Estimation of Intelligence

[A_Nony_Mouse]

Were that the case IQ would increase with age. In fact it is remarkably stable from childhood to old age.

Could be because people forget some things?...
Overall, you only have so many things you can remember. some new information drives out the old?
I don't know, this is just speculation on my part... I've never seen any study on the matter.

You have just explained away the non-existence of any evidence in support of your hypothesis.

For the sake of argument assume all people know the addition tables. That is mutually shared information. There are always differences as to how quickly addition problems are solved. The longer the numbers the easier it is to discriminate.

As speed of reflexes and IQ generally have a positive correlation the same discriminate will appear even if everyone uses calculators.

Practice makes perfect... The same rule that applies for muscles, also applies for the brain.
I'm not good at math, because I'm naturally pre-disposed to it.... I just practiced a lot... even so, sometimes, I do the biggest blunders imaginable!

In grade school when everyone is just learning addition it is reasonable to assume all experience is equal.

I did not say math in general. I said and meant simple addition maybe a little simple subtraction thrown in.

Then there is the kind where you have to pick which images are of the same thing but rotated. Scores on tests that are all like that correlate with those that are all simple math. People who get one get the other.

There is a bit of self referential activity here in that new kinds of tests are not only put up to peer review but extensively tested to give the same results as established kinds. But the purpose it to use them on peoples who have very few points of connection with western culture. There are also a couple of no time limit tests mainly for self-testing.

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Generally if a person's IQ differs from yours in 12-15 point increments, you can get a general sense that you are smarter than them or they are smarter than you from a long conversation. Someone with an IQ 30 points or more below yours may require you to 'dumb down' your speech in order for them to understand your points; while someone more than 30 points of IQ over yours may have to simplify the way they express themselves in order for you to follow what they're saying. Smaller differences are very difficult to detect without testing. A psychologist with some focus in IQ testing may be able to estimate within 10 points from a conversation.

Caveat: this assumes all speakers have the same native language.

Yes, IQ is what IQ tests measure, but someone with a 70 IQ still has challenging intellectual limitations that will limit what careers are possible and someone with an IQ of 130 is noticeably better than average at learning and reasoning.

Saying it is dumbing down is the best way to piss of people. It is simply a matter of speaking more in definitions and taking the time to recite all the steps in the reasoning and reading faces for things that need be repeated.

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IIRC vocabulary correlates well with IQ, so, sure, you could use posts to estimate intelligence.

Do you mean normal usage or unnecessarily obscure words to impress the readers like William F. Buckley Jr. did?

[Faith No More]

I always thought that people were all equally intelligent... more or less....

What planet have you been living on?

[pocaracas]

I always thought that people were all equally intelligent... more or less....

What planet have you been living on?

Planet "I think everyone can do the same things I can... or I can do the same things anyone else can.... given the same information base, funding, etc..."

[Anomalocaris]

IIRC vocabulary correlates well with IQ, so, sure, you could use posts to estimate intelligence.

I was unaware of the awesome size of Einstein's vocabulary, in German or English.

[Kayenneh]

Regarding posting in correlation with IQ, I'm like Mokona. White, fluffy, bouncy and mostly silly, but sometimes when I open my mouth something really surprising and useful enters this world.

[Faith No More]

Planet "I think everyone can do the same things I can... or I can do the same things anyone else can.... given the same information base, funding, etc..."

Also known as planet "The only difference between Brittany Spears and Stephen Hawking is a good education."

Let me guess, it resides in a galaxy known as Allinyourhead?

[Angrboda]

Give it a shot. You've had the good fortune to have me on these forums for quite a while now, over 800 posts, each one chock full of wisdom so go on, guess my IQ. I wish to know how intelligent people on these forums perceive me to be.

"Bigger than a breadbox."

[catfish]

"That which is measured by an IQ test" is actually how stupid a person is... Just sayin...

One must live in an odd sort of place where where the village idiot scores higher than the village wise man.

It is a thing we can observe in people. It is a characteristic of their personalities. The idea of trying to measure it was in fact a 20th c. idea but was a subset of the idea of trying to measure the intangibles, the stick a number to everything idea.

Seriously, look into the history of the IQ test (I never said your strawman up there, what's your IQ again?)...
.

[Darkstar]

Regarding posting in correlation with IQ, I'm like Mokona. White, fluffy, bouncy and mostly silly, but sometimes when I open my mouth something really surprising and useful enters this world.

Mokona Modoki? A reference I actually get? What is this world coming to? Must be a sign of the end times...


As far as I know, I.Q. tests are limited in scope and accuracy, but I think the central idea behind them (that some people are simply smarter than others) is a valid one.

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Should add that people who can't write coherent sentences and misspell every other word come off as very unintelligent.

[Angrboda]

CHAEREPHON went to Delphi and boldly asked the oracle to tell him ... whether anyone was wiser than I [Socrates] was, and the Pythian prophetess answered that there was no man wiser ... Why do I mention this? Because I am going to explain to you why I have such an evil name. When I heard the answer, I said to myself, What can the god mean? and what is the interpretation of his riddle? for I know that I have no wisdom, small or great ...

... After long perplexity, I thought of a method of trying the question. I reflected that if I could only find a man wiser than myself, then I might go to the god with a refutation in hand ... Accordingly I went to one who had the reputation of wisdom, and observed him — his name I need not mention, he was a politician; and in the process of examining him and talking with him, this, men of Athens, was what I found. I could not help thinking that he was not really wise, although he was thought wise by many, and still wiser by himself; and thereupon I tried to explain to him that he thought himself wise, but was not really wise; and the consequence was that he hated me, and his enmity was shared by several who were present and heard me.

So I left him, saying to myself as I went away: Well, although I do not suppose that either of us knows anything really worth knowing, I am at least wiser than this fellow — for he knows nothing, and thinks that he knows; I neither know nor think that I know. In this one little point, then, I seem to have the advantage of him. Then I went to another who had still higher pretensions to wisdom, and my conclusion was exactly the same. Whereupon I made another enemy of him, and of many others besides him ... the result of my mission was just this: I found that the men most in repute were nearly the most foolish; and that others less esteemed were really closer to wisdom ...

— Plato, The Apology