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Location: where you sip the tea of the breasts of the spinsters of Utica
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Nothing's perfect, Nimchimpsky, but modern IQ tests are NOT culturally biased to any significant extent. That's been a criticism of such tests since the early days because they really WERE biased then, but to criticize them for that now would be like criticizing science because at one time phrenology was considered a science.
If you're legally blind, you should take an IQ test made specifically for blind people (that is, IF you are curious to know how you score, I'm sure you have no practical need for it as an adult).
Again, no one can claim absolute PERFECTION on eliminating bias, but it's not a very important point now that psychometrists have been putting so much effort into that over decades.
The concept of "intelligence" is relative to the constructs and values society has deemed most essential. Furthermore, a highly cerebral person who has achieved significant success in his or her academic or professional career may suffer in other aspects in his or her life, whether that be morally, ethically, socially etc. Unless you are a renaissance man, intelligence is a rather ambiguous term.
And there are the idiot savants who really confuse the issue of intelligence. They certainly can learn. A guy I know has a brother that knows all the numbers on telephone poles, he's obsessed with telephone poles and the numbers stamped into them but he cannot hold down a job. He's never worked and is diagnosed as mentally retarded but he can remember the number on telephone poles forever. I thought I was smart enough but I didn't even know they put those numbers on the poles until the brother of this guy told me about him.
I once knew a guy who could do any addition in his head -- 5 rows of long numbers but he wasn't especially smart in anything else, if he was driving and talking, he'd invariably drive off the road because he forgot he was driving. It was like he had a mind that could concentrate -- but only on one thing at a time.
Location: Democratic Peoples Republic of Redneckistan
11,078 posts, read 15,080,865 times
Reputation: 3937
Quote:
Originally Posted by nimchimpsky
i agree that i.q. tests are far from accurate. they are culturally biased and also biased in many other ways. i couldn't even take the visuo-spatial part of the test cause it's dependent upon eyesight. i do know i have the capacity for visualization of space through tactile means, because i create mental maps in my head all the time. there's just one example of the shortcomings of an i.q. test.
and like you said, i.q. tests can test for bookish intelligence but not practical intelligence. even presenting hypothetical scenarios requires linguistic intelligence to understand completely, so that in itself would skew the results of practical intelligence.
I CAN NOT BELIEVE you just said that!!!!!
I have tried to explain the EXACT thing to friends/family etc throughout my life and they stare at me like I need to be medicated
Take guitar for example...I can play lead,slide etc like a banshee and did not pick it up until my early 30's....although I'm horrible in math I was able to break the fretboard into a mathmatical road map in my head and in less than a year I was playing in a band doing nothing but Allman Bros and Dead extended jams..within another year I was the lead/slide player..I then burned out and quit.
Same when I paint a boat or vehicle...I see all the processes in my head as a map to the end result and can visualize what it'll take to get there
Same with Ultralight aircraft when I decided THAT was my hobby(this was prior to the FAA jerking everyone off on ultralights)...I could actually visualize the air movement over the wings,the updrafts/thermals etc in my mind prior to the first flight and could see the reactions needed to correct it once I had a rudimentary understanding of the controls...maps in my head....after I was good at it,I burned out as I do with EVERYTHING...once I master something it's like the spigot is turned off and I lose total and complete interest in it and pretty much give the crap away that I bought to play with.
I am limited in vocabulary due to laziness and a total lack of interest so any tiny bit of "smarts" that I may possess are usually lost in translation to someone else because I either can't break it down fine enough for the dudes I run with to understand or I break it down so fine that it glazes their eyes over in boredom before I get my point across.
I'm really glad you gave that analogy because I kind of felt like a freak about that and I'm glad to know that others deal with it too
The difference is that a fat butt is subjective, whereas telling someone their IQ is 15 points below average is like a verdict that can shatter someone's self-esteem for life, especially as those tests get more and more reliable.
Interestingly, the main issue with IQ has been ignored so far in this thread, which positively surprises me given it is a US board...
Location: Democratic Peoples Republic of Redneckistan
11,078 posts, read 15,080,865 times
Reputation: 3937
Quote:
Originally Posted by Neuling
The difference is that a fat butt is subjective, whereas telling someone their IQ is 15 points below average is like a verdict that can shatter someone's self-esteem for life, especially as those tests get more and more reliable.
Interestingly, the main issue with IQ has been ignored so far in this thread, which positively surprises me given it is a US board...
I have tried to explain the EXACT thing to friends/family etc throughout my life and they stare at me like I need to be medicated
Take guitar for example...I can play lead,slide etc like a banshee and did not pick it up until my early 30's....although I'm horrible in math I was able to break the fretboard into a mathmatical road map in my head and in less than a year I was playing in a band doing nothing but Allman Bros and Dead extended jams..within another year I was the lead/slide player..I then burned out and quit.
Same when I paint a boat or vehicle...I see all the processes in my head as a map to the end result and can visualize what it'll take to get there
Same with Ultralight aircraft when I decided THAT was my hobby(this was prior to the FAA jerking everyone off on ultralights)...I could actually visualize the air movement over the wings,the updrafts/thermals etc in my mind prior to the first flight and could see the reactions needed to correct it once I had a rudimentary understanding of the controls...maps in my head....after I was good at it,I burned out as I do with EVERYTHING...once I master something it's like the spigot is turned off and I lose total and complete interest in it and pretty much give the crap away that I bought to play with.
I am limited in vocabulary due to laziness and a total lack of interest so any tiny bit of "smarts" that I may possess are usually lost in translation to someone else because I either can't break it down fine enough for the dudes I run with to understand or I break it down so fine that it glazes their eyes over in boredom before I get my point across.
I'm really glad you gave that analogy because I kind of felt like a freak about that and I'm glad to know that others deal with it too
I guess that is one of the greatest capacities of the human mind, to plan ahead and correctly imagine the result of processes and actions before carrying them out. Basically it is also what we are teaching supercomputers to do in simulations. On a simple level it is what a basketball player does when he throws the ball, he calculates the right angle and force based on his feeling for gravity and other forces.
After reviewing the topic regarding conservatives and their lower IQ's causing their prejudiced opinions, a thought came to me. Many people discredit intelligence testing based on all types of cultural (unless you are Asian) biases and the like. What are your thoughts on the accuracy of intelligence testing? After reading the bell curve and a rebuttal of the bell curve, I believe IQ testing is accurate and that intelligence is hereditary.
I'm a teacher with two degrees. IQ testing does what it was designed to do, predict the ability to succeed in school. That's all.
No, I am happy it is not being discussed for a change
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