what is IQ anyway , what is intelligence , are they the same?

Question

I am asking this here because it is raised so often....

but when I was young , I had an IQ test done and it was 134
I have had one done more recently and it was 136
not much of a difference despite the age gap between them
yet I am going to be very honest , I am not well educated
and from what I understand this score isn't too bad
so how do we measure intelligence ?
because I don't think it is through these tests

Answer 1

136 is a very good score indeed. It has nothing to do with education.

One thing about IQ tests though is that if you practice them, you get better at them. Which means they are measuring something other than intelligence.

But they're the best we've got for measuring something we assume matters. I wonder if it does.

Answer 2

A good IQ test will measure the ability to reason in a number of areas: logic, language, symbols, relationships, etc. It should not be based on specific knowledge that would be acquired in school / college.

the quotient (number) will give an crude total across all areas. This means someone stunning at maths will compensate (up to a point) for lower levels in language and still come out with a good score. Someone good in all areas will get a (very) high score. As has been said, high scores do not necessarily equate with success. There are studies that correlate with professions. Managers don't need high IQ, just a bit better than average, senior managers and politicians are the same, plus an ability to lie convincingly - which is not measured by IQ tests. Creativity is also not a feature of IQ tests.

So, IQ test give an indication of general, natural, problem solving ability; but this has to be moderated by knowledge and context (e.g. occupation).

Answer 3

The IQ score is just a result of the test and does not measure certain elements of a person's intelligence. It also is said to be very culturally biased and I believe that to be true to an extent. If you were college educated your score on the test would get higher. But you are holding your own and that is good. Make sure that as you age you keep your mind active, as when we age we can lose our IQ points if we don't learn NEW things and keep our minds active!

My score is around 136 too. That is bright but not genius! HA HA!

Answer 4

Footprints - How could you even think that? Pangel is asking an honest question, NOT looking for compliments. If there is anyone using false humility it is certainly not her. Judge not lest ye be judged.

Pangel, IQ is our ability to learn, our learning quotient. It speaks to our capabilities but not to our actual intelligence oftentimes. It is a sign of how much our brains can learn if given the tools to do so. Your score IS quite high, near genius-level. This means that you have an ability to learn new things and hold onto them more than most people. I am not surprised at your score in the least. You prove your IQ every day by learning from others. The fact that you are loving and tolerant towards all has nothing to do with it, what we can learn does not necessarily give us our values and morals. Your gift lies with people. There is so much more wonder to come by, and I know you will find it!

Answer 5

I.Q. measures certain useful aspects of intelligence. However, there are other aspects of intelligence that aren't measured by an I.Q. test because we don't know how, or there are newer tests that do that.

It does not measure ethics, or degree of laziness, or what experiences you went through that made education not as important as it is for some, thus you might be very intelligent, and not well educated. Someone else might be well educated, but not very intelligent.

My own tests came out around 159 when I was in my teens and around 179 a while back. My wife was studied in Berkeley as a child due to her intelligence quotients and other factors.

Our baby just read her first words at 18 months and has a vocabulary that would make most kindergarten teachers faint (I'm a teacher, myself).

Despite all that, I'm telling you: Intelligence is learned. The factors that are genetic are minor compared to experience. We helped our daughter reach where she is, and she'll help her children in turn.

Maybe she'll have some peers smart enough that she doesn't have to pretend to be less intelligent like my wife and I had to? We'll see.

Answer 6

Well the problem is at a certain point on the IQ test you start to become dumb. The reason is you are so smart you can't understand the little things in life. IQ indicates more of a problem solving/understanding or pattern recognition abilities. It usually indicates that the person will be quite intelligent and able to function better than most in society.

Answer 7

It is my understanding that the IQ tests measure ones ability to learn and comprehend...not how much a person already knows. Your test score is above average by quite a bit so your ability to learn should be above average also. I too am comparatively uneducated but have been tested in the high 140's and I can't honestly say that I appear to be more intelligent than anyone else.

Answer 8

The measurement of the Intelligence Quotient (I.Q.) is an inexact science, particularly with extremely high I.Q.s, as the latter are subject to problems such as small sample sizes (because so few people have I.Q.s at this level), as well as the fact that many tests are not designed to measure such high I.Q.s.

As a side note here,...
Multiple Intelligence Theory (M.I.) is thought by some to be a better measure of overall intellect than I.Q., but it is a matter of debate.
I find M.I. an intriguing theory, but its comparative value is arguable as M.I. tends to 'redefine' what intelligence is, as opposed to expanding on the classical definition.
Given this, I stand with the critics of M.I. who hold that the theory is ad hoc.

p.s.
[I ran into this in another post the other day; hope you find it useful]:
Ranges for the Wechsler Intelligence tests :

Very superior 130+
Superior 120-129
High Average 110-119
Average 109-90
Low Average 80-89
Borderline 70-79
Extremely Low 69 and below

Answer 9

I think that's the whole point of the IQ test. Your 'Intelligence Quotient' (IQ) is an assessment of your innate intelligence and problem-solving ability, not your learning. (I think 100 is the average score, so 134-136 is quite good.) In theory it should be possible to give the test to someone who has had no formal education and it should still give an accurate reflection of their intelligence - although this is a debatable claim.

Answer 10

IQ is not the measure of knowledge, it is the measure on how your brain processes knowledge. Recently, the very idea of IQ has come under fire, as recent studies show that there may be as many as 8 different types of IQ (Current IQ scores are reflective of all 8 combined into one score).

Intelligence is the ability to take what you know and apply it to the current situation.

Knowledge is facts that you have learned and retain.