IQ tests aren’t accurate because nobody can come to a mutual agreement about what intelligence really is. I’ve even heard some people say athletic ability should contribute to intelligence. Though it doesn’t seem to make sense at first, you are receiving and utilizing information about how to move muscles in just the right way, and some people are obviously more gifted than others.
Since nobody else has said it yet, “Genius is 10 percent inspiration, and 90 percent perspiration”. Albert Einstein.
Aside from the obvious: that numbers should not define one’s potential for growth, there are two basic factors in the study of intelligence that should be taken into account.
- There are so many contextual things that can effect results on “intelligence” tests
- “intelligence” is difficult to define and has so many facets.
Aside from the obvious: that numbers should not define one’s potential for growth, there are two basic factors in the study of intelligence that should be taken into account.
- There are so many contextual things that can effect results on “intelligence” tests
- “intelligence” is difficult to define and has so many facets.
The “genius” quote is Edison, not Einstein. I bet Einstein would have said 20% inspiration, at least.
Not only was it edison, but it was 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration. So edison actually sweat alot more.
Interesting thing perhaps: I have taken IQ tests a couple of times, latest one offered at my university. This was in English, my native language is German, and yet I scored 146 points in the English test where the German placed me, usually, at around 120-25.
Why? Because the English test had far more questions that I would say where of a linguistic nature – while the German test was almost exclusively “find the right face to continue the line” or mathematical problems. (Like, continue this chain of numbers). Could’ve told them they needn’t bother me with math much.
OT alert!
Rather than start a new thread, eliciting many of the same comments, I’ll hijack a little:
What are the IQs of the really poor minds of our century? Some guesses…
Joe McCarthy: 86
J. K. Rowling: 90
Sigorney Weaver: 98.6
**
Not an unusual state of mind for me, more’s the pity.
Are you sure? I was fairly certain that it wasn’t – I seem to remember that she said in one of her columns in response to a question about her name that it was a combination of two of her grandparents’ names or something like that. But memory is far less reliable than intelligence. 
why this turned out better than I though!
Marilyn vos Savant isn’t a pen name. It’s possible that at some point many years ago she may have decided that she didn’t like her last name and changed it to a combination of a couple of her grandparents’ names. Perhaps she had her name changed legally at that time. (I seem to recall that fifteen or so years ago she was usually referred to as Marilyn Mach vos Savant.) But in any case, she uses Marilyn vos Savant for all purposes, not just for signing her books and columns, so it’s not a pen name. It’s either her legal name or a chosen name that she uses for all purposes.