IQ test

[alextemplet]

Does anyone know how reliable the IQ scale is? We always talk about low or high IQs as if intelligence is a definite, exact quantity, sort of like measuring the speed of car. But let's face it, many of us can be geniuses in one field and complete dolts in another. I, for example, am pretty knowledgeable in science and history but near-worthless in art. I think my best drawings were those stick-figures I did in kindergarten. I've never taken an IQ test, but I have a friend who has. He scored pretty low, but he can draw, paint, play music, and sing like no one else I've ever seen. I know artistic skill may not equate to intelligence as far as being able to comprehend and retain information, but if you think about how precisely the brain has to control the fingers while playing an instrument or drawing a picture, and you realize that has to require a significant degree of mental capacity. So back to my original question, exactly what does the IQ scale measure and how reliable is it?

[Squawkbox]

It does measure IQ but in a logical and lateral thinking sense. So you are likely to have a higher IQ if you are the sort of person who learns and understands the mechanism of something so you can apply it to different things than if you just memorise all the facts. there is an IQ test at http://www.bbc.co.uk/testthenation/iq/ and http://uk.tickle.com/ you can do.

[Linn]

no me dummy

I took it and am just ordinary and average. no genius here.
but I have heard of emotional IQ too
I will probably score low there

[alextemplet]

I have heard of emotional IQ too

See, that's what I'm talking about, though. Intelligence is vast and can apply to many different things. The standard IQ test may measure a person's ability to think logically, but that doesn't necessarily make that person smarter than, say, an extremely creative world-famous artist. The two are both intelligent, just in different fields. I'm not proposing any way to fix the flaws in the current IQ test, since I don't have any ideas on that; I'm just saying that some people treat it like an absolute, and it's not.

[Linn]

that is so true
take for example savants
i mean what is that about/ you have this guy who sat down one day and starts playing a difficult concerto on the piano without ever having been taught, yet he needs someone to help him bath and dress because of severe mental retardation! its interesting too, that a lot of the great minds were also a bit... deranged.
just some thoughts
and does any one know about the hands usage theory?

if you use your left hand your a different type of thinker than a righty and if you use both, (like i did before the nunzies beat it out of me)
then what?
your really weird hah?

really thanx Alex now I have to go research this

[alextemplet]

Your welcome. Let us all research it so we can someday learn everything there is to know, and then we shall make slaves of the uneducated types. Just kidding . . . or am I?
The world may never know . . .

[bearhug]

if you use your left hand your a different type of thinker than a righty and if you use both, (like i did before the nunzies beat it out of me)
then what?

There's the left brain, right brain test that determines whether you are a logical thinker or a creative thinker. This has a relationship with whether you are left handed or right handed. I took the test and was both. It was apparantly common for lefties to be both because while writing the mechanism for using your left side is controlled from the right side of the brain and at the same time you use the right side for creative writing or just writing things down in general or something like that. I'm also ambidextrous, I use my left hand for writing and a few other things, but everything else I favor my right hand so maybe that plays a role as well.

The IQ test is considered a reification. The test translates a complex idea into a single number, which helps in assigning people to various groups for learning abilities. However intelligence is such a complex concept. I don't think I would necessarily trust it 100%.

[Linn]

Your welcome. Let us all research it so we can someday learn everything there is to know, and then we shall make slaves of the uneducated types. Just kidding . . . or am I?
The world may never know . . .

too funny!

[atypical10]

I think IQ tests are biased to logic and linguistics. IQ tests mostly test for those areas. IQ tests don't look for musical or spatial intelligence. IQ tests only benefit auditory-seqeuntial learners. Most of the curriculum in public schools are taught in a sequential way and it doesn't meet the needs of people who are visual-spatial learners. I believe in the theory of multiple intelligences that Howard Garner came up with. He believes that there is more than one way to be smart and that there are seven. For example linguistic, logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalist.

[mith]

It's very reliable, but not very valid in terms of measuring intelligence.

[MrMistery]

I absolutely agree with atypical10. If you ask me, you can not break down intelligence in 2-3 categories and say: "If you have all these, you are a genius". Intelligence, if you ask me, is somethings with so many domains, that we will probably never find them all.

I always score average-high-very high at IQ tests. Despite this fact, i am the stupidest person you have ever seen in some fields and quite a sharp cookie in others...
Still haven't been able to figure out what the diacidic sorting sequence does though...

[Linn]

always score average-high-very high at IQ tests. Despite this fact, i am the stupidest person you have ever seen in some fields and quite a sharp cookie in others...
Still haven't been able to figure out what the diacidic sorting sequence does though...

That sounds like me too.

I always wondered if I am
just an oddball thinker. especially in math.
I always sucked in math, until I dicovered that some college
math classes you can self teach and just challenge exam.

I have one math class left for my associate degree
and have been avoiding it like the plague. Because
it is only taught as a lecture
but my classmates say how can you teach yourself?
they need it explained.
I have no problems in any other subject

does that mean I am a visual learner only for math?