Results correlate strongly with SAT scores for scholastic aptitude. Mere coincidence, I'm sure!
No, it's by design. It has to do with the IQ tests reflecting how our scholastic systems present problems. This expression/presentation of problems is not nearly as generic as would obviously seem. People with different environmental contexts (all the way down to what they watched on tv as a kid) can score differently on these tests for various reasons besides intelligence.
And of course there is the problem of pure motivation (as opposed to intelligence). How can you tell the difference between aptitude and attitude? Would a lazy smart person allways score more than an ambitious but less smart person?
Did you know you can boost your IQ score just by practicing the kinds of specific abstract questions that are asked in a particular IQ test? How is that anything even near general?
They work great for determining which kids go into the gifted program, and which will be stuck parroting the same boring old loser speech about how meaningless tests are. Also a coincidence, according to the Idiocracy lobby.
So we have this fine grained distribution of something and the best we can do is make a few digital decisions based on that set?
You
know there is something incomplete about that.
If you would talk to some of the gifted people you describe they will basically tell you the same thing. Incidentally, there are a lot of very gifted people that do not test well on IQ tests. It just happens that their intelligence is not mostly in solving abstract logic puzzles of the kind seen in IQ tests.
Bluh-bluh, cultural socioeconomic bias, oh noez!
Yes, because it's a serious problem with every single IQ test. Intelligence is not a singular thing.
Bluh-bluh, dimensionless numbers are meaningless!
No, but they do distort the
relative differences in intelligence and have no absolute meaning besides relating to the test themselfs.
Bluh-bluh, teaching to the test, test anxiety, self-serving arguments from ignorance, etc.
Yeah, these all matter to a certain degree, especially taking a similarilly formulated test several times or actually training for it. But cultural and developmental factors are much stronger. How well would you do on an IQ test if you had never as a baby played with one of those toys that make you put the right shapes in te right holes? So again, how general is the intelligence you try to measure if it is applied to specific abstract situations?
And the all-time favorite classic "Your I Will is more important than your IQ."
No, but is does play a big role. By taking an IQ test you also measure the motivation of the person to do these tests. How much effect this has will differ from instance to instance of test being taken.
Complaining about IQ tests is a great way to demonstrate both low intelligence *and* an inferiority complex.
Nah, mine is fine as it is. It's just that i'm smart enough to understand what they mean.
By the way, the designers of these tests are some of the biggest critics of the same thing. Would you say that this also demonstrates their low intelligence?
Would you rather your pilot/surgeon/lawyer/programmer/mechanic/broker/child be an IQ 59 moron or 135 near-genius?
I don't think you can get a pilot/surgeon/lawyer/programmer/mechanic/broker with an IQ of 59.
Anyway, the difference between and IQ of 59 and an IQ of 135 is about 98% of the world population.. That's quite some rare people you want to hire for some of the most common jobs in the world..
And you get all kinds of new problems with intelligent people. Most of them are incapable of processing instruction that were not generated by themselfs. If they do manage this then they have internally translated the intructions to their own set. This can be a hit and miss thing if the instructions are simple but strict. They tend to rearrange the system to fit their particular set of instructions instead of just executing the instructions as intended.
So for a lot of tasks it is better to have someone with a
suitable intelligence (and experience and insights) instead of having someone with a particularly high IQ.