what are some criticisms of IQ tests?

Answer 1

Some IQ tests are flawed. For example, some test your level of education, but they are only supposed to test your raw ability to reason.

Answer 2

Criticism Of Iq Tests

Answer 3

They only measure certain 'smarts'. Most tests measure if you can read, how much vocab, math ability, etc.
But you know how there's different types of smart people, ie. some are great at math, but suck at english class? That's why those tests aren't great. It may look good for book smarts, but what about the people who are like kinestic- the ones who have great athletic/body ability? that's not really measured on an IQ test.
Another problem is that they're possibly biased. I'm not sure how much I buy this arguement, but here's how it goes: Some people who are either not native born, don't speak the native language, or have different customs will not be able to understand the test correctly or anwer questions correctly.
For example, there's one study where this doctor was asking a village of people in I think australia, about trying to see if they could do a task that inolved corners (drawings). But in their culture, there were no concepts of corners b/c all thier spaces were round, like thier huts. So they had problems doing this line task, that doesn't mean that they're stupid, its just their culture didn't have exposure to this.

Answer 4

Also keep in mind these tests were designed to test white, European, Upper Middle Class to Upper Class males. It was assuming they all had equivalent levels of formal education. It doesn't take into consideration: variations in language, culture, ethnicity; practical capacity/ understanding (i.e. street smarts, people smarts) or, as someone else said, kinesthetic or aesthetic intelligence. Some say IQ is a good predictor of behaviour yet most serial killers have what they refer to as genius level intelligence, as do schizophrenics and many others with mental illness. What IQ tests tell anyone is that someone is capable of answering certain questions in a vacuum without any practical application. Sadly, humanity relies on pigeon holes instead of what they can see in front of them or in another human being.

Answer 5

measure humans only on a tiny fraction of our abilities
sometimes require literacy - not everyone has same degree of literacy
may have cultural bias
puts people in categories - in a linear fashion
ignores other abilities like emotional, athletic etc
probably best at predicting academic performance
high IQ people don't necessarily do better in life

Answer 6

Societal bias, not to mention that if you look at what the test is ACTUALLY measuring (how one person scores as compared to how other people should score), it is often misunderstood as a number; its a relative score, and not a static category of intelligence.