NOO how could the interweb man do this to me?1?!
There's no IQ test here. There never was.
Let me start off saying: I own the Internet.
At least judging by the sheer numbers of people who fell for the IQ-Challenge.com test, proudly posting their supposed IQ to gloat about it at their friends. Crowing about their own genius, usually despite "I don't put a lot of credence in these tests." And then, never the less, posting their score proudly.
And then the comments begin. "You look like a moron to me. Here's MY magnificent score!"
It's like one gigantic global-scale penis contest.
Anyway, it's human nature. Everbody's got to feel like they're above average, superior, better at something. I tracked allof the LJ conversations that resulted from the IQ-Challenge.com meme, and probably 80% of the people insisted, even after discovering they'd been duped, that their IQ's really have been tested in the 150-210 range. It's like the geneology experts of old-- if you pay someone to investigate your ancestors, they almost always find some incredible historic figure you're related to. It's just good business.
Do you really think that people generally come away from IQ testing with an average 100 score, like they should? No. IQ tests generally measure people to be above average. It's just good business.
So I guess everybody is above average. We all live in Lake Wobegon!
This gets back to human nature. Everybody wants to feel special. And if you can claim "scientific" backup for your specialness, all the better!
Except there's no science involved. "Intelligence" is a fantastically complicated concept. It involves a dizzying multitude of dimensions and skills, many of which are not innate but learned. There can be predispositions, but it has been shown that people taught various analytical skills do better on IQ tests than those who are not. There's pattern recognition, math, logic, word skills, and so on... It cannot be reduced to a single composite number. That's just ludicrous.
So, they test your capacity to answer test questions. They try to cover their bases by asking reasoning questions in a variety of dimensions. Is it a crude approximation of ability? Sure.
Are they testing your capacity to take tests? Yeah. That's certainly a part of it.
Now a lot of MENSA types are probably saying, "HA! This guy's just a poor-scorer on IQ tests and he's jealous!"
Well, to the best of my knowledge, I've never taken an IQ test, or at least one I've been told the results of. And I never intend to.
There's only two likely outcomes:
1) A below average score. You'll feel like a git for the rest of your life, and it will be a self-limiting factor. "I'm below average" will always be in the back of your mind.
2) An above average score. You'll ACT like a git for the rest of your life, feeling pointlessly superior to the people around you.
People in MENSA and the even more exclusive organizations really annoy me. It's not about what you've done with your assets, it's the assets you have. In that sense, it's exactly like any posh billionaire's club. What? You don't have a billion dollars? You are contemptible scum, and you are unwelcome.
That's the point of such clubs. You can sit on an IQ of ten million (point in fact, I don't think they really go much above 200) and do nothing with it but excellent crossword puzzles, and somehow you're a better person than someone who dedicates their life to the advancement of a cause, despite adversity?
That's pretty twisted.
So no, I don't think any good can come of IQ tests. Especially IQ tests that tell normal high school kids that they're magnificent geniuses, which sets up the expectation that life owes them some homage. And then reality comes along in adult life, and they've squandered opportunities thinking themselves above them. In that sense, the IQ-testing people have done these folks a massive dis-service.
Anyway, enough ranting.