IQ Tests

[Starhawk]

See the problem with any IQ test is that it's not a fair judge of your IQ because if you choke under preasure you are royaly screwed .

However it is also not very good because different IQ tests use different systems of questions that will make your score vary for example the first IQ test I ever took I scored a 117 with the "possibility" of being a 120 because of my advanced linguistic skills and my ability to rapidly solve problems mentally and respond quickly to a new situation.

However on a second test I took I breezed in easily as a 125 BECAUSE of the exact abilities the other said I could possibly have recieved a 120 for.

Personally I would like to go for 125 for ego's sake but for all I know the first test was more accurate and I'm anywhere from 117 to 120.

P.S. Yes beleive it or not I do have very good linguistic skills I just don't type all that well when I am not under serious preasure.

[gregebowman]

Believe it or not, when I was in the Air Force, that was my job. I was a mental health clinic technician, and part of my duties was administering IQ tests. The one we had to use was called the Weschler (heck, I haven't give it in 15+ years, so I've forgotten the whole title). Unfortunately, I was taught how to use it before someone gave me the test, so I never really did learn my IQ at that time. I tell you, that test can be something, especially when you're trying to get a geriatric person to pay attention long enough for him/her to make a response. But I was never really happy in that field, so got out of the Air Force after one of those reductions.

[Karibu]

Mensa makes the IQ test using only graphics. There is 3 figures and you have to choose what is the fourth one from 6 (IIRC) choices. I haven't made official Mensa test (I made home test just for fun), but here is a link to one which tries to be like it. It is finnish, but if you are intelligent enough, you will figure out how to make it

There is 40 minutes time and you need to have flash on your browser in order to make it. When you follow the link, the test starts immediately.

Start here

[Geckomlis]

Originally posted by Karibu:
I once did one IQ test which were supposed to be similar to Mensa test. It gave me IQ of 148, which I find amusing. I went there through one discussion board and half of them got over 130. Quite intelligent people or the test was utterly false. Which would be right?

Consider this: it is assumed that if you count all people's IQ and count average of them, you get 100. I believe that in the discussion forum I found this, has propable higher average intelligence than 100, but only 5%...10% of people's go into 130 points and they were not THAT great thinkers. At least most of them weren't.

Dispositional Aspects of Intelligence
http://learnweb.harvard.edu/alps/thi...s/Plymouth.htm

Student lawyers are among the most intelligent of students in the psychometric sense. They are able dedicated learners who have passed the hurdles of earlier education with excellent records. Moreover, good reasoning in terms of claims and evidence is central to their enterprise. Lawyers—student or professional—need to consider not only the side of the case they are committed to defending but the other side of the case, if only to anticipate the arguments of the opposition. One would suppose, then, that student lawyers would tend to reason well about everyday public issues, certainly considering both sides of the case with some care.

However, this does not seem to be the case. A number of years ago, we conducted a series of studies examining people’s everyday reasoning about a range of issues, including questions such as "Would a nuclear disarmament treaty reduce the likelihood of world war?" and "Would a bottle deposit law in the state of Massachusetts reduce litter?" As a strong trend, people’s reasoning on these issues proved very one-sided (Perkins, 1985; Perkins, Allen, & Hafner, 1983). Most people would adopt one or the other stance and say hardly anything about what reasoning might apply on the other side. One sample consisted of student lawyers from a well-known university. The student lawyers paid no more attention to the other side of the case than other participants. Moreover, the series of studies revealed a provocative pattern in the relationship between IQ, which was also measured, and attention to the other side of the case. The correlation between the two was zero. People with higher IQs were no more likely to attend to the other side of the case than people with lower IQs, although people with higher IQs did tend to offer more elaborate justifications of their preferred side of the case (Perkins, Farady, & Bushey, 1991).

Thinking about the other side of the case is a perfect example of a good reasoning practice. It is a move one would ordinarily count as part of intelligent behavior. Why, then, do student lawyers with high IQs and training in reasoning that includes anticipating the arguments of the opposition prove to be as subject to confirmation bias or myside bias, as it has been called, than anyone else? To ask such a question is to raise fundamental issues about conceptions of intelligence, classic and modern.

-Gecko

[PvK]

Interesting, Geckomlis. "Real" intelligence definitely has many forms.

Tests only measure how well you do at their own form of test. Different people are smart in different ways. One measure of intelligence, is how many ways you can think to debunk the validity of an IQ test.

Of course, to do well on a difficult test is a good sign that the person probably has some smarts of some sort. Scoring low doesn't necessarily say anything negative, though - it might indicate disinterest, or refusal to accept the premises of lame test questions, for example. Answering "what a dumb question!" will hurt one's score, but doesn't necessarily mean the subject is less intelligent than someone going along with the test.

Finding many people have above-average scores on traditional intelligence tests in a computer forum doesn't imply flawed test scales to me, though. There are plenty of shockingly dense people around to bring the average down.

PvK

[David E. Gervais]

Karibu, I did 133 on that test is that good? (I think the score chart at the end of the test showed 164 as mensa calibur.) so I guess I'm just normal then.

Cheers!

[ December 20, 2003, 10:13: Message edited by: David E. Gervais ]

[Karibu]

I recall when I was in the army (it is obligatory for men in Finland) they made their own IQ tests. Couple of hundred question and you had to choose answer from 4 or 5 different answers. Also they made us psychological tests to see how stabile, sensible, etc. we are. One room mate was a student of psychology and he knew how to answer these tests. That also meant that he knew how NOT to answer.

When he got his results back, a captain said that according to his results, he is so twisted and crazy that he could not hold a pen in his hand

He made creative way to show his capabilities. About the link I gave you. I forgot to mention that when you make the test, there is this little gray square in the bottom right corner of test area. When you put your cursor above it, it reveals 4 links and the link called "Lähetä" will tell you your result. If you did like this, you have done correctly. David with 133 you are well above average.

Like I said, I don't know how reliable this test is, but it is provided by finnish science magazine and they tell it to be based on same evaluation algorithm than Mensa test. It is very similar to Mensa home test I once did. Though, Mensa home test doesn't tell you your IQ, but when you send it into Mensa, they will send you letter where they tell how many correct answers I had made. I didin't do as well as I wanted, though.

I have always been good in math, so I think it will help me in that test. However, like Fyron told before, it doesn't tell your social intelligence, artistic skills, political skills, charisma, negotaion skills, etc.

To measure these, you need many more tests in different nature. I hope you enjoy this test and have the result you are seeking

[ December 20, 2003, 11:54: Message edited by: Karibu ]