What do you think of IQ tests?

Question

I hear lots of people say that IQ tests are accurate measures of intelligence, and that they ask questions in every area of intelligence. But when I took an IQ test at school about a year ago I got the impression that every single one of the questions was related to mathematics. Is mathematical intelligence really the only kind of intelligence, or is it just that it's the only kind of intelligence that can be measured exactly? Or am I just missing something? What do you think?

The test was kind of like this one, only without the verbal questions, and quite a lot harder: http://web.tickle.com/tests/uiq/index_main.jsp Also, I'm not sure whether you would class logical and spatial questions as mathematical, but it's definitely the kind of stuff they teach in math class.

Answer 1

I don't think IQ tests are all that accurate. As well, the idea of an "intelligence quotient" brings up the controversy over different kinds of intelligence. Defining intelligence within the tiny confines an IQ test attempts to put forth seems inane to me. I know many a person who might do "poorly" on an IQ test but are nevertheless some of the wisest, most intelligent people I know. I also tend to question how much of an IQ test gauges potential and how much gauges education. Better educated people will often, by rights, do better than poorly educated people on IQ tests--but that doesn't really tell us anything about the latter's intelligence, does it?

Answer 2

IQ tests are valid measures of certain things. Wether or not they actually measure intelligence is highly debatable, but they do measure 'something'.

What they do measure correlates highly to achievement in life. It correlates to wether or not you will succeed academically, where in the work force you will likely end up, and can even predict things like divorce, likelyhood of a retarded child, teen pregnancies and more.


I wouldn't say that IQ tests test 'intelligence' but rather they test how good you are at the things that are on the test. If the test is constructed well one should receive a score that is reflective of your ability and what you will be able to accomplish.


People should also understand that IQ's are more accurate at the low range. Low range IQ's, IE 70-100 tend to be quite accurate and can give someone a really good idea of what they are capable of. As IQ increases, to about 130, it becomes less and less accurate a reflection of ability. Beyond 140 IQ has no correlation to any real world achievements.

I think this is partly because true intelligence at this point becomes too abstract to be measured by a silly test. What makes humans more intelligent than other animals is that we have areas of our brain developed for abstract, creative reasoning. I don't think IQ tests are capable of measuring peoples abilities in this area, the most important of all areas in the domain of human intelligence, IMO.

Another reason high range IQ is weak is because of what are called ceiling effects. This essentially means the test is not difficult enough and does not differentiate between people well at high levels. What starts to happen is an exponential increase in IQ for each question answered correctly. To put simply, the difference between 100 and 110 is much greater than the difference between 140 and 150. Most people don't realize this, hence IQ's can be deceiving. If the test cannot differentiate properly the difference between...for example, 156 and 166 could be just 3 questions, even though it seems like the 166 person is much smarter.

I've personally ceiling'd 2 IQ tests and would consider myself a rather intelligence individual, but IQ tests are not infallable. They have flaws just like everything else and can be improved on. For the time being they remain a piece of the puzzle waiting to be solved.

Answer 3

The IQ tests are designed to test how well your brain processes different types of information. In a good test, done by a person who knows what they are doing, you are going to be asked to make a bigger shape out of smaller shapes, do abstract reasoning puzzles, and will be asked other things not related to math. The tests do a pretty good job of testing your inate abilities in almost all areas. I can almost gurantee that a good interior designer will do better with abstract things than I will (I'm an engineer).

If you want a better idea of another IQ test try taking one online, but you need to be careful. I know someone who has taken several of those tests and has scored anywhere from 90 to 160. When he took the test from a person he scored roughly 140 (he knows because his mom is a school counselor). When I personally took an online IQ test, the one from Tickle.com did a pretty good job, and was close to the one administered by a person. MENSA is also supposed to have a reliable one online, but I have not taken that one. That one should be since you have to have a 140 IQ to join and they use that test to determine if your IQ is high enough. Those test may show you that the majority of questions are not math related, but more brain processing power related.

Now I will get on my soapbox a bit as to what I think about IQ tests overall. IQ is a good measure of your intellectual potential. This is only one part of the equation for success. I think THE laziest people I have met are also THE smartest as determined by IQ. They will probably go nowhere in life just because they will not work. Second, it doesn't measure your ability to interact with people socially, which is HUGE. If you are slightly above average intelligence and are a hard worker, and are a sociable person that can get a team of people to work together you are far better off than the recluse computer geek with a 160 IQ. So now you know what I think. You need to be careful with a question like that :).

Answer 4

Psychologists still don't agree about this. There are several theories of intelligence, from one intelligence to 10+. In Multiple Intelligence Theories, Logical-Mathematical intelligence is just one of them, but there are some others (musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, verbal, emotional...). The widely-used WAIS test has both a verbal IQ and a manipulative IQ, roughly corresponding to what you know and what you can do... roughly. Intelligence as such is a concept, probably not a fact, so absolute accuracy in its measurement is probably always relative.

Answer 5

I would like to hear a psychologists view on this subject. I've taken several IQ tests and it showed that I was in the genius range. Here's the thing, really, I am NO genius!!

Also, my son had to take an IQ test in school and the test came out very low. However, he is a very quick learner, who does very well in school and he's definitely a very bright kid.

Personally, I don't think the tests are always accurate. I think a lot of it depends on how you are feeling when you are taking the test. The test taker could be nervous or distracted and the test would come out inaccurate.

Answer 6

IQ tests are a good measure of mental capacity.

They are not a measure of the ability to learn, and definately not a measure of common sense

And if your test was all Maths then it wasn't an IQ test.

IQ tests include comprehension questions, logic tests etc etc

Answer 7

i think IQ tests are way off. They don't measure every aspect of intelligence. I took one once and all the questions were math too and which shapes were the same and different, there is no way to measure how smart someone is. It is just another way humans try to find exact information

Answer 8

IQ tests should cover more than math. there is logical reasoning, vocabulary, reading comprehension, etc.
the comprehensive ones (MENSA tests for example) are supposed to be pretty reliable to measure intelligence.

Answer 9

There is an old family friend who didn't have too much education and used to work in a factory. My mother told me that he used to say all the time that he was not going to spend his life working in a factory. He found a way to get himself out of poverty and now he is a millionaire and owns some businesses. His children work with him in his businesses.

Answer 10

The problem with IQ tests is, that they are compiled by people that aren't all that smart. It is virtually impossible for a 1 quart jar to measure the size of a gallon jar... ;-)