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If you didn't study psychology, and didn't take any courses in psychometrics, you might not know how intelligence is defined. Basically, intelligence is defined as whatever is measured by intelligence tests. And it tends to predict academic success.
Academic success basically requires abilities for reading, writing and mathematics.
An IQ test is a kind of intelligence test, although it also tests for some non-verbal and non-mathematical abilities.
IQ tests were developed primarily for children, and they compare a child's age with his or her ability level. So if a child is 10 years old and has the abilities of the average 12 year old, then his or her IQ is 120. If a child is 10 years old and has the abilities of the average 8 year old, then his or her IQ is 80. (ability level divided by age, multiplied by 100).
This kind of scoring can only work for children, since intellectual development is only expected in children.
IQ tests are not really intended for adults, except for diagnosing brain damage.
Other intelligence tests have been developed for educated adults, to estimate and predict their ability to succeed in college or graduate school. The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is used for college admission. The Graduate Record Exam general test is used for graduate school admission.
It would make absolutely no sense to say that an IQ test is an intelligence test, while the SAT or GRE are not.
Intelligence is defined as the ability to do well in school. The SAT and GRE were designed to predict the ability to do well in school.
People have misconceptions about what intelligence is (how it is defined by psychologists) and what intelligence tests are.
If you didn't study psychology, and didn't take any courses in psychometrics, you might not know how intelligence is defined. Basically, intelligence is defined as whatever is measured by intelligence tests. And it tends to predict academic success.
Academic success basically requires abilities for reading, writing and mathematics.
An IQ test is a kind of intelligence test, although it also tests for some non-verbal and non-mathematical abilities.
IQ tests were developed primarily for children, and they compare a child's age with his or her ability level. So if a child is 10 years old and has the abilities of the average 12 year old, then his or her IQ is 120. If a child is 10 years old and has the abilities of the average 8 year old, then his or her IQ is 80. (ability level divided by age, multiplied by 100).
This kind of scoring can only work for children, since intellectual development is only expected in children.
IQ tests are not really intended for adults, except for diagnosing brain damage.
Other intelligence tests have been developed for educated adults, to estimate and predict their ability to succeed in college or graduate school. The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is used for college admission. The Graduate Record Exam general test is used for graduate school admission.
It would make absolutely no sense to say that an IQ test is an intelligence test, while the SAT or GRE are not.
Intelligence is defined as the ability to do well in school. The SAT and GRE were designed to predict the ability to do well in school.
People have misconceptions about what intelligence is (how it is defined by psychologists) and what intelligence tests are.
OP, you must be aware that when the first test was developed for pre-school children, it was based on drawing ability. Or it inadvertently measured artistic ability, while the intent was to measure intelligence in children too young to read. But the Euro-American kids as a whole didn't do as well as the Native American kids, who, generally speaking, excelled. So it was deemed that the test was flawed. A different type of test was devised, to get the "right" results. So, apparently, it's not so simple as, "intelligence is defined as whatever is measured by intelligence tests". That sounds like circular thinking at its finest.
I'm curious, now, what the tests for pre-literate kids entail. Picking out the one object that "doesn't belong"? Analogy testing, using patterned boxes? Just curious. If I'd had to take a drawing test, or even now, as an adult, haha, I'd get a miserably failing score! Brain damaged-level!
This kind of scoring can only work for children, since intellectual development is only expected in children.
IQ tests are not really intended for adults, except for diagnosing brain damage.
Hmm. Are you sure about that? It's the first time I've heard of it. Maybe you're right, but it would help to know how you came to that.
As far as intelligence goes to me, intelligence is the ability to calculate by speed and efficiency. This isn't just the performance to calculate, but learning what resources are and how they work as calculations. You can be a stupid mathematician because you just follow processes all day, you can be a clever sportsperson because you think outside the box.
It's not the same as wisdom either - I think that gets confused - wisdom is more about thinking about things as an eternal process and doesn't have much to do with intelligence.
People also have their opinions...and usually put more "faith" in them than they put in someone else's. What one source states as a definition another might consider an opinion.
I was not expressing my opinion. Just telling you how psychologists who specialize in testing define intelligence. Just telling you the facts about what intelligence tests are.
In a different thread, someone said the SAT and GRE can't possibly be intelligence tests. But that is exactly what they are, according to the accepted definitions.
People who never studied psychology sometimes think intelligence, and IQ, are something real. They are just definitions made up by psychologists. And sometimes they think there is something magic about IQ tests, that makes them different from other tests of academic ability. There isn't.
Hmm. Are you sure about that? It's the first time I've heard of it. Maybe you're right, but it would help to know how you came to that.
As far as intelligence goes to me, intelligence is the ability to calculate by speed and efficiency. This isn't just the performance to calculate, but learning what resources are and how they work as calculations. You can be a stupid mathematicians because you just follow processes all day, you can be a clever sportsperson because you think outside the box.
It's not the same as wisdom either - I think that gets confused - wisdom is more about thinking about things as an eternal process and doesn't have much to do with intelligence.
"Calculate"? There's a lot more than math involved in measuring intelligence. Reading comprehension and analytic ability in relation to what one has read, is a major factor, for one thing. Sizing up a situation (which some reading comprehension tests also measure, in part, I think), and being able to articulate its complexity, and choosing an appropriate response or solution, or characterization/summary, would be closely related to the reading/analytic ability. So it relates to life, not just academia. Ability to evaluate and problem-solve dilemmas that life throws you.
I was not expressing my opinion. Just telling you how psychologists who specialize in testing define intelligence. Just telling you the facts about what intelligence tests are.
In a different thread, someone said the SAT and GRE can't possibly be intelligence tests. But that is exactly what they are, according to the accepted definitions.
People who never studied psychology sometimes think intelligence, and IQ, are something real. They are just definitions made up by psychologists. And sometimes they think there is something magic about IQ tests, that makes them different from other tests of academic ability. There isn't.
I see. Well, I agree that the SAT and GRE are intelligence tests. But the definition at the beginning of your OP kind of implies that almost anything can be an intelligence test, or rather, that intelligence tests can measure almost anything, and that will define what intelligence is. In the example I gave, intelligence turned out to be the ability to see accurately, and draw what one is seeing. But the test designers decided that wasn't the definition of intelligence. That wasn't how they wanted to define it, since "their" kids didn't do well. So they figured out how to test for something else, and THAT became the definition of "intelligence".
IOW, pretty arbitrary definition. So now, "intelligence" is defined as the ability to do well academically, more or less. It's not defined as: emotional intelligence, spatial intelligence, intuition and insight, and memory. Memory actually plays a huge role in intelligence, but that's not what the tests measure. Intuition played a key role in Einstein's discoveries, but that aspect of his intelligence wasn't measurable by the conventional tests of the day. Nor by today's tests.
Fascinating. Don't mind me, OP--I'm just riffing on the points you raised.
"Calculate"? There's a lot more than math involved in measuring intelligence. Reading comprehension and analytic ability in relation to what one has read, is a major factor, for one thing. Sizing up a situation (which some reading comprehension tests also measure, in part, I think), and being able to articulate its complexity, and choosing an appropriate response or solution, or characterization/summary, would be closely related to the reading/analytic ability. So it relates to life, not just academia. Ability to evaluate and problem-solve dilemmas that life throws you.
No. A person could have good verbal skills yet be completely illiterate. That is not common today, but it used to be. Without good reading and writing skills, you cannot do well on typical intelligence tests. Especially the ones designed for educated adults, like the SAT and GRE.
I see. Well, I agree that the SAT and GRE are intelligence tests. But the definition at the beginning of your OP kind of implies that almost anything can be an intelligence test, or rather, that intelligence tests can measure almost anything, and that will define what intelligence is. In the example I gave, intelligence turned out to be the ability to see accurately, and draw what one is seeing. But the test devisers decided that wasn't the definition of intelligence. That wasn't how they wanted to define it, since "their" kids didn't do well. So they figured out how to test for something else, and THAT became the definition of "intelligence".
IOW, pretty arbitrary.
They have tried different ways of measuring intelligence. Now we usually think an intelligent person has to be literate. You can't function well in this society otherwise, and you certainly can't do well in school.
A major reason for these tests is to predict academic success, which they do to some extent. If you can't read well, and you can't do math, you probably won't do well in school. And speed matters, since the tests have time limits.
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