Can average people have gifted children?

[Hans de Vries]

As the title says. By "gifted" I mean people with high verbal and mathematical intelligence (above 140) and by average - people with IQ around 100.

 

 

[fiveworlds]

I don't put much stock in IQ tests and such to be honest if that was the case I'd be a perfect maths genius and I'm a stupid dunderhead.

[Hans de Vries]

IQ is a fairy good representation of intelligence - that's why the test are still used. People who do well at tests usually do well at school.

 

Most people have to study hard to get good grades at university for example - but there are people who do barely any work, skip classes and still graduate at the top. They are not necessarily the highest acheivers overall but have the highest potential - and IQ tests reflect their potential well. I know a guy who breezed through highschool like it was kindergarden, then started 3 undergrad degrees and finished all of them in 2 years(!!!). They were all in STEM fields, people study for long hours just to get through one.

[fiveworlds]

Most people have to study hard to get good grades at university for example - but there are people who do barely any work, skip classes and still graduate at the top

 

 

Yeah big brother never went to lectures he did study online though.

 

Me though I suck at college because I am ridiculously irresponsible and bad at communicating with people. (i.e insubordinate). I'd be the guy who goes into a practical test and falls asleep.

Edited November 6, 2015 by fiveworlds

[Ten oz]

IQ is a fairy good representation of intelligence - that's why the test are still used. People who do well at tests usually do well at school.

 

Most people have to study hard to get good grades at university for example - but there are people who do barely any work, skip classes and still graduate at the top. They are not necessarily the highest acheivers overall but have the highest potential - and IQ tests reflect their potential well. I know a guy who breezed through highschool like it was kindergarden, then started 3 undergrad degrees and finished all of them in 2 years(!!!). They were all in STEM fields, people study for long hours just to get through one.

Most tests in schools are literacy tests. You can have a student that is great at math but performs poorly on tests because they fail to understand word problems or follow written instructions. Highly literate students have an advantage on most all forms of standardized testing. It is one of the reasons why some people don't have to study as hard. They pick up on language indicators. They understand modifiers and more quickly identify meaningful subject matter while less literate students read things at length and attempt to learn/memorize huge blocks of material without actually being able to extract the pertinent information.

[fiveworlds]

Most tests in schools are literacy tests. You can have a student that is great at math but performs poorly on tests because they fail to understand word problems or follow written instructions.

 

 

That's totally me I suck at languages. Hence why I am only really fluent in 1 language I can muddle through in french too but i'm not very good.

[CharonY]

IQ is a fairy good representation of intelligence - that's why the test are still used. People who do well at tests usually do well at school.

 

Most people have to study hard to get good grades at university for example - but there are people who do barely any work, skip classes and still graduate at the top. They are not necessarily the highest acheivers overall but have the highest potential - and IQ tests reflect their potential well. I know a guy who breezed through highschool like it was kindergarden, then started 3 undergrad degrees and finished all of them in 2 years(!!!). They were all in STEM fields, people study for long hours just to get through one.

 

All you describe is the ability to pass tests, which is a skill in itself. Unfortunately, they are rather poor indicators when it comes to the advanced areas. Once it hits grad school level the advantage diminishes and eventually vanishes.

It is also interesting to note that heredity of IQ is highly dependent on socioeconomic status. I.e. in low-income families the measured heredity is lower, meaning external factors are determining IQ test performance to a higher degree than in higher income families (though it varies to a large degree).

Ultimately, it is tricky to use IQ as other, more direct metrics and infer much from it, without a lot of caveats and controls. Especially considering that it s already tricky with the seemingly easier traits.

Edited November 6, 2015 by CharonY

[overtone]

As the people who tried to mimic human mental abilities with software discovered early on, it's common to underestimate the mental abilities involved in stuff not measured well by IQ tests, and overestimate the abilities involved in - say - mentally rotating a three dimensional shape derived from a Western standard two dimensional representation.

 

I'd be interested in seeing the comparative results of an IQ test that incorporated the ability to follow the instructions of a square dance caller in time with a metronome beat. I predict they'd be correlated - but not perfectly.

 

re the topic:

It seems off hand that the attribute of "intelligence" often rests on small absolute differences in certain socially rewarded abilities in which the relative or percentage differences are large - things the human brain is bad at, but some people are a bit better than average at, that bit translating as a large percentage difference in performance - but not others.

 

The mental ability involved in tracking, predicting, and hitting a pitched baseball isn't described as "intelligence", for example, while the ability to track, predict, and arrange the location of two colored squares on a Rubik's Cube is.

 

As far as an "average" couple having a "gifted" child - let's say somebody with a measured IQ of 100 who is intrinsically moderately dyslexic but has covered for it by tapping an ability to reverse the order of things seen or heard - one of those "average" readers who could recite the English alphabet backwards almost as soon as they had learned it forwards, say - marries someone with an IQ of 100 who has perfect pitch and can remember the melody of every song they've ever heard. Then Grandma gives their four year old child and his baby sister the family piano. What are the odds?

Edited November 6, 2015 by overtone

[iNow]

Can average people have gifted children?

I sure hope so, or my kids are screwed.