IQ Tests. Thoughts?

[teawill]

I'm fully aware of the fact that some people care about this more than others, but I mean, we're in a comm about being a personality type so maybe some of us would like to discuss other psych tests, too

Comments

[scratched]

IQ is a good determinant of how well you'll perform in school and little else. Actually, there seems to be a correlation between how "smart" you are and how much you fail at life.

My IQ is waaaaaaay high (in the 140s) and I've totally sucked at most things. In fact, sometimes I feel like all the pressure put on me academically from a very early age left me in a state of arrested development and only now in my late 20s am I learning how to really live -- and interact with other people.

I don't know if it's simply being an INTJ type or if it's my intelligence, but I've always been very dismissive of other people -- it's something I've had to consciously work on. I'm learning where my weaknesses lie. I'm not afraid to ask for help when I know I'm not an expert (or even have a passing familiarity with the subject).

But if I think I know about it, especially if I think I know more than you about it, I'm going to argue and I'm never going to accept that I'm wrong until you can prove otherwise. I think that's probably typical INTJ

[drandomtuba]

A lot of this felt like I was talking about myself, except that I still need to work on interacting with people... a lot.

[7ofclubs]

IQ is a good determinant of how well you'll perform in school and little else

Not necessarily even that, since you can be smart and lazy, as I was.

[wetdryvac]

*shrugs

[never_a_dream]

IQ tests do not predict success, therefore they're useless. Does it matter if my IQ is 120 or 140? Not in my opinion.

IQ tests are created by highly educated white males. Do I believe that these people have a good grasp of what is intelligence? No, not really. Do I believe that they can accurately measure intelligence? NO! People who place weight on IQ tests generally view society and prestige differently than I choose to. These people may have a simplistic notion of intelligence, or instead view it as knowledge rather than ability(They should measure ability). The INTJ is generally not impressed with societal achievements, or society's general definition of success. I'm not exactly sure why INTJs would be interested in IQ tests and their results in the first place.

I'm not interested in how 'smart' a select group of individuals may find me to be. The results of such a test would not benefit me either way, therefore I resolve not to take one. I certainly don't need a test to tell me what I may already know.

[scratched]

^ this.

[ammonoid]

My IQ was tested as a kid, and my mom wouldn't give me the results but I think it was pretty high. I'm an INTJ.

However I personally thing that IQ testing is silly. Its just a test. The tests are biased and have been shown again and again to not correlate with success. Raw brainpower is not much use when you don't have any social skills and can't get along with people. Plus I've run into plenty of people who are obviously very smart who have zero empathy and are basically sociopaths. Having an high IQ doesn't make you a good person, or able to work hard to accomplish a goal, or any thing else really.

[irrational84]

I'm not a teacher or anything, but I guess they can be used to determine when a student may need some kind of adjustment to their curriculum, whether they need to go slower or faster or something else entirely. It's not perfect, though, as others here have thoroughly explained. Aside from that, I don't care very much about IQ scores (although some of those puzzles can be pretty fun).

If you don't mind my nosiness, teawill, why did you take the test?

[suitablyemoname]

I'm not a teacher or anything, but I guess they can be used to determine when a student may need some kind of adjustment to their curriculum, whether they need to go slower or faster or something else entirely.

Wouldn't the teacher's own observations be a much more reliable basis for such decisions than a biased intelligence test?

[meepalicious]

Just tossing this in for giggles, but relying on the teacher's observations can cause a whole slew of other bias-related problems. Asian-American students, for example, are more likely to be put into gifted programs and less likely to be given special education when needed because of the "model minority" stereotype. Students who are quiet, verbally adept and do their work are more likely to be put in gifted programs than the class clown, even though a lot of gifted kids act out in the classroom just for something entertaining to do.

Obviously, neither means is perfect. Maybe some combination of the two? I don't think IQ testing, per se, is what's needed, but some sort of skills-based testing in multiple areas might work well in addition to teacher observations and probably interviews with the student by the program director…

[suitablyemoname]

And if schools had the money to have a child psychologist in every classroom, that might work. For the time being, testing and teachers is all we have