Donald I, emperor of the world.

[Pinno718]

No. The history of IQ tests is somewhat chequered. What started off as a test to try and measure whether children were "retarded" rather than "sick" in France, had become part of the US Eugenics movement by 1883 and forced sterilisation was introduced for the "unfit" with over 60,000 people being sterilised in the USA . The Nazis, understandably loved this idea.

They are also used by racists to "prove" that non-whites have lower IQs, as the same racists are too thick to understand that IQ tests have been designed to measure intelligence in western cultures and that the gap is due to environmental factors not genetics.

There are also different types of test which give different results. When I did my MENSA test, there were two tests - one was along the lines of Culture Fair focusing on pattern matching, ability to mentally rotate shapes, analyse visual data etc, and the other was a Cattell III B style focusing on verbal reasoning, sequencing, odd one out in this group of animals etc. I was just under the entry criteria for the Cattell but over the threshold for Culture Fair.

But there is no correlation between high IQ's and higher empathy.

 

[Ian H]

But there is no correlation between high IQ's and higher empathy.

There isn't a reliable link between IQ and intelligence.

 

[Pinno718]

There isn't a reliable link between IQ and intelligence.

Fair enough. IQ tests are an odd metric with no test being unequivocal (as IC Cowden pointed out).

 

[icowden]

There isn't a reliable link between IQ and intelligence.

Quite. A significant proportion of Mensa members are neurodiverse. Neurodiverse people tend to be very good at the old IQ test - problem solving, spotting patterns and gaps in patterns tends to go with the territory. It's therefore hard to tell whether the IQ test is showing that they are incredibly intelligent or just incredibly good at doing IQ tests.

 

[briantrumpet]

Quite. A significant proportion of Mensa members are neurodiverse. Neurodiverse people tend to be very good at the old IQ test - problem solving, spotting patterns and gaps in patterns tends to go with the territory. It's therefore hard to tell whether the IQ test is showing that they are incredibly intelligent or just incredibly good at doing IQ tests.

Does anyone remember the programme on that autistic chap who could do ridiculous mental arithmetic? He was unusual in that he could explain how he did it (the numbers appeared as some sort of 'shape' and the 'shape' that appeared in between the two other numbers, each many digits long, was the answer). I suspect that he might have found other aspects of life quite baffling, but measured on that one metric, he was a genius.

 

[icowden]

Does anyone remember the programme on that autistic chap who could do ridiculous mental arithmetic? He was unusual in that he could explain how he did it (the numbers appeared as some sort of 'shape' and the 'shape' that appeared in between the two other numbers, each many digits long, was the answer). I suspect that he might have found other aspects of life quite baffling, but measured on that one metric, he was a genius.

I don't but that doesn't surprise me, as my brain does a similar thing with music. I can usually see the shapes, so transposing stuff is just moving the shapes. I also have shapes that can interlock so from chord X I can move to many different shapes, but they all work.

 

[briantrumpet]

I don't but that doesn't surprise me, as my brain does a similar thing with music. I can usually see the shapes, so transposing stuff is just moving the shapes. I also have shapes that can interlock so from chord X I can move to many different shapes, but they all work.

Probably another discussion - yes, me too, though also responds well to regular practice thinking of the shapes and letting the brain work its subconscious magic on them (as it does with spoken language). People who don't play keyboard of some description find it much harder to grasp those shapes as underlying 'things', I think, and so find it much harder to mentally order and manipulate them. It'd be an interesting study for someone doing music & psychology.

 

[Beebo]

Quite. A significant proportion of Mensa members are neurodiverse. Neurodiverse people tend to be very good at the old IQ test - problem solving, spotting patterns and gaps in patterns tends to go with the territory. It's therefore hard to tell whether the IQ test is showing that they are incredibly intelligent or just incredibly good at doing IQ tests.

Exactly. Whenever I watch only connect on BBC2. Some of the ability to see abstract patterns is very impressive.
But the contestants don’t appear to be the next generation of business visionaries and entrepreneurs.
It would be an interesting experiment to swap the contestants on the Apprentice and Only Connect to see how they all get on.