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Old 01-31-2012, 01:09 PM
 
Location: West Virginia
16,591 posts, read 15,522,691 times
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IQ tests are fairly accurate for what they are designed to do. In my own experience, I once took 3 different tests on the same day. The results came back consistent with each other and with tests that had been done earlier in my life.

IQ tests are not designed to test things like common sense, emotions social skills, motivations, etc. Test test native intelligence, not applied intelligence. I suppose that makes it a measure of the potential to succeed, not exactly the same as the probability of success.

Like earlier posts said, IQ is partly hereditary, but a baby Einstein, left to play in the dirt, may not develop much of the potential.

When I was tested in school, students were not given test scores. If my parents knew, they never told me.

Some of the posters have been looking at the American Mensa web site. Look here at the variety of interests the members have. These are their SIGs, the Special Interest Groups: Share your interests - American Mensa, Ltd. I think this gives a hint about the diversity of the group. They have groups for sports, cryptography, gambling, art, homebrewing, religion, games, travel, mental health, gardening, genealogy, poetry, Sherlock Holmes, investing, quilting, karaoke, physical fitness, cooking, conspiracies, military, parenting, books, sewing, detective fiction, Occult, photography, smoking, teens, Star Trek, underachievers, writing, etc.

There's not much they have in common beyond higher than average IQ scores. There are PhD professors, convenience store clerks, lawyers, prisoners, teachers, dropouts, etc. The only common thread is IQ, which is a measure of potential, not achievement.
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Old 01-31-2012, 01:42 PM
 
6,993 posts, read 6,313,666 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mensaguy View Post
IQ tests are fairly accurate for what they are designed to do. In my own experience, I once took 3 different tests on the same day. The results came back consistent with each other and with tests that had been done earlier in my life.

IQ tests are not designed to test things like common sense, emotions social skills, motivations, etc. Test test native intelligence, not applied intelligence. I suppose that makes it a measure of the potential to succeed, not exactly the same as the probability of success.

Like earlier posts said, IQ is partly hereditary, but a baby Einstein, left to play in the dirt, may not develop much of the potential.

When I was tested in school, students were not given test scores. If my parents knew, they never told me.

Some of the posters have been looking at the American Mensa web site. Look here at the variety of interests the members have. These are their SIGs, the Special Interest Groups: Share your interests - American Mensa, Ltd. I think this gives a hint about the diversity of the group. They have groups for sports, cryptography, gambling, art, homebrewing, religion, games, travel, mental health, gardening, genealogy, poetry, Sherlock Holmes, investing, quilting, karaoke, physical fitness, cooking, conspiracies, military, parenting, books, sewing, detective fiction, Occult, photography, smoking, teens, Star Trek, underachievers, writing, etc.

There's not much they have in common beyond higher than average IQ scores. There are PhD professors, convenience store clerks, lawyers, prisoners, teachers, dropouts, etc. The only common thread is IQ, which is a measure of potential, not achievement.
Good post. I was a Mensa member for about 10 years, many years ago.
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Old 01-31-2012, 04:02 PM
 
10,449 posts, read 12,417,526 times
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Originally Posted by ray1945 View Post
Assume you mean that there are high IQ students who do not achieve commensurate with their abilities, a statement with which I concur. However, it is not also true that low IQ students achieve well beyond their intellectual abilities and fill honors and AP classes.
doing well in school is a matter of how well you fit in the box. so yeah, essentially, we're saying the same thing.
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Old 02-02-2012, 12:35 PM
 
Location: where you sip the tea of the breasts of the spinsters of Utica
8,298 posts, read 14,110,778 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mensaguy View Post
.....There are PhD professors, convenience store clerks, lawyers, prisoners, teachers, dropouts, etc. The only common thread is IQ, which is a measure of potential, not achievement.
Homeless people too. I've scored high enough to get into Mensa, but have been homeless several times in the past due to manic-depression, which is at least as common in high-IQ people as in the general population. I've known others like me, or total slackers who didn't want to bother with remaining a lawyer or whatever, even a con artist who had screwed up.
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Old 02-02-2012, 01:06 PM
 
Location: Gone
25,231 posts, read 16,857,699 times
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Intelligence testing is valid and I was surprised that I tested as high as I did. But the true test of one’s ability is not how much intelligence one has but how well they apply it. I have know many people with high IQs that could not walk and chew gum at the same time and others with a lower intelligence level that applied what they had evry well and became very successful in life.
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