Online IQ tests? How reliable are they?

Drew_TNBD

 Curious. Me and the missus did one t'other night, and I got a score I was not expecting.

randomhandclaps

Provided you are coping in all other areas of your life I wouldn't let a sub 60 score bother you too much.

Phil_aka_Pip

IQ tests only measure how good you are at IQ tests. They don't measure IQ.

Drew_TNBD

randomhandclaps said:

Provided you are coping in all other areas of your life I wouldn't let a sub 60 score bother you too much.

:x

randomhandclaps

Phil_aka_Pip said:

IQ tests only measure how good you are at IQ tests.

That's not strictly true.  Some try and sell you viagra or timeshares at the end.

Drew_TNBD

>:D<

CabbageCat

If it was a real mensa one I would trust the score. If it's from any other source I wouldn't. They are likely to show a bigger score so people share them on facebook and ting.

And IQ is how good you are at IQ tests. It might be of no practical use but if you are good at the analytical and logical questions that IQ tests ask then you have a high IQ.

fretmeister

Do 10 tests and then take the average.

If you manage that with your 60 score then contratulations! You are a higher functioning moron.

mike_l

randomhandclaps said:

Provided you are coping in all other areas of your life I wouldn't let a sub 60 score bother you too much.

And you'll have doubled @randomhandclaps score...... B-)

randomhandclaps

Exactly, and I'm still getting by.  So no need to panic.

Phil_aka_Pip

CabbageCat said:

If it was a real mensa one I would trust the score. If it's from any other source I wouldn't. They are likely to show a bigger score so people share them on facebook and ting.

And IQ is how good you are at IQ tests. It might be of no practical use but if you are good at the analytical and logical questions that IQ tests ask then you have a high IQ.

That strikes me as somewhat circular. I know people who are "intelligent" but they're not much good at IQ tests, hence I don't equate intelligence with high IQ test scores.

CabbageCat

Phil_aka_Pip said:

CabbageCat said:

If it was a real mensa one I would trust the score. If it's from any other source I wouldn't. They are likely to show a bigger score so people share them on facebook and ting.

And IQ is how good you are at IQ tests. It might be of no practical use but if you are good at the analytical and logical questions that IQ tests ask then you have a high IQ.

That strikes me as somewhat circular. I know people who are "intelligent" but they're not much good at IQ tests, hence I don't equate intelligence with high IQ test scores.

Yup. Intelligence isn't measured in IQ tests. IQ is. Intelligence is much more subjective and immeasurable because everyone has their own view on what it constitutes. IQ is objective and measurable.

frankus

Drew_fx said:

 Curious. Me and the missus did one t'other night, and I got a score I was not expecting.

Clever people tend to underestimate their intelligence.

I've no time for IQ, and MENSA just seems to be a knocking shop for smug pedants

monquixote

They tend to have quite a bit of variability. 

Assuming they are all baselined properly they should tell you how you do relative to the public at large, but you might do better or worse depending on your skills. 

For example when I've done ones that focus heavily on word play I tend to come up about 10 points lower than what I normally get but when I've done ones heavily based on pattern recognition I've had scores ten points higher than normal.

Also I find if I do a lot in a short space of time then my performance goes up significantly. 

The key thing I think is does your performance in IQ tests tell you very much about your actual intelligence and most of the evidence suggests that it doesn't from what I remember when we covered it at university.

CabbageCat

frankus said:

Drew_fx said:

 Curious. Me and the missus did one t'other night, and I got a score I was not expecting.

Clever people tend to underestimate their intelligence.

I've no time for IQ, and MENSA just seems to be a knocking shop for smug pedants

Moderately clever people underestimate their intelligence. Very clever people know that they are very clever. Unfortunately, stupid people think that they are very clever too.

Sadly, stupid people think everyone else is stupid, even other stupid people. IQ is moderately helpful because it provides an objective way for very clever people to wave it at a stupid person and say, "Look! I'm not stupid. I have a high IQ. I also think that I am very clever and since only very clever people and stupid people think that they are very clever, and we have already shown that I am not stupid, I must be very clever. QED." The stupid person (who probably won't understand the argument) will then point out that not being good at IQ tests does not indicate stupidity therefore being good at IQ tests does not indicate cleverness (because they are stupid and don't understand logic).

 

ESBlonde

A very few people spend their lives in academia with very high intelligence. Some of them create or help develop ideas that aid mankind generally in ways we cannot imagine. Often those same people cannot use shoe laces without assistance.
Others reputedly have low IQ levels, but are capable of feeding and clothing vast elements of the population and thus have the ability to maintain and transform humanity too.

Don't get too hung up on IQ, so called common sense isn't so common but is very useful.

;-)

Phil_aka_Pip

I'm only smart enough to know that I'm smarter than some and not as smart as others.

randomhandclaps

frankus said:

Clever people tend to underestimate their intelligence.

CabbageCat said:

Moderately clever people underestimate their intelligence.

People of all intelligence levels constantly underestimate the amount of loo roll required before starting.

frankus

randomhandclaps said:

People of all intelligence levels constantly underestimate the amount of loo roll required before starting.

uh uh - not me, I am wise

Drew_TNBD

I just did a poo has it happens.

Drew_TNBD

Oh wait... RHC.... did you mean wanking??