All You Ever Wanted To Know About IQ Tests

The belief that IQ tests are the most reliable meanssimultaneously with these studies and umpteen
of scientifically testing the intelligence and smartnessquestions were being thrown open for debate.
of a person has always been surrounded byThe Controversies
controversial opinions, sparking heated debates. SomeThe controversial issues were: What exactly does an
have even questioned the so-called scientific basis ofIQ test measure? What exactly is general
the popular IQ tests. Many feel that the outcome ofintelligence? Is the test racially biased? Is it a measure
such tests is biased and does not reflect the trueof one's acquired genetic intelligence or is it a
intelligence of a person that makes him successful inmeasure of cultivated intelligence? Do you have to
life. A person may score genius grade in the test, butbe a part of some elite family to fair well in these
in real life may be a total failure.tests? And what about the improvement in scores
How it all Started?that comes with familiarity with the tests and
Back in 1905, the French psychologist Alfred Binetpractice? Does it mean the person has suddenly
decided that he wanted to pinpoint in advance thebecome a genius after taking the tests a couple of
"slower" students from the rest of the class, so thattimes?
they could be provided extra attention in school.Another issue about the validity and the
Along with a colleague Theodore Simon, Bineteffectiveness of these tests was that they cover
created a scale to measure the intelligence of theonly the left-brain-controlled skills, and no skills
students, the Binet-Simon (B-S) Intelligence Scale.characteristic of right part of the brain, like emotional
They revised the B-S scale in 1908 and once again inintelligence, so very important to for achieving
1911, just before Binet's death. In 1912, a Germansuccess in life. A low IQ person can accomplish great
psychologist, William Stern, gave it a new namethings in life through grit, determination; courage and
love instead of through ability as defined by IQ tests
'Intelligenz-Quotient", the English equivalent being(remember Tom Hanks in the movie Forest Gump?).
Intelligence Quotient or IQ. Lewis Terman, aThese tests also do not reflect on the creative skills
professor from Stanford University, revised it oneor the body intelligence of a person.
more time in 1916. And lo & behold, the IQ testIn the End
was officially ready for mass implementation!So what types of people score high on IQ tests?
How it Works?Are they justifiably intelligent people? Does race play
The way it works is pretty simple. The mentala role? One study showed that blacks scored poorly
prowess is tested for a number of skills, such asuntil the 1950s, before education took off in a big
logical reasoning skill, pattern recognition skill, cognitiveway.
skill, mathematical computational skill,The IQ test scores of some famous personalities
three-dimensional visualization skill, language fluency,were: Einstein, 160; Mozart, 165; Leonardo Da Vinci,
general knowledge, etc. Scores are given for each ofan incredible 220! There is no set recipe on how to
these skill categories and based on them an overallscore high, but training your senses to be receptive
score is assigned that indicates the IQ of the person.to things happening around you and maintaining your
This IQ score is supposed to indicate a person'sphysical and emotional health go a long way in
general intelligence. The score graph (score versusincreasing your IQ.
number of people) of IQ tests conducted in largeSummary:
populations is a bell-shaped curve, indicating that mostIn the eyes of the common man the IQ tests are
people in general population have an average scorethe perfect way to measure scientifically how clever
around 100. At both the extremes on the score linea person is. But the reality is that many controversial
there is a steep decline in the curve, implying thatopinions exist on these tests, and the debate will
very few people fall in the genius category or in thecontinue till a better measure of intelligence is
imbecile category.formulated.
Sounds great, right? No. The controversies started