Intelligence is Subjective and why IQ Tests do not Measure Intelligence
A friend told me once “Imagine the average person, realize that half of the population is dumber than them”.
I didn’t think too much of it at first, but then I realized how toxic this mindset is. There is no need to define and divide ourselves by intelligence. Most of the people would say that they are at least above average when it comes to intelligence. Obviously, this does not add up. Before I explain why IQ makes little sense, I will show what definition I go by.
“Intelligence has been defined in many different ways including as one's capacity for logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, planning, creativity and problem solving. It can be more generally described as the ability to perceive information, and retain it as knowledge to be applied towards adaptive behaviors within an environment or context.” - Wikipedia
The definition is very diffuse. For something to be objective, it must be measurable and based on facts. Some examples of objective things are length, weight and age. Subjective things are for example beauty and taste.
Objective (adjective)
"not influenced by personal feelings, interpretations, or prejudice;based on facts; unbiased:” – Dictionary.com
To objectively describe intelligence, it must measure certain criteria, including problem solving. Most problems have many solutions. Problems can also be interpreted in many ways, which leads to even more answers. These solutions must be compared with each other to measure which solution is the best.
”The IQ scale is set so that the median is set at 100 in a population and the rest of the world is considered to be normally distributed.” - Wikipedia
Before I go on with the problems of measuring intelligence, I want to share some personal experiences I had with IQ tests. There are a LOT of different tests and I have gotten mixed results on them. Some say I am a genius and others say that I am average. I have also tested different tests from the same source and gotten varied results. I do not think that it is possible to have two contradicting objective intelligence levels.
Figure 1. A typical IQ test question. Screen from http://iq-test.illvet.se
IQ uses a set of standardized tests with a handful of questions each. Each question has one correct answer. The score is calculated based on your answers and you get a value around 100. The value you get at the end supposedly determines how intelligent you are.
In the case of problem solving, who determines the “correct” answer? If the person who made the test has all the correct answers, then by definition, he/she has to be the smartest person on the planet. To create a legit question on a test the answer must be known by the creator (to be able to judge of the answer is correct). Let's say the creator makes all the questions then he/she must know all the answers and therefore get the best possible score. This means that for the test to be objective the smartest person in the world must create it. Someone who is all knowing, only a literal God has the authority to judge what/who is “officially” (objectively) intelligent.
Creativity can arguably be objectively measured. The standard example is for the subject to come up with as many uses of a paperclip as possible. The number of uses is an objective measurement of creativity in this scenario. However, IQ tests have only one correct answer. This straight up contradicts creativity. A creative person would interpret the question in many different ways leading to multiple possible solutions. A creative person will point to each answer and explain why that is also correct. Which solution is more correct and why?
IQ does not measure objective intelligence, but it is a human suggestion of someone’s intellect. Because of the definition of intelligence being so vague, I do not think that it is possible to objectively describe someone’s intelligence. But if it is possible, what could that be?
uhm no, basically nothing has been studied as much in depth as IQ in psychology and there is certainly a great correlation between IQ tests and mental performance. That being said, IQ does not determine everything - but it remains an important factor.
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