Does IQ really indicate how smart you are?

[Cerek]

This is something I've been pondering recently. IQ scores are supposed to indicate how intelligent a person is, which is also used as an implied indicator of how successful they may be or how good they would be at a given job. But I've found that isn't always the case.

There are many qualities that determine if a person will be "successful" or not, and IQ plays only one part in that equation. Motivation, social skills and personality also play a large part. I have a very good friend who is supposed to have a "genius level" IQ. That may very well be true, but he also has a significant lack of social skills and I've seen similar correlations more than once. In fact, I read an article on MSN a couple of years ago that many CEO's prefer an applicant that did NOT make straight "A's" throughout school. Most students with a perfect 4.0 GPA (grade point average) usually spent a great deal more time studying than other students. That might indicate better discipline, but it often also meant that they had a hard time adapting to situations that weren't "by the book". They studied their books exhaustively, but had a difficult time actually applying the concepts or rules learned to situations that didn't fit "textbook" examples. Conversely, students with lower GPA's were often more "flexible" in their thinking. They also usually spent more time in extra-curricular activities (such as fraternities or sororities or sports) which led to improved social skills and interaction. The article closed by saying that many CEO's preferred an applicant with a more "average" GPA, but with better inter-personal skills.

President Bush has been oft maligned for his grades at Yale (he made mostly "C's" with a few "B's" mixed in), yet he went on to become a certified jet pilot and the head of the C.I.A. Whether you believe or disbelieve the accusations of Bush going A.W.O.L. is irrelevant, the fact that he IS a certified jet pilot is one indication of his actual intelligence - because it takes a someone with good reflexes intelligence and perfect eyesight to operate a plane that sophisticated. The same is true for Al Gore. I think he is a very intelligent man, but his grades in college were only slightly better than Bush's (I haven't looked up Kerry's transcripts). As for his stint at the C.I.A., I'm sure many people beleive he got that job because of WHO he is rather than what he actually knows, but once he got the job, he still had to perform at an acceptable level to KEEP the job.

I have a fairly high IQ (according to the tests anyway ). It isn't "genius level", but I did qualify for Mensa when I was still in high school (based on several sample tests I took). I once thought it would be GREAT to put that on my resume', but when I got into college I learned that listing Mensa on my resume' wouldn't be nearly as impressive to potential employers as I expected it to be - for many of the reasons I've listed above. (BTW - for those that are unfamiliar with Mensa - it is an organization for people with high IQ's).

One other example of whether IQ is an accurate indicator of intelligence and success is this year's theme for "Apprentice". Instead of looking for folks with MBA degrees, Donald Trump and his staff decided to create a theme of "College Smarts" vs "Street Smarts" - with the underlying implication being that lessons learned in real-life situations are JUST as valuable (and sometimes moreso) than lessons learned in the academia setting. In real life, you find out right away whether a particular idea or approach works or not, because it is tested every single day.

So what do you think? Is IQ an accurate indicator of intelligence and future success, or does someone with "Street Smarts" (and a healthy dose of common sense) actually know more about what works in the real world than somebody with a 4-6 year college degree?

[shamrock_uk]

Frankly no IMO, it indicates your aptitude for mathematics and seeing logical patterns in stupid shapes. I did one of those tests in high school and did pretty well, but clearly its something that practice and experience can have a very great impact on.

[lost prophet]

IMO iq gives you a score on how good you are at logical thinking and other things like that, most of the questions in the iq test id did were lateral thinking problems that were quite hard, however ( being a lateral thinker ) i did quite well.
(score was 133)

lol see if anyone can get this question that was in the test....i got this one wrong.

a man is comeing down a mountain, he had almost reached the bottom when he slipped and fell to the top again. how is this possible?

he did not have jet packs.
he was trying to get to the bottom.
no exterior forces were used.

i dont see how questions like these can determine how smart you are, rather how weird you think.

[Larry_OHF]

I am glad you brought this up! I just had a test in my Childhood Development (Psychology) class about this. It compared and contrasted our normal perspective of intelligence with another theory.

I make references from the textbook which I do not own, but borrowed from another student.

The typical view of what intelligence is:

1. Abstract thinking
2. Problem solving
3. The capacity to acquire knowledge

Compare and Contrast with

Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligence

1. Bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence
2. Spatial intelligence
3. Linguistic intelligence.
4. Logical-Mathematical intelligence
5. Musical intelligence
6. Intrapersonal intelligence
7. Interpersonal intelligence
8. Naturalist intelligence.


The rationale for this theory is that it takes into account different cultures all over the world. Every culture has their own rules for intelligence, and this theory better grasps that truth.

[ 03-18-2005, 01:41 PM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]

[pritchke]

You know it may tell how smart you are but not how wise you are. I deal with so many morons with high IQ's every day it isn't even funny. They often are not considerate of other peoples time and act like they are the only people in the world. Other problem is they are often poor communicators, they send request with no instructions and expect you to be able to read there minds from a poorly written e-mail, as if they are the only request I ever need to deal with. I recently sent a somewhat nasty e-mail at work to one such person, it has been ongoing for some time now and he needed to be put in his place as I am not the only person who has problems with the way he conducts himself, kind of procastinates as well, stalling everybody elses work. I of course cc'd my boss as well. I would go into a detailed rant but I will just say he has very poor project management skills, and is inconsiderate of other peoples time that he deals with. He is a genius otherwise high IQ.

[ 03-18-2005, 01:51 PM: Message edited by: pritchke ]

[philip]

IQ measures mathemathical logical thinking from what kind of tests I did. Even the word puzzles I got in it could be solved with some logics. So depending on what you think is smart it can measure it. I think just as you do that it doesn't measure how smart you are. Maybe more if you think in a certain way. And you can't solve anything logically.

[Bozos of Bones]

Intelligence is the ability to adapt to new situations. An IQ test(the European, Polish actually) has no linguistic problems, no history questions and no factual knowledge. The official MENSA test has over 200 questions, and they're devised to be almost impossible to memorize, meaning you can not study for an IQ rest. The American test is a different thing. Rubbish in my oppinion. Too many knowledge questions, not enough reasoning. Intelligence has no effect on one's aptitude for mathematics, chemistry, music, social skills or history.

Originally posted by Cerek: Is IQ an accurate indicator of intelligence and future success, or does someone with "Street Smarts" (and a healthy dose of common sense) actually know more about what works in the real world than somebody with a 4-6 year college degree?

You are saying that "Street Smarts" an common sense are not intelligence, and that getting college degrees is. It's not. Usually, people who are "street smart" are quite intelligent. Sometimes people who have several degrees and science doctorates have an IQ of under 110. You can't say one is intelligence and the other is not. I don't think culture has anything to do with intelligence. What Gardner's theory sees as intelligence, I see as simple interest into a subject.

[pritchke]

Originally posted by Bozos of Bones: Intelligence is the ability to adapt to new situations. An IQ test(the European, Polish actually) has no linguistic problems, no history questions and no factual knowledge. The official MENSA test has over 200 questions, and they're devised to be almost impossible to memorize, meaning you can not study for an IQ rest. The American test is a different thing. Rubbish in my oppinion. Too many knowledge questions, not enough reasoning. Intelligence has no effect on one's aptitude for mathematics, chemistry, music, social skills or history. quote: Originally posted by Cerek: Is IQ an accurate indicator of intelligence and future success, or does someone with "Street Smarts" (and a healthy dose of common sense) actually know more about what works in the real world than somebody with a 4-6 year college degree?

You are saying that "Street Smarts" an common sense are not intelligence, and that getting college degrees is. It's not. Usually, people who are "street smart" are quite intelligent. Sometimes people who have several degrees and science doctorates have an IQ of under 110. You can't say one is intelligence and the other is not. I don't think culture has anything to do with intelligence. What Gardner's theory sees as intelligence, I see as simple interest into a subject. [/QUOTE]That is what I call Wisdom and usually improves with age. Intelligence to me is book smarts. There is nothing wrong with having knowledge of the world around you, know and learn as much as you can, but its good to have the common sense to use it as well.

[ 03-18-2005, 02:45 PM: Message edited by: pritchke ]

[Larry_OHF]

I remember something about two different kinds of intelligence from another class...Liquid intelligence and Crystalized intelligence. I never understood that to the extent that my professor wanted us to. Anyone know anything about it?

[shamrock_uk]

If intelligence is 'booksmarts' then doesn't that stop uneducated people from being intelligent and/or having high IQ?