you make the obvious response, I'm actually speaking as somebody who scores high on the test. I'm really smart at some things (modest, too!). What I've learned to accept as I got older is that I'm really, really dumb at other things. Do not ask me to fix your car, or put up a light fitting, or do almost anything requiring mechanical aptitude of any kind. I'm a freaking cretin with that stuff, and it does require smarts to do.
I also don't see how being good at manipulating numbers makes you smart at dealing with people, or negotiating, or understanding history, or politics, or countless other things. When I was about 20 I was so socially inept that my friends had to essentially have an intervention. I'm a lot better now, which might give you some idea how bad I was back then.
Well...We all know Brits are smart.
And hath good teeth.
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@klaus said in The Average IQ:
would never do that to my kids, either.
Yay, you.
I have always despised the custom of the "My Kid Is An Honor Student" bumperstickers. 1.) Like that's the onlty way the kid can be considered to be worth anything, and: 2.) how is that supposed to make all the kids who are not honor students feel when they see those bumper stickers?
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@catseye3 said in The Average IQ:
@klaus said in The Average IQ:
would never do that to my kids, either.
Yay, you.
I have always despised the custom of the "My Kid Is An Honor Student" bumperstickers. 1.) Like that's the onlty way the kid can be considered to be worth anything, and: 2.) how is that supposed to make all the kids who are not honor students feel when they see those bumper stickers?
In other words, every kid gets a trophy, and don't ask them to compete because it might hurt the feelings of the lazy ones....
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@catseye3 said in The Average IQ:
@klaus said in The Average IQ:
would never do that to my kids, either.
Yay, you.
I have always despised the custom of the "My Kid Is An Honor Student" bumperstickers. 1.) Like that's the onlty way the kid can be considered to be worth anything, and: 2.) how is that supposed to make all the kids who are not honor students feel when they see those bumper stickers?
I often deal with students who have been identified as some kind of "genius" when they were kids: They come with stipends, prizes, ... .
These students are often a**holes who shy away from hard work and mainly want to do a PhD to get the title as quickly as possible.
When students apply for a PhD position with me, I consider it to be a problem and not a feature of an applicant if he or she has been one of these "special" kids.
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@kluurs said in The Average IQ:
I qualified for Mensa. I suspect most of the frequent posters here did or would as well. That would put us close to or above 130.
I'm smarter than Klaus. I just don't like to brag about it, y'know. Modesty and all.
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I think it really depends a lot on he alcohol consumption in a given day. Last night was not one of the better nights…
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@catseye3 said in The Average IQ:
@klaus said in The Average IQ:
would never do that to my kids, either.
Yay, you.
I have always despised the custom of the "My Kid Is An Honor Student" bumperstickers. 1.) Like that's the onlty way the kid can be considered to be worth anything, and: 2.) how is that supposed to make all the kids who are not honor students feel when they see those bumper stickers?
I don't like them either, even though my kid was always an honor student. I just think they are tasteless and a poor substitute for real parental support. She would have hated it if I had put on one of those.
“I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill
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@klaus said in The Average IQ:
@george-k said in The Average IQ:
@doctor-phibes said in The Average IQ:
The tests seem to be all about being good with patterns and numbers. I don't see how that equates to intelligence,
This.
There are certainly many forms of intelligence that are different from what is measured by IQ tests.
But there has been a mountain of studies which demonstrate that IQ correlates highly with various quite tangible outcomes in life, such as expected income. You can measure the IQ of a 4 year old and from that make a decent prediction of what that kid will make 30 years later (decent meaning: significantly better than just guessing).
All that said, I have never measured my IQ and would never do that to my kids, either. It does no good, regardless of whether the result is a high or a low IQ. I don't like the idea of my life being determined, to a degree, by this number.
Hard work always trumps talent when talent doesn't work hard. Plenty of evidence for it, too. High IQ + low conscientiousness = Comic Book Guy. Also, in the higher echelons of many professions, EQ is weighted higher as long as the relatively modest IQ benchmarks are met.
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@lufins-dad said in The Average IQ:
I think it really depends a lot on he alcohol consumption in a given day. Last night was not one of the better nights…
Hey they won. What's to be unhappy about?
“I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill
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@mik said in The Average IQ:
@lufins-dad said in The Average IQ:
I think it really depends a lot on he alcohol consumption in a given day. Last night was not one of the better nights…
Hey they won. What's to be unhappy about?
The hangover today?
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@doctor-phibes said in The Average IQ:
the concept of MENSA
My father joined MENSA, many, many years ago.
We gave him so much grief about it the membership didn't last very long.
When you join they send you a yellow map pin. You wear the pin on your lapel so other MENSAns can secretly recognize you.
We said that MENSA charged him $20 for a 5 cent pin. Not so smart.
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@mik said in The Average IQ:
I don't like them either, even though my kid was always an honor student. I just think they are tasteless and a poor substitute for real parental support.
And another thing: What happens when the bumper sticker kid falls off the honor roll? I guess the bumper sticker gets removed from the car? Is there a ceremony, like they used to do in France to dishonored soldiers? Dramatic drum roll, the decal ripped off with a can of Gorilla Gunk, done with a contemptuous curl of the lip? "L'Enfant Corrode! Vous Etes Un Cochon Vil!" A slap across the face with a glove. Substitute a new bumper sticker? "My Kid Used To Be On the Honor Roll, But Is Now A Dummy Loser Like All the Other Kids!"
