RE: FWD [forteana] Re: I. Q. Tests

From: Loree Thomas (loreetg@yahoo.com)
Date: Tue Aug 21 2001 - 10:42:45 MDT


--- Harvey Newstrom <mail@HarveyNewstrom.com> wrote:
> No
> predictive correlation to any real-world measurement
> has been proven.

I'd be willing to bet that IQ is predictive of whether
or not a person subscribes to this list...

A small percentage of people with IQs of over 120 will
join. A very much smaller(orders of magnitude)
percentage of people with IQs of 100-120 will join.
No people with IQs between 80-100 will join and if
anyone with an IQ of less than 80 joins I'll climb a
transmission tower next to I5 and juggle fire clubs
topless (Oh wait, somebody already did that. I wonder
what bet she lost.)

Actually... all of this "IQ tests only measure IQ test
taking skills" sounds remarkably like many other
current common sense beliefs that are equally wrong.

The story about the illiterate millionaire is just
that... a story. Remember it came from the same place
that brings you UFO sightings and such. If it happened
at all, the kid wasn't low IQ, but may have had a
learning disorder that he overcame when he got older.
But it sounds too much like any of a thousand such
stories. It's just too pat... and proves the intended
point too well to be real.

IQ tests may not be perfect... we may be unclear on
exactly what it is we are measuring... but they ARE
measuring something real. You can guess a persons IQ
within 10 points easily after talking with them for
just a few minutes.

And while not all folks who have high IQs succeed in
life (problem being maybe with our definition of
"success"?), take the average IQ in a corporate board
room or a faculty lounge at a university and compare
them to the line worker's lunch room at a factory and
I'll bet they are markedly different.

Like many thing human, IQ isn't a good predictor of
individual accomplishment, but it works great for
large groups.

Loree

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