what actually is inteligence? Is an IQ test actually a good indication as to how inteligent someone is?

Answer 1

You can be clever and have absolutely no common sense..... do I call that intelligence? Nope.

My idea of intelligence is, someone having common sense, being bright, up together with current affairs, able to hold a sensible conversation, have their own views and ideas and not being swayed by others opinions, but knowing when to hold their tongue.

Answer 2

Intelligence is the human ability to be able to think without any external stimulus. This means that a rat who is taught to find its way through a maze cannot be considered to be intelligent.

An IQ test is not, as its initials suggests a measure of intelligence, but a measure of logic. Thus if someone gets a high score in an IQ test, then they can be considered logical.

Unfortunately, Mensa and such like organisations tend to think that if you are logical, then you are intelligent. There are many cases of very clever people with a high IQ score who make fundamental mistakes in (for example) opening their mouths before thinking about the reactions of what they say has on other people.

So the answer is no - it is not a good measure of intelligence.

Answer 3

IQ tests were developed in WW1 by Americans because they thought that some people would be too stupid to be of any use in the army. Rather strangely, if you passed the test, you were smart enough to go off and get killed, but if you failed, you didn't have to serve.

Intelligence is the ability to understand, retain and use information. It comes in many forms, so it's possible to be intelligent in one way, but not another. That's why brilliant musicians aren't necessarily great sports players. These two activities require different intelligences.

Answer 4

I don't think an IQ test can really show someones inteligence, people could be intelligent in many different ways, && a bunch of random questions cant really show that..

Answer 5

Throughout history people have tried to measure intelligence. However I do not believe it has been achieved. An I.Q test really only measures a persons ability to learn, if they do not fullfill this ability then the test is pointless. The real strength I think is in the mind, and I don't know a way of measuring that.

Answer 6

IQ tests are a pretty good indicator of how successful your life will be. I've got a link to a table of the results of a pretty big study of how IQ affects life. The higher the IQ, the less likely you are to end up in prison, on welfare, a single mother, drop out of school, and the more you earn.

http://photos1.blogger.com/photoInclude/blogger/6858/1116/1600/1198gottfred_table.gif

Although, you do get the odd muppet who scores well but can't tie their own shoelaces. But generally, that's not the rule.

Answer 7

Normally intelligent people are only intelligent in the field they studied for their careers. I had a boy working for me from the age of 15 to 18. He would pack shopping for the customers, eggs at the bottom, potatoes on top, and so on. He graduated at uni, and is now under head of a boys school.
Many of my customers have high I.Qs but are as thick as two short planks. If people assume they are highly intelligent they should be able to do most things, including opening the can the beans are in!

Answer 8

Depends. IQ tests are just one way of gauging intelligence, albeit a well used one. There are various types of intelligence which use different skills that your brain may have learned.

Just about everyone's brain is about the same size with a similar number of cells, so they must be doing something. Ok there are some exceptions..

Answer 9

Nope.

Bought a book around 10 years ago which taught you how to do IQ tests and increased it by 40 points. Did I become more intelligent? No, just became better at IQ tests.

Answer 10

It can show levels of logic but most people can learn how to take IQ tests so I wouldn't rely on them.