Why do people think IQ defines intelligence?

”when in fact application of knowledge is everything.”
Which is what Intelligence is, and which an IQ test actually tests.
You are confusing intelligence with knowledge.

@ragingloli sort of I can see your point however I would consider an IQ test more a test of logic, computers can do logic, but there not intelligent…

@Tobotron
Intelligence is the ability to analys a situation and apply knowledge and logic to solve the problem. Some computer systems can do that and are thus intelligent, to a certain degree.
But they are not (yet) self aware which you seem to conflate with intelligence.

Grades have nothing to do with IQ. Well, what I mean is you can have a high IQ and get horrible grades. Grades have many components, doing the work, applying yourself, reading the materials, paying attention in class.

IQ and knowledge are related in the sense that people with higher IQ’s can attain and assimilate knowledge better than people with low IQ’s. Their ability for logic, how things are organized in their brain, their filing system in their brain is different, more complex.

People with average IQ’s can still be very successful, IQ is not a singular determinar for being successful, not even close. Average IQ paired with ambition, hard work and drive, probably does better than a lazy genius.

People with low IQ’s have it harder, depending on how low, it can be like not being able to understand certain things past the 8th grade level, or take much more time for something to make sense.

IQ tests are more about the speed of your deductive reasoning skills, which do apply in real world situations.

@JilltheTooth I disagree. Yes, they are timed when they take the test, but that is not the main thing about the test. Some people could be given all of the time in the world, and never come up with the answer to certain questions. They simply are unable to understand or process it.

@Tobotron Artificial intelligence is a type of intelligence. @ragingloli is right you are confusing intelligence and self awareness.

I say E.Q. combined with a nice 140 I.Q. is best.

We don’t give enough credit to E.Q.

@zenele why don’t we give enough credit to finding out what individuals are good at and enjoy and then giving them everything at a nations disposal to see them through, rather than trying to create army’s of lawyers and statisticians that don’t really create anything!?

^ I read your post twice. I give up. I don’t understand it.

@Tobotron what if it turns out individuals are “good at and enjoy” sex and violence?

Edit: I’m not sure how to answer this question. Lots of assumptions have been built into the question and description.

@phaedryx I accept that after a bit of thought the question is too largely based on assumption, like you said…just needed some people to bounce some things around for me to see that ;)

It was mainly based on the national average grades for A-level students in the UK that was in the news and my reflection on personal experiences.

I’d close this question if I could now but I guess this should do it :)

I think IQ is just human’s perception for intelligence. It’s our behaviour that define our intelligence. No one can 100%ly measure the intelligence of someone,thus making most IQ tests unreliable.

It’s an indicator and the best way we’ve come up with to measure it. If you take several different IQ tests you will be get differing results. It’s not that important because it’s just one part of a person’s ability to succeed at something.

Media told me so. But Diff’rent Strokes taught me why it wasn’t always accurate.

Artificial Intelligence isn’t intelligence. If it were it would be called “intelligence.”

IQ stands for “Intelligence Quotient.” It would seem that by definition….

@laureth that’s just taking things on face value…you can’t categorise people on a scale of 60–140…

I.Q. is actually just the name for a person’s inborn ability to gather knowledge and apply it. This come easy for some people and is more difficult for others. There is no accurate test for I.Q., so the term has been mostly discredited.

Aside from myself, has anyone else here completed any formal training in human intellectual assessment?

If any of you are expert in some field, would you accept my opinion about what you do as a substitute for your expertise in your field?

This is a complex subject. Opinions based on newspapers and magazine articles and third and fourth hand information are not very useful.

Once you know what IQ measures and how the tests were designed and standardized, you are on your way to knowing what the scores means. You then need more specific training on how to use such scores in a meaningful way.

IQ scores have been misused and abused by people lacking the background to know how they can and cannot be properly used. That is not the same as saying such testing is meaningless or useless.

All I know is that I’m a genus genueos genuos pretty smart.

@mrentropy :—yup…me,two

@JilltheTooth yah, and me free ;)

There are many different aspects to intelligence and most IQ tests only cover some of them. The aspects that are typically covered in IQ tests are those which cultures and societies have deemed to be the defining or most important – so we can see why this is a logically flawed approach. That’s not to say that IQ tests are completely irrelevant or useless (but as someone else already pointed out, there is no true way to measure the entirety of someone’s intelligence). When our “official” scores are handed back to us and we read, “You have an IQ of 140” – this is not all encompassing and only pertains to the subject matter of the test. It is for this reason that many people are fed up with IQ tests, because they have the ability to kill confidence and make a person feel much more stupid than they actually are.

@Dr_Lawrence Yes, I agree with your analysis. The tests are actually only meaningful to a trained professional. However, that doesn’t keep people from using the term, no matter that it lacks precise meaning – sort of like trying to define love.

@DrasticDreamer You make some valid points. That is why, in practice, ethical psychometrists and psychologists discuss IQ Test scores in terms of relative strengths and weaknesses in performance in various components of the tests. For example, a person may have a slightly above average overall score but they will also be told how their stronger verbal than performance scores may influence the types of careers to which they may be better suited and which careers might be more difficult for them. They would be told how their exceptional memory span for digits might benefit them and how their difficulty arranging blocks into patterns may make some tasks more frustrating for them.

Telling people their raw scores is counterproductive. It would be as appropriate as measuring penis or breast size and predicting people’s future marital satisfaction!

@YARNLADY People will continue to make foolish conclusions from numbers they don’t understand. That does not relieve professional of the responsibility to warm laymen against such practices.

@Dr_Lawrence So true, and yet the language remains alive due to the fact that people define and redefine words with each use.

@Tobotron I tink it is important for people, especially young people to be able to explore what they are interested in and best at, like you say not all be doctors and lawyers. In the US kids are typically not tracked at a young age, but have opportunity to try a variety of electives through jt high and high school (12th grade/18 years old more or less). Many high schools also have vocational choices like cosmetology, automechanics, and also things like military prep (ROTC), farming (clubs like Future Farmers of America) and more. There are magnet schools that specialize, some examples are Performing Arts, Science and Technology, International emphasis, and more. Generally in the US children have the opportunity to change their minds many times.

Also….Many people do not do well on tests (sitting in a classroom… timed setting etc…) and yet they are extremely intelligent!

Because there are very few objective ways to measure intelligence on an ad hoc basis, which is usually when those standards are applied I.e. College admission, special programs, career track etc.
If one wants to avoid that type of scrutiny, one should avoid pathways that will inevitably require IQ analysis.

If IQ determines intelligence well then I’m screwed.

I’m with @laureth on this, IQ is supposed to measure intelligence, so no coincidence that people expect it to.

That said, There are all sorts of valid criticisms of IQ’s worth in that regard.
There is the premise that intelligence can be measured, as if it were a bucket of beans.
There is the premise that assuming it can be measured, a single number is sufficient to express the results.
There is the premise that methods of determining that IQ number actually work to give a valid number that is comparable from one person to another.

Most IQ “tests” that I’ve experienced are a set of multiple-choice questions. It seems to me that IQ most perfectly measures one’s capacity to take multiple-choice tests.