What is your opinion on IQ testing?

Most of them work on deductive reasoning skills and time. They tend to be testing for a specific problem-solving skill set. I am not surprised to hear you test well.
Fluther can be very unpleasant about this topic, brace yourself.

I believe that intelligence testing is mostly bs, ruins peoples self esteem, and makes the highest scoring more likely to be conceited.

I scored 140 in grade 6 and 98th percentile in a mental hospital in 2012, and It just puts unnecessary stress on the patients who score high or low.

It was my obsession to raise my scores ever since my grade six intelligence test score of 140. It ruined my life, but gave me meaning in junior high school and beyond.

I switched from a sports personality to an academic minded student, and made it to university barely. I would have liked to be more natural in my pursuit of meaning and not artificial like the route that I took most of my life.

@RedDeerGuy1 I am sorry you went through all that, but that is not the norm.

I don’t put much stock in them. Every website I’ve ever been on, every time there’s a topic about IQ, self-reported scores are always above 130. Literally no one ever reports a score below 130 (or if they do, 90–95% of reported scores are above 130). I’ll change my mind if maybe I see a more realistic spread, but even then I don’t really believe that IQ tests test anything other than one’s ability to do well on an IQ test, which is admittedly not something just anyone will do well on, but I don’t think the tests are an accurate measure of “intelligence” more broadly.

IQ tests are testing a real, but narrow kind of intelligence. It’s definitely the case that most people you think of as very intelligent tend to score well on it.

But IQ tests are just a TRUCKLOAD of caveats that people never remember to factor in. They’re not worthless, but they’re also never the ‘whole story’. They are PROFOUNDLY influenced by someone’s environment and educational background. They DO NOT reveal some intrinsic intelligence that bypasses those factors—- which is how they’re often talked about.

So if they’re being used in a limited and responsible way…I’ve no problem with them. They can be informative. They can be a good way to put some kind of number to a thing that can be hard to quantify. But they need to be approached with a healthy dose of skepticism. Don’t just be like “Well, that’s the number. No arguing with that!”

I had a very close friend who was obviously extremely intelligent. She told me she took the test to get into Mensa and surpassed it. They then gave her another test, and she surpassed that one. They gave her the highest test they had, and she did fine.

She was also one of the most tragically flawed people I’ve ever known. She was too smart for her own good. She was arrogant and wouldn’t broach her own shortcomings. She made enemies everywhere she went including with me in the end. She died earlier this year.

I remember taking the IQ test in high school with a counselor. I know my score was between 120 and 130, but I don’t remember the number. That was more than 40 years ago. I’m certain I’m not that smart any more. What’s more, I don’t care.

I am much more interested in emotional intelligence. I like people who are actively working on themselves and healing the crap that life threw at them as children. I’m also more interested in compassion. I want to see how people are adding value to their communities. Are they giving back to others? That’s the intelligence I want to see.

@canidmajor Ok thanks. I’m obsessed with improving my mental stats. It’s why I was so interested in ability scores from Dungeons and Dragons. I would say that I am as smart as Captain America and less than Tony Stark from Iron Man. When I first thought that I was depressed that it wasn’t higher. instead of appreciating what I had.

I put too much stress on myself so much that I need therapy. I will bring the topic up with my psychologist today.

It tests your ability….not your current knowledge base.

@Demosthenes The online tests of which you speak are jokes. The WAIS IV is more reliable and comes the closest we’ll probably ever get to testing intelligence. Very interesting article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wechsler_Adult_Intelligence_Scale

The WAIS is founded on Wechsler’s definition of intelligence, which he defined as ”... the global capacity of a person to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with his environment.”[3] He believed that intelligence was made up of specific elements that could be isolated, defined, and subsequently measured. However, these individual elements were not entirely independent, but were all interrelated. His argument, in other words, is that general intelligence is composed of various specific and interrelated functions or elements that can be individually measured.[4]

I know my score from Junior High school, confirmed with my SAT score for college. I had a college counselor that gave me an application for MENSA but never joined !

It is a test.

It’s a test. It tests what it tests for. Such tests tend to test for speed, and ability and eagerness to engage the types of problems it poses. And those things are a limited view on limited types of problem-solving skills (and obedience, and conformity).

Online IQ tests, on the other hand, tend to test whether or not they can lure you into giving them money. If you do give them money, you failed. The most interesting thing I learned from an online IQ test site, was that if I took the sample test while extremely fatigued, I scored 30 points lower (120-something) than I had previously, when I was rested (150-something).

IQ testing was originally devised by Alfred Binet with the intent to identify children who needed more help in school, but unfortunately about no one else took that view and instead it became a means for discrimination and elitism.

Studying and measuring cognitive ability might seem like an interesting area of study, and it really ought to be, but a lot of the research is rooted in early 20th century elitism and classism, and the narrow-minded value-laden nonsense of the era.

You can probably see how the very nature of this topic is going to inevitably lead to it being a propaganda tool to justify inequality and hierarchy. It’s right up there with economics as dismal science, in my view, and it’s no coincidence that IQ is fetishised so much by reactionaries.

There’s a pretty good book called What Intelligence Tests Miss: The Psychology of Rational Thought, which delineates intelligence (at least as measured by IQ tests) from rationality. Basically, there’s no correlation: you could have an IQ of 200 and still make bad inferences and irrational decisions.

IQ as a predictor of “life success” is regularly touted, but it’s pretty flimsy and other traits are far more important factors (being a charismatic liar is far more useful, for example.)

I have a friend who aces IQ test. She can look at a question and give you an answer in a few minutes at most, whether it’s logical or mathematical related. I can’t look at those tests without feeling nauseous and pain in my brain. By IQ standard, she is a genius and I would be lucky to score 100, so I’m effectively mentally disabled.

My friend also has a bad track record for scams. She would look at a FB ad for something too good to be true and fall for it just as quickly as she does her test. She has been falling for several pyramid schemes over and over, and the latest scheme seems to be some kind of entrepreneur cult. And why am I saying that? Because it has always been me who warned her about them over and over again.

Make it what you will.

@Mimishu1995 Your friend is a good example of how IQ has no correlation with rationality.

I know I am the epitome of gullible and sarcasm can fly right over my head. I worse than Data from Star Trek. lol

I think they can be useful, but there is much more to a person than what those tests test for. I bet I score higher than my husband on IQ tests, or very close to the same, but he is much more successful in his career than me, because he works harder, naturally has more perseverance, and doesn’t get so psyched out by crap that happens in the workplace.

They can help get children get recognized as having potential who might be overlooked otherwise. Teachers might discount very smart children based on outward appearance or behaviors.

Some people freeze up on tests, so their number might be inaccurate. I do think IQ tests evaluate to some extent deductive reasoning and logic and scoring very low or very high probably means something. I score high on IQ (96th 97th percentile) but since my comprehension and overall achievement was fairly average in school it was like I was always falling short, which is not fun to be told when you are growing up or as an adult for that matter. People make you feel like you are wasting your intelligence.

Certainly ten points here or there means nothing, and no one should feel superior or inferior based on IQ tests.

I scored off the chart on an IQ test as a child, I got 100% on a mechanical ability test when I joined the military, and scored very high in reading comprehension and vocabulary. 25 years ago. But seriously, I hate IQ tests, and tests in general.

As I think about it, I know why I hate them. Because even though I have scored so well on those particular tests, I have utterly failed failed other tests. And at this point I’m just kind of disgusted by the whole thing.

Tests, whether we are talking about IQ tests or some test for school, just measures your ability to take a test. It doesn’t really say how well you do at life.

Something like this
https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4235

They are good at measuring ability to do IQ tests but not much else.

IQ as a predictor of success is studied. Here’s one article. https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2022/07/11/does-iq-determine-success-a-psychologist-weighs-in.html

My guess is @Caravanfan has a very high IQ. His article is interesting too.

If you’re very interested in the topic there is a lot of research, criticism, and opinion on the matter.

The @Caravanfan article mentions the Flynn effect related to the increase in IQ scores over time. Here is discussion of this given by Flynn.

I believe there is a marked tendency to assume test scores indicative of coping skills. It would probably be a shocking revelation to discover the costs imposed on us through this single mistake.

I think the problem with using IQ tests is that there are several variations and the scales have changed over the years. But as has been mentioned, people tend to look at IQ scores as an indication of how smart they are which is probably erroneous to say is true 100% of the time.

I’m going to give a somewhat uncomfortable answer. Your IQ can be measured, it is well correlated with certain things in your life such as career success. It’s certainly not the final say and it does not measure everything that’s “smart” such as spatial intelligence, creativity, experience, work ethic etc… It’s a baseline that measures how fast your mind works. That speed has wide ranging implications. In my honest opinion there is a sweet spot for this and it’s just a little above average, like in the top 30–40% but below the top 10% or so. Just right of the bell curve but not in the flattened area. These are people that can associate with people smarter and less intelligent equally. They’re smart enough to do pretty much what they want but they’re not crippled by boredom. If you’re on the upper part of the scale it’s hard to adjust around regular people. They’re afraid of you, you intimidate them and they’ll go to great lengths to put you down. Very smart people may not even realize how smart they are until adulthood. On the flip side, if you’re somewhat dull, say an IQ of around 80, everything is a struggle. You have trouble with anything other than the most basic tasks. The army likely will not even take you because you’re generally untrainable in any useful way. If you look at the bell curve and see just how many people are on that side, it’s saddening. That said, it’s not the end of the world. People will generally have talents to make up for the lack of speed like creativity. I think Andy Warhol was reported to have an IQ in the 80–90 range, same with Al Capone. I don’t know my own IQ but I’m reasonably sure I’m in that sweet spot range and am pretty thankful for that. I can tell most people on Fluther are as well

Have they stopped doing IQ testing in school? I assume not since the OP knows hers. When I was in school we were only told the percentile not the score.

My dad, who I assume is genius level it close to it, gets very frustrated when other people just can’t understand what he is talking about, and I remind him 99% of people aren’t as “smart” as he is. Their deductive reasoning, memory, and logic is not at the same level. Like I said above, I’m not talking about ten points here and there, or even 20, but as the jelly above points out, the lower side of the bell curve will struggle with some concepts, but they can be stellar at many different things.

It’s important to know that we have different levels of IQ out there to help with communication, teaching, and many different reasons.

Identifying children with high IQ I think is still useful. I don’t know now, but back in the day NYC schools tested for many things, including to go to the magnet science schools or fast track programs. Thank goodness they had this testing. My dad hated school and got average grades, was defiant with teachers as a little kid and didn’t learn to read until 3rd grade. He wound up in the fast track doing three years in two in jr. high and tested well on SAT’s and went to college for free in the city. He had a guidance counselor in high school tell him he shouldn’t go to college. Her subjective view of him sucked and was not congruent with his actual academic ability.

@JLeslie I never had one in school that I remember. The OP did not say how she was tested.

@Blackwater_Park You might not have known. I don’t know how old you are. The IQ tests really came under a lot of fire in the ‘80’s. People felt they were very biased and racist. Some school districts felt it was detrimental to share scores with children, because they might compare themselves to other children. I knew my score, but I didn’t know anyone else’s, we didn’t talk about it among ourselves as children, so I don’t know how real that fear was. We were told over and over when we took the tests that they aren’t graded, just do our best, as little pressure as possible.

It would have been in the 80’s. I’m in my mid 40’s. I would have taken a childhood score with a grain of salt though. I was honestly pretty stupid as a kid. I truly did not develop until my 20’s

Agree with @flutherother.
Means you’re good at taking tests.

@Blackwater_Park IQ scores shouldn’t change much from childhood to adulthood.

@JLeslie IQ is time-weighted and tend to be less reliable the younger someone is until reaching adulthood. Also, looking into what tests schools gave, they were not IQ tests. Not proper ones but more like abbreviated, loosely correlated cognitive skills tests. Childhood scores on these tests are unreliable.

My IQ has stayed fairly consistent from 6th/7th (I can’t remember which year was the test) through to adulthood. I took a test out of curiosity about twelve years ago and I scored one percentile better, in other words the same percentile as when I was 11-ish. So that’s just comparing to others. I didn’t see the score when I was young, just the percentile. They tried to track me into honors but I was too lazy to work on improving my reading comprehension, I hated reading.

How did you get tested? Does it not take like a couple hours and cost a lot?

^^The test I took as an adult I bought, I think in a book store, I don’t remember for sure. Halfway through the test I thought why am I doing this? Lol. A lot of unnecessary work.

I thought I was going to score lower, but it wound up being consistent with my school tests.

It is troubling the assumptions people will make regarding those scores.

@HP I almost never hear people talk about IQ anymore. What assumptions are people making? I’m not in academia, so I don’t know how it’s talked about there, but just among average people I don’t hear it mentioned. Once in a blue moon someone brings up Mensa.

@JLeslie I did one of those. It said I was smarter than I am, not to be trusted. I have looked at other IQ proxies like ACT,GMAT, GRE etc… They’re all over the place for me so I don’t trust any of them for measuring IQ either. Since I have never had a legit, proctored IQ test, I don’t know what it is. Best I can tell it’s between 105–136 so in other words, I have no idea. The amount of people who claim to be 130+ in conversations like this are um, not possible. People either overestimate or underestimate it. Few really know what it is, not that it really matters anyway.

The test I took was through my school and sponsored by the military since I was considering going into the military after I graduate school to get into the medical field. The score I stated was what they told me it was, sorry if you don’t believe me. Since some here are so skeptical I did do another test online from MENSA but they only gave me 25 minutes so I ran out of time. I still got a 118 and it was a hard test. Unfortunately for me I can not join any branch of the military since I have epilepsy unless I have been seizure free for 5 years :(

@RayaHope We can all tell you’re intelligent because you’re talking to all of us with an average age of like 40 something while you’re still a teenager. Beyond that you’re seeing the same issue I am with all of this IQ stuff, Inconsistency. Is your IQ 118 or in the top 1%? You don’t know because of the inconsistency and both of those tests are tainted with motives for you to sign up for something… Like the free mensa test is apparently going to overestimate to get you to sign up for the real one you have to pay for. Is the score the army test gave you really your score or is it fluffed up to get you to enlist? Online test intended to sell you something? Unless it’s a proctored, official test free from external motivations, you don’t really know.

@Blackwater_Park Sometimes I think I am cursed and wish I wasn’t smart. I hate thinking so much and kind of wish I was just normal and happy being average. I had to grow up too fast and I missed out on being a kid.

My job when I worked in a psych hospital was to examine patients using a variety of tests, then giving those results to the hospital’s Psychology PhD. The WAIS-IV (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale), 4th Edition is the most widely accepted IQ test, and it must be administered by a person who is trained in giving and scoring it, to another person. Personally, I don’t trust any other IQ tests, especially those developed to take by yourself.

It has 10 core and 5 supplemental subtests divided into separate sections. A score is given for each subtest, and then it is averaged into an overall Full Scale IQ. It is used to assess intellectual ability in adults and adolescents ages 16–90 and provides information about specific cognitive abilities across various domains.

@RayaHope Being smart is not all fun and games, there is a dark side too it. That said, make no mistake, it is a gift and you have an obligation to use it.

@RayaHope You’re very lucky to have some smarts. Don’t regret your brain, use it well. So many people have less than 100 IQs through no fault of their own and would give anything to be smarter.

@Blackwater_Park Lol, fair enough. I certainly didn’t feel like the test I bought was some sort of gold standard.

Although, it wouldn’t surprise me if most active jellies are on the right side of the bell curve, and not by a little.

@JLeslie No doubt about it. Jellies are creative, curious, open to new experience, well read, engaged… All traits of people on that side of the curve.

@JLeslie I think more emphasis was placed on the tests with kids in the 60s. Sputnik panicked America and there was this sudden rush to find and push “the smart ones”. I can remember the test being administered district wide when I was in the 8th grade. I asked the combat nun what it was all about and was told it was going on nationwide for 7th & 8th graders. And let me tell you, there then came this less than subtle shift in attitudes regarding what was expected of some of us.

@HP I agree with you on all of that.

Plus, the book The Bell Curve (was that the ‘80’s?). I’m a little surprised that hasn’t been dragged out by the QAnons.

IQ test results are of interest when there are changes in the scores that groups of people get. The Flynn effect, which was mentioned above, is a good indicator that the type of skills and training we receive today are notably different from a 100 years ago.