Intelligence and IQ

IQ Test: Where Does It Come From?
Intelligence testing began in earnest in France, when in 1904 psychologist Alfred Binet was commissioned by the French government to find a method to differentiate between children who were intellectually normal and those who were inferior. The purpose was to put the latter into special schools. There they would receive more individual attention and the disruption they caused in the education of intellectually normal children could be avoided. Read more…

IQ Test Scores: The Basics of IQ Score Interpretation
IQ stands for intelligence quotient. Supposedly, it is a score that tells one how "bright" a person is compared to other people. The average IQ is by definition 100; scores above 100 indicate a higher than average IQ and scores below 100 indicate a lower that average IQ. Theoretically, scores can range any amount below or above 100, but in practice they do not meaningfully go much below 50 or above 150. Read more…

IQ Tests: Do They Measure Intelligence?
If an IQ test is supposed to measure a person's intelligence, the question is: What is intelligence? Is it the ability to do well in school? Is it the ability to read well and spell correctly? Or are the following people intelligent? The physician who smokes three packets of cigarettes a day? The Nobel Prize winner whose marriage and personal life are in ruins? The corporate executive who has ingeniously worked his way to the top and also earned a heart attack for his efforts? Read more…

The Role of Genetics in IQ and Intelligence
Your brain, your nervous system, your entire body is constructed according to instructions received from the genes that you have inherited from your parents. It would seem reasonable that superior genes would provide a child with superior intelligence capacity. And in fact, researchers have discovered that parents with high IQ's tend to have children with high IQ's, while parents with low IQ's tend to have children with low IQ’s. Does that prove that intelligence is inherited? Read more…

Learning Disabilities and IQ Tests: Diagnostic Practices
under the Microscope
For a child to be diagnosed as learning disabled there must be a discrepancy between his expected school achievement and his real school achievement. The most important criterion to determine his expected achievement is his IQ score. This article puts the diagnostic practices of the learning disabilities field under the microscope. Read more…

Do You Need a High IQ to Be Successful?
Does having a high IQ score guarantee success in later life? No, it doesn't! It doesn't even guarantee success in school. A Canadian television program recently tracked down some of the people with the highest IQ scores in North America. One man who has an extremely high genius IQ works as a motorcycle mechanic, hangs out with biker gangs, and is frequently in and out of jail. Read more…