Do they really prove anything worthwhile, or do they just indicate how good you are at doing IQ tests?
(I can see this maybe getting moved to another forum - I won’t be upset)
The short answer is that, yes, IQ tests mainly do measure a person’s skill at taking IQ tests.
According to Howard Gardner’s “Theory of Multiple Intelligences”, there a nine so-called “intelligences”, or areas in which a person might have natural talent. IQ is supposed to measure some combination of about three of these, plus a person’s test-taking ability.
I’m looking for a site that describes the theory, but can’t find anything in the first few hits on Google. I’ll get back to you once I have something.
Marylin vos Savant says that the only IQ test she has any regard for are the ones administered by a trained psychologist.
Any test on the internet or out of a book won’t tell you much.
In that there is not clear definition of “intelligence”, finding a measure of such a thing is difficult. At best, “intelligence” can be considered a latent effect measured by performances. This negatively affects the reliablility of measures of this construct.
This is all for the best, actually. While we “need” to assign people to a scale on intelligence (or whetever else is popular), we need a different scale for each group. For example, welders know a lot more about the effects of gas mix ratios (oxygen and acetylene) than I do and I have a degree in chemistry. Are they more intelligent than I am? In that area, absolutely. However, can they balance chemical equations? Is that a true measure of intelligence?
What about ability. Perhaps we can try to define intelligence as the ability to solve problems, you know, apply logic and reason to a situation. Well we can easily find that there are many solutions to some problems and that these solutions may vary in sophistication. We all have heard the “story” about the barometer and the height of the building.
The result of an IQ test given to a child may be used to predict the child’s performance in school. However, the best predictor of how a child will perform in, say, high school is his performance in middle school. Likewise, the best predictor of how well a student will do in college is his performance in high school. Beyond that, IQ test scores don’t tell you much.