IQ test results : bad = stupidity?

[daniellos3]

Hello. I took an IQ test a week ago an i will describe my experience.

 

First task was to memorize symbols that applied to numbers 1-9 and then you were supposed to write the symbols under a about 10 rows of random numbers and you had 2 minutes to fill everything up. I did good at that.

 

then there were tasks such as aligning cubes with 4 differend patterns on each side to the picture shown to me. That was time measured. And when im under pressure i cant concentrate and i couldn´t control my own hands, It was like i had Parkinson´s disease so i didn´t do well at that task.

 

then there were basic knowledge, aligning of storylines, puzzles, mathematics, memory of numbers and all kinds of stuff, i think you get the idea.

 

I thought i did OK but my final score was 95.. I just realized today that i´m "average". I know i´m not average, im much more intelligent than the people around me, my goal in life is to figure out the unsolved mysteries of the universe. Other peoples goals are finishing the school weekend and drink beer and smoke weed and maybe finish college and later live an ordinary family life.. I´m not saying that´s wrong i´m just saying that that´s the average person. Disprove me if i´m wrong. So here´s the final question. Does that score tell me that i cant pursue my dreams? Those dreams include rational thinking and natural intelligence which according to the score i don´t have. Today i actually thought about ending my life because i knew i couldn´t live the dream that my life revolves around reaching. Id rather die than being an average person.

[iNow]

No. IQ tests are very limited. You can still pursue your dreams. In fact, you should use that nonsense score as an additional motivation to prove just how capable you are.

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence_quotient#Criticism_and_views

[JillSwift]

Let's pretend for a moment that "IQ" actually has meaning.

 

Even if you really have "average" intelligence, that does not leave you being an "average" person.

 

Interest and the drive to know new things are more important than your strength of intellect. It's what makes you above average despite what a numerical result of a test otherwise suggests.

 

A genius with no interest won't bother to come up with an answer at all.

 

A below-average intellect with great interest will eventually come up with the right answer.

 

Last but not least: IQ tests are something of a joke. Take a similar test in a few weeks and your score will be significantly different. By and large they barely rate a "starting point" number for assessing someone's faculties. Take a peek at the Wikipedia article on IQ tests for a quick overview of the controversies associated with them.

[SH3RL0CK]

Another thing is that IQ tests cannot take experience into account. As you learn more and more about any particular subject (whether by taking classes in school, working, etc.) you become more and more capable at solving related problems such that IQ become less and less important. Relevant experience is much more important.

 

Who would you want to design a bridge you will be driving over, someone with an extremely high IQ but no experience at all or an "average" civil engineer with 20 years of experience building bridges? Sure, the intelligence difference may be obvious, but give me the bridge built by the "average" engineer every time.

[daniellos3]

Thanks all of you for inspiration. Its very difficult for me to deal with this new disadvantage of mine.

[Moontanman]

Thanks all of you for inspiration. Its very difficult for me to deal with this new disadvantage of mine.

 

Daniel, please do not think of this as a disadvantage. IQ tests do not measure your self worth in any way. It may very well be that you are like a great many people and tests just make you nervous. There so very many variables and as Jill pointed out your own drive and determination are the real Xfactor, not some tenuous IQ number. Pursue your dreams, do not allow anyone or anything to tell you what you cannot accomplish.

[bbrubaker]

Let's pretend for a moment that "IQ" actually has meaning.

 

Even if you really have "average" intelligence, that does not leave you being an "average" person.

 

Interest and the drive to know new things are more important than your strength of intellect. It's what makes you above average despite what a numerical result of a test otherwise suggests.

 

A genius with no interest won't bother to come up with an answer at all.

 

A below-average intellect with great interest will eventually come up with the right answer.

 

Last but not least: IQ tests are something of a joke. Take a similar test in a few weeks and your score will be significantly different. By and large they barely rate a "starting point" number for assessing someone's faculties. Take a peek at the Wikipedia article on IQ tests for a quick overview of the controversies associated with them.

 

 

I agree.

 

We probably all know a few extremely bright people that just circled the drain and never acted on any of their incredible ideas.

 

(Insert ubiquitous Edison quote here.)

[devrimci_kürt]

The human mind is sophisticated and complex ..

[CaptainPanic]

I know i´m not average, im much more intelligent than the people around me, my goal in life is to figure out the unsolved mysteries of the universe. Other peoples goals are finishing the school weekend and drink beer and smoke weed and maybe finish college and later live an ordinary family life..

 

Heh, lol.

I design chemical factories for a living, and one goal is to make the world a clean and nice place. I don't see myself as average. But another goal of mine is to go and drink beer. One does not exclude the other.

 

Did you take the IQ test in English? I see you live in Iceland.

You can certainly add a few points if you took a test in a language that's not your primary language... especially if time was measured.

[insane_alien]

i wouldn't put any faith in them at all. i've done a few different ones(proper ones not just the crappy internet ones) and i've had results varying from clinically retarded to genius.

 

also, you can have good and bad days as well. last thursday i felt like ass(had the flu) and made lots of silly mistakes when i was at uni(according to me 3*14 was 314 and it took me an hour to spot the mistake), today i feel like i'm made of awesome and have amanaged to get several problems that have been bugging me for weeks.

 

IQ tests give only the most basic glimmer of intelligence but are easily upset by external factors. it might be you didn't sleep so good the night before, maybe there was roadworks outside throwing your concentration off, maybe you just had bad luck.

 

if you're willing to put the work in and you have the right attitude(the way you posted earlier indicated that you do) then you'll be fine whatever the IQ test shows.

[Severian]

I thought i did OK but my final score was 95.. I just realized today that i´m "average".

 

A score of 100 would be average. If you scored 95, then you are below average.

 

So don't worry, you aren't average after all!

[daniellos3]

A score of 100 would be average. If you scored 95, then you are below average.

 

So don't worry, you aren't average after all!

 

The psychiatrist told me 90-100 is average and if you were trying to be offensive which i figure you were trying to be based on the sarcastic look on your post, you failed. Bitter man releasing the hate of how miserable your life is on some internet thread. How pathetic i don´t know if i should laugh at you or feel sorry for you. :/

[mzatanoskas]

Hey daniellos3,

 

Severian's post comes across as a light-hearted joke, I'm sure he wasn't trying to be offensive.

 

Like the other guys said, IQ tests are just tests. We don't measure the greatness of our intellectual heroes by their score on some test. I wonder whether you don't feel like a bit of an outsider amongst your family and friends and instead have defined yourself as "the intelligent, philosophical one". If so, I'd say that it is your interest in intellectual things that makes you intellectual, not some IQ score. I wouldn't take it seriously.

 

It sounds like you are quite an earnest kind of guy and have high ambitions in life which is great. But I would suggest you go a little easier on yourself, "[figuring] out the unsolved mysteries of the universe" is a pretty lofty goal seeing as no other human being has managed that yet!

 

Also, the "average" life can often include so much that is extraordinary, deep and fulfilling. Please don't believe that to validate your life or yourself, you need to be the "most intelligent", "the best", to be praised or have great "success".

 

Pursue your dreams by all means, but stay open-minded about life and about what might bring you happiness and fulfillment.

 

[Severian]

The psychiatrist told me 90-100 is average

 

He lied. This is a science site, so let me provide evidence.

[daniellos3]

Yea. I believed you. I was just telling you what i was told first and that´t not even the point. The point is that you were mocking me and i never did anything to deserve that mocking..

[Severian]

The point is that you were mocking me and i never did anything to deserve that mocking..

 

Anyone saying "I know i´m not average, im much more intelligent than the people around me, my goal in life is to figure out the unsolved mysteries of the universe", especially in a forum they are new to, deserves to be mocked.

 

Incidentally, why were you visiting a shrink? It seems we have multiple reasons for you not being average.

Edited October 23, 2009 by Severian

[iNow]

daniellos,

 

Don't worry much about Severian. It's well worth reading his inputs in physics and quantum mechanics threads, as he's super bright and really gifted in those arenas. However, elsewhere, he's just another tool with his own silly beliefs and behaviors and quirks, and he can generally be ignored when needed.

 

Full Disclosure: Same applies to me. I'm much stronger in certain areas than others, and should rightly be ignored in some.

 

 

It doesn't really matter whether or not you are average on a faulty test, so it's best to just move on. IQ tests are mostly crap. Further, there's really not much which cannot be done with the right amount of effort, dedication, and mentorship. Find ways to study with people who are smarter than you. You can only benefit from their knowledge.

 

That is, in fact, one of the primary reasons I like SFN so much. There are people here smarter than me, and it forces/helps me to become better. Good luck.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

This forum does not exist to put down other members. That goes for all of you.

[Mr Skeptic]

I thought i did OK but my final score was 95.. I just realized today that i´m "average". I know i´m not average, im much more intelligent than the people around me, my goal in life is to figure out the unsolved mysteries of the universe.

 

First of all, IQ tests definitely have their limits, so take it with a huge grain of salt. On the other hand, almost everyone thinks they are above average:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illusory_superiority

http://www.psy.fsu.edu/~ehrlinger/Self_&_Social_Judgment/DunJohnEhr&Krug.pdf (pdf)

 

However, as they say it's not what you have it's what you do with it. Look at all the famous geniuses, and what do they have in common? Sure, they are usually very intelligent, but so are a lot of people. But the devotion to their work is truly amazing. Regardless of how smart you are, if you don't do anything with it it won't benefit you.

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A score of 100 would be average.If you scored 95, then you are below average.

 

So don't worry, you aren't average after all!

 

It is supposed to be, but that can change and also it depends on where the person lives:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IQ_and_the_Wealth_of_Nations#National_IQ_estimates

 

And in any case, a score of 95 is frequently called average. Since IQ tests aren't perfect, you can't really say for sure if the person's real IQ is actually below 100 or he had a bad day. But, it is close to 100 so called average.

 

Anyhow, since when do we mock people for what they are?

[daniellos3]

Anyhow, since when do we mock people for what they are?

 

Well he most likely knew that i didn´t settle with the fact due to the strong words i used to describe my hate of my new IQ results and decided to correct me and tell me that i´m less than i thought and even making a joke out of it and therefore most likely trying anger me.. And i just can´t see the point of it.. Neither appreciate the "joke".

 

Anyway i just took another IQ test on the internet, with my own language and i got 124.. Reason : I was under no pressure. And i guess i´m just going to have to get used to think rationally while under pressure... I know my IQ isn´t 95. I´ve always scored 120-130 on tests which i wasn´t under any pressure and it has always been like this, i remember the math teacher watching me solve problems but i couldn´t concentrate on the problem i always concentrated on him watching me.. If IQ is measured with how rationally you can think while under pressure then i guess my IQ is 95 Period. If not then its somewhere between 120 and 130

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Anyone saying "I know i´m not average, im much more intelligent than the people around me, my goal in life is to figure out the unsolved mysteries of the universe", especially in a forum they are new to, deserves to be mocked.

 

Incidentally, why were you visiting a shrink? It seems we have multiple reasons for you not being average.

 

I´m sorry but can you explain to me why i deserve to be mocked for saying that? Thanks in advance.

[timo]

And in any case, a score of 95 is frequently called average. Since IQ tests aren't perfect, you can't really say for sure if the person's real IQ is actually below 100 or he had a bad day. But, it is close to 100 so called average.

I think that it's simply definition that all within one standard deviation (15-20, I think) of the average score (100) are considered being of average intelligence.

 

I´m sorry but can you [severian] explain to me why i deserve to be mocked for saying that?

Well, I'm not sure to what extent it justifies making fun of people. Particularly if they are likely to be hurt. Also, I was not specifically asked about my opinion. But in case you are really interested, then here's a few points that in my opinion are worth critical consideration:

 

1) The only objective measure of your IQ is the test you did, giving 95 (I do not to consider tests offered on-line - but that has nothing to do with you). So while it may be possible that the test is flawed, you had a bad day or whatever, there is more reason to assume your IQ is around 95 (one objective reason, to be precise) than to assume your IQ is much higher than that (zero objective reasons). So logically ("logic" meaning without involvement of personal feelings, not as being based on some formal set of axioms) it seems more sensible to assume your IQ is 95.

 

2) IQ tests measure the ability to answer questions in an IQ test. Of course those tests do not exist for themselves but it is assumed that the skills required to perform well in IQ tests are relevant for other tasks, hopefully even some useful ones, too. I'm no expert on IQ tests but skills being tested do -as far as I know- include things like thinking in 3D (pretty objective criterion, I think), pattern recognition and logical grouping of words and objects. The reason you gave for believing you were more intelligent than the average is that you have a different, in your opinion more important, goal in life than the others. Well, your attitude towards life might be better than theirs - I tend to disagree, but that's just my personal view. But your goals in life are simply not what IQ tests measure so that statement is pretty meaningless, here. So it comes across that you have a very simplified if not naive view of what IQ is, somewhere along the lines of "high IQ = good", "low IQ = bad". That really doesn't make the self-evaluation of your IQ look very rigid.

 

3) There is no reason to assume that the average reader of your post, say Severian, has an IQ above the average. In fact, there is reason to assume that the average reader has an average IQ (surprise, huh?). So it could be considered somewhat offensive of you to come around and say "oh no, if I really was as stupid as you, then my life would be totally ruined. Please tell me this cannot be true. I don't want to be an alcoholic moron like you."

 

 

To answer your original question: I don't know exactly what your dreams are. And that they "include rational thinking and natural intelligence" is very unspecific - I assume that your dreams are also a bit unspecific. So just two rather broad comments:

 

- Intelligence might have an influence, say in Mathematics or Physics. But according to my experiences, the contributions from intelligence and from efficient serious work style tend to shift strongly towards the latter after school - in an ever-increasing manner. I also do not see why the skills tested in an IQ test should be the ones required or (most) beneficial for what you want to do later.

 

- At some point you'll get more important objective feedbacks than an IQ test. Grades in university exams, for example. If they are good then screw that IQ test score. Those exams measure more important and relevant skills. If they are worse than you'd think they should be you should not talk them down ("in last year's exam I would have scored much better"), though. Valuing objective measures about how reality is over personal feelings how reality should be is, in my opinion, a very important ingredient (with tendency to "absolutely required") in figuring out "unsolved mysteries of the universe", say in natural sciences.

Edited October 26, 2009 by timo

[daniellos3]

I think that it's simply definition that all within one standard deviation (15-20, I think) of the average score (100) are considered being of average intelligence.

 

 

Well, I'm not sure to what extent it justifies making fun of people. Particularly if they are likely to be hurt. Also, I was not specifically asked about my opinion. But in case you are really interested, then here's a few points that in my opinion are worth critical consideration:

 

1) The only objective measure of your IQ is the test you did, giving 95 (I do not to consider tests offered on-line - but that has nothing to do with you). So while it may be possible that the test is flawed, you had a bad day or whatever, there is more reason to assume your IQ is around 95 (one objective reason, to be precise) than to assume your IQ is much higher than that (zero objective reasons). So logically ("logic" meaning without involvement of personal feelings, not as being based on some formal set of axioms) it seems more sensible to assume your IQ is 95.

 

2) IQ tests measure the ability to answer questions in an IQ test. Of course those tests do not exist for themselves but it is assumed that the skills required to perform well in IQ tests are relevant for other tasks, hopefully even some useful ones, too. I'm no expert on IQ tests but skills being tested do -as far as I know- include things like thinking in 3D (pretty objective criterion, I think), pattern recognition and logical grouping of words and objects. The reason you gave for believing you were more intelligent than the average is that you have a different, in your opinion more important, goal in life than the others. Well, your attitude towards life might be better than theirs - I tend to disagree, but that's just my personal view. But your goals in life are simply not what IQ tests measure so that statement is pretty meaningless, here. So it comes across that you have a very simplified if not naive view of what IQ is, somewhere along the lines of "high IQ = good", "low IQ = bad". That really doesn't make the self-evaluation of your IQ look very rigid.

 

3) There is no reason to assume that the average reader of your post, say Severian, has an IQ above the average. In fact, there is reason to assume that the average reader has an average IQ (surprise, huh?). So it could be considered somewhat offensive of you to come around and say "oh no, if I really was as stupid as you, then my life would be totally ruined. Please tell me this cannot be true. I don't want to be an alcoholic moron like you."

 

 

To answer your original question: I don't know exactly what your dreams are. And that they "include rational thinking and natural intelligence" is very unspecific - I assume that your dreams are also a bit unspecific. So just two rather broad comments:

 

- Intelligence might have an influence, say in Mathematics or Physics. But according to my experiences, the contributions from intelligence and from efficient serious work style tend to shift strongly towards the latter after school - in an ever-increasing manner. I also do not see why the skills tested in an IQ test should be the ones required or (most) beneficial for what you want to do later.

 

- At some point you'll get more important objective feedbacks than an IQ test. Grades in university exams, for example. If they are good then screw that IQ test score. Those exams measure more important and relevant skills. If they are worse than you'd think they should be you should not talk them down ("in last year's exam I would have scored much better"), though. Valuing objective measures about how reality is over personal feelings how reality should be is, in my opinion, a very important ingredient (with tendency to "absolutely required") in figuring out "unsolved mysteries of the universe", say in natural sciences.

 

 

Thanks for the hard work you put in responding to my post. Yes it was a bit dramatic of me to put it like this "unsolved mysteries of the universe" by that i mean of course solving/finding problems in physics and such, there are many things that we can´t understand and to progress we need to solve them.. And i give great interest in solving problems because i cant´t stand knowing that there is something that the human species can´t understand since we are the most intelligent beings known..

 

And about the IQ test. Then ill guess i´m just going to have to prove that they are flawed by ignoring the results and do better than a person with an IQ of 130-150 in school/work etc.. That´s the only way i can prove to my self and others that they are flawed... If i wont then they aren´t flawed. Easy as that.

[CharonY]

Id rather die than being an average person.

 

This is off-topic, but why would you think so? Per definitionem most of us will be average (well, depending on the distribution, as well as the kind of average, given variance etc.). If everyone tries to be exceptional, well that would just shift the average, no?

 

Reminds me a bit of something a student wrote on an evaluation (not mine): "This lecturer makes it really hard to get an average of A"...

[Mr Skeptic]

From xkcd.org:

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Id rather die than being an average person.

 

He said, making 2 spelling mistakes in a short sentence

 

Seriously though, all a low IQ would mean is that it might take you longer or more work to do a particular task, and that's not even taking into account other factors (eg a person with a lower IQ but a better memory). The reason people are saying to largely ignore the online test is that many of these are for stroking one's ego and trying to sell a more detailed analysis (aka even more ego stroking).

[daniellos3]

Id is just shortening for I would... -.-