The problems with intelligence testing and their many confusing correlations. Part 1

Can Intelligence Be Measured With a Single Number?

"Yes and no. One of the most serious criticisms of using a single number to assess intelligence is that people may be stronger in certain areas such as verbal skills, logical aptitude or spatial visualization than in others. . .More commonly, though, purely intellectual abilities tend to be uniformly high or uniformly low in a given individual, leading to the concept of an underlying "g" or "general intelligence". . ."

"It's also easier to make an IQ score that's lower than your true IQ than it is to make a score that's higher. Taking a test on a bad day, or spending too much time on a few difficult items could artificially lower one's score. The best results are obtained when more than one test is administered."

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While some may try to dismiss the importance of intelligence and testing for it, due to the problems with the testing, overall the tests are strongly predictive of performance and success in life. 


"IQ is strongly related to many important educational, occupational, economic, and social outcomes. It's relation to the welfare and performance of individuals is very strong in some arenas of life (education, military training) moderate but robust in others (social competence) and modest but consistent in others. (Law abiding-ness) Whatever IQ tests measure, it is of great practical and social importance."
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The newest studies have confirmed that separate tests for short-term memory, reasoning and verbal skills are preferred to measure someone's overall intelligence or g.

Whatever the test, in any of those areas though, we can see some pretty obvious patterns, stereotypes and correlations, that I will get into later in my series, as well a less ambiguous things to do with biology that are dead giveaways to show intelligence. . . but for now (just to let you know that I'm fully aware of the shortcomings of the testing), let's talk about the exceptions. Some of which we still don't understand, like:

•  the child raised as the eldest in a family being likely to have a higher IQ than his or her siblings.

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• The Flynn effect, showing IQ is rising a little over generations since the test was started. This is easily accounted for by a focus on education where there was none in some places, computers and continued selection for smart genes. . .
•  IQ tests are noted as inaccurately low with people who have a learning disability of many sorts (as long as it is not mental retardation) such as Autism, Aspergers, ADD, ADHD, Dyspraxia or a form of epilepsy (petit mal/absence/complex partial/TLE). When the average or high IQ is given to the child with Aspergers or ADD, it is likely accurate, but may not seem so, due to their distract-ability or incompetence in other areas of disinterest. "ADD is like having erectile dysfunction of the mind. If the task [like the IQ test] is something that really interests you, you're up for it and can perform. If it's not something that turns you on, you can't get it up and you're not able to perform." The capacity to focus and mobilize executive functions for a task depends primarily on release of dopamine in specific areas of the brain and that release of dopamine is not under voluntary control."

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Many smart people are considered Sociopaths. They are the typical geek in their mother's basement, the drug addict, the Sherlock, vs. the Mycroft. (Although Mycroft is simply a little more disguised as a sociopath.) They are more likely to be socially unacceptable, freethinking, and considered eccentric, if not crazy. This leads some to discount high IQ scores, and it's connection to wealth and success.

 A smaller brain is also seen in some with registered high IQ including those with: Schizophrenia, manic depressive disorder, OCD (think Monk) and bi-polar. . .leading me to believe it could be a case of defected or unmatched genetics of a large scull with a small brain. (Something I will get into later in my series.)

• The very high IQ scores are also notoriously inaccurate and inconsistent, especially on the online tests. 

All the various tests can do is discover the very low scorers among children, and these scores are quite accurate. The difference between a 79 and a 69 is highly noticeable, and the test can determine which is which and the reasons why.

Notoriously the tests are timed as well, and some people, being over thinkers and questioning themselves, take longer then others. (This was noted about Einstein. Also as a child on one IQ test Einstein measured 186. On another 160.)
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• the apparent "favoring" of certain sexes, different Socio economic statuses, or "cultures". (Read here to hear the argument and correlation that low IQ has with poor SES)

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• old age lowers both reasoning ability and memory, and makes earlier testing and scores void.
• the short term effect of educational and home environment on young children. . .
• whether or not you are motivated to take it. Are you actually paying attention (or distracted?) and trying in other words. Studies have seen bribes to change scores in the very low IQ, who otherwise apparently would not try. As the scientists say though, "These results don’t mean IQ scores are meaningless as indicators of cognitive ability. . . Indeed, IQ remained a significant predictor of life outcomes, even taking motivation into account, and IQ scores were a better predictor of academic achievement than test motivation. Nevertheless, the study highlights the fact that motivation is an important contributor to IQ test performance. "

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• Then there's creativity. The correlations with creative people to intelligence makes us automatically link them together. . . but it's complicated.

Live "test administrators can detect problem solving styles and test interpretation in their subject, which can help explain why a creative student may have trouble with the standardized IQ test."

Source: Psychology Today

• Creativity is also linked to being deemed "crazy". . .(This should give us pause before judging someone with "different" or heretical thoughts.)

"Creativity has been shown to have links with genius, yet creativity still seems to exist in ways that go above cognitive thinking skills. . .certain genes that predispose you towards schizophrenia are also the genes responsible for a person's creative abilities."

Creative people, as opposed to analytical and mathematical thinkers, due to their out of the box thinking and over analyzing also do not score well on automated and times tests, and need a personal touch in order to better assess their brilliance I have read.
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There seems to be a confusion of what intelligence actually means! Often nebulous, nit picky definitions are invented to include more and more people, in order to be politically correct.

Sadly, due to personal bias and experience, intelligent and stupid people use these excuses to merely change the subject or stop the debate. That is not honest debate. In fact, I refuse to debate those who do not debate fairly using evidence. 

We can generally tell intelligence from stupidity in others, but when defining it for ourselves, it becomes harder to really break it down.

 Researchers break intelligence into two (or more) categories. The first they call Fluid Intelligence or IQ, which is your raw ability to perceive relationships, reason and solve problems independent of any specific experience or education.

The second is everything you have experienced and learned, including being street smart. This is often called Crystallized Intelligence. It is the two working together that produce your total intelligence. While education and training can clearly improve Crystallized Intelligence, it is believed by most that Fluid Intelligence is fixed by some point in the teen-age years. 

Also, the short-term memory and verbal skills needed for intelligence to be utilized are not in some people with a measured high IQ at one time or another in their life. So while IQ tests presume you have a memory and good verbal skills to go with it, there are exceptions and so all are needed to measure someone's overall intelligence.
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All these confusions and exceptions of genuine intelligence can be easily explained away though when you understand how multifaceted the big picture is with intelligence testing and their many correlations. Sadly, few are honest enough to look deeply and holistically into this highly touchy subject. . . 

The fact is though, just as aptitude or achievement test done in schools across the world show pretty conclusively where a child will fall in their readiness for a particular grade, in the same way an IQ test shows their readiness for the work force, and life in general. 

(Because of the fluctuations with school aged children and the inaccuracy of IQ tests early on though, IQ tests are generally only considered useful indicators of intelligence around the 3rd grade.)

"Intelligence tests were originally devised by Alfred Binet to measure children's ability to succeed in school. They do in fact predict school performance fairly well. . .Successful school learning depends on many personal characteristics other than intelligence, such as persistence, interest in school, and willingness to study. The encouragement for academic achievement that is received from peers, family and teachers may also be important, together with more general cultural factors."


"The relationship between test scores and school performance seems to be ubiquitous. Wherever it has been studied, children with high scores on tests of intelligence tend to learn more of what is taught in school than their lower-scoring peers." According to renowned intelligenceologists IQ scores were "the best single predictor of an individual's years of education."

The fact is, based on your inherited IQ from one ancestor or another. . .you can usually tell your chances of getting an education, which often but not always leads to your future job and finally financial success. . .if all else mentioned above is relatively going your way.

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There is much more to an IQ score than getting an education and job though. Looking at all the correlations in my next post called 
"The correlations, associations and tendencies of smart people, Part 2"you will see the high IQ people as never before. . .