IQ

{{Psychology}}
{{cquote|I have no idea. People who boast about their I.Q. are losers.|||[[Stephen Hawking]], when asked about his IQ<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/12/magazine/the-science-of-secondguessing.html The Science of Second-Guessing] ''The New York Times Magazine'' 12 December 2004</ref>}}

{{cquote|My fellow IQ realists are, on average, a scary bunch. People who vocally defend the power of IQ are vastly more likely than normal people to advocate extreme [[human rights]] violations. I’ve heard IQ realists advocate a One-Child Policy for people with low IQs. I’ve heard IQ realists advocate a No-Child Policy for people with low IQs. I’ve heard IQ realists advocate forced sterilization for people with low IQs.  I’ve heard IQ realists advocate forcible exile of people with low IQs&nbsp;— fellow citizens, not just immigrants. I’ve heard IQ realists advocate murdering people with low IQs. 

When I say, “I’ve heard…” I’m not just talking about stuff I’ve read on the Internet. I’m talking about what IQ realists have told me to my face.|||[[George Mason University]] economist Bryan Caplan, 2017 <ref>https://www.econlib.org/archives/2017/04/iq_with_conscie.html Another blogger agreed and asked why are those things so scary? https://greyenlightenment.com/2017/05/04/bryan-caplans-iq-with-conscience/</ref> }}

'''IQ''' (intelligence quotient) is a psychometric method considered to measure general intelligence (or ''g'') and derived from the fact that various tests of cognitive ability tend to have highly correlated scores for an individual. The correlations are due to a hypothesised general factor of intelligence or ''g''. IQ correlates with educational achievement and job performance (with a coefficient of 0.65-0.75 for educational achievement<ref>[http://www.salon.com/2013/07/07/iq_tests_hurt_kids_schools_and_dont_measure_intelligence/ IQ tests hurt kids, schools&nbsp;— and don't measure intelligence] ''Salon'' 7 July 2013</ref> and about 0.5 for job performance<ref>Ken Richardson & Sarah Norgate. [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4557354/ Does IQ Really Predict Job Performance?] ''Applied Developmental Science (Volume 19, Issue 3),'' Taylor & Francis. 3 July 2015</ref>). Since IQ is simply a score, it is inaccurate to claim that one "has" a high IQ or a low IQ, when it more or less means "scored high" and "scored low".

==Criticism==
IQ has been criticised for only measuring ''some'' sorts of intelligence<ref>Adam Hampshire, et al. [http://www.cell.com/neuron/abstract/S0896-6273%2812%2900584-3 Fractionating Human Intelligence] ''Neuron (Volume 76, Issue 6),'' Cell Press. 20 December 2012</ref><ref>[http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2011/04/what-does-iq-really-measure What Does IQ Really Measure?] ''Science Magazine'' 25 April 2011</ref> and for being inadequate in that it unfairly emphasises certain types of abstract problem solving (ones which are not exactly common pastimes in poorer parts of the world). This perception has probably been reinforced by common tropes in movies and books of high IQ characters who have little "street smarts", or who possess little "[[common sense]]". Some go even further and argue that IQ tests measure social class, not intelligence.<ref>Ken Richardson. [https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0959354302012003012 What IQ Tests Test] ''Theory & Psychology (Volume 12, Issue 3),'' SAGE Publications. 1 June 2002</ref>

By contrast, obsession with IQ tends to minimize the varied nature of crystallized and semi-fluid intelligence factors as described in {{wpl|Cattell–Horn–Carroll theory||.}}<ref name="Overemphasized">Lazar Stankov. [http://www.mdpi.com/2079-3200/5/4/33/htm Overemphasized “g”] ''Journal of Intelligence (Volume 5, issue 4),'' MDPI. 1 October 2017</ref> IQ (as a proxy for ''g'') has become an oversimplified tool for approaching intelligence in academia, and particularly among [[Donald Trump|lay people with superiority complexes]]. In fact, one of the key markers of good science, an underlying causative mechanism, is ''very'' poorly established for ''g'', and thus IQ.

Another issue is that it is a normalised measure, calibrated to have 100 as the average and 68%<ref>[https://www.testkidsiq.com/249-2/ IQ to Percentile Conversion] ''IQ Test for Kids''</ref> of people in the 85-115 range under Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. So an IQ of 140 measured now is not the same as an IQ of 140 measured 10 years ago. By this measure, people are getting less intelligent.<ref>Bernt Bratsberg & Ole Rogeberg. [http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/06/05/1718793115 Flynn effect and its reversal are both environmentally caused] ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (Volume 115, Number 26),'' National Academy of Sciences. 26 June 2018</ref> It was never designed to be an absolute measure. [[High IQ society|Groups that boast about their high IQ]] generally don't retest their members periodically, presumably to avoid the embarrassment of having to cashier one of their members every now and again.

Testing outside of a formal environment for bragging rights should probably be looked on as something of a scam. Fun for bragging on social media, but little else (although there is the question of why you would brag about something you have no real control over, similar to bragging that you were born in the right place at the right time). Paying for IQ tests means that, by definition, you have an IQ below 100. Don't do it, but if you must, never own up to it.

Importantly, most adult skills heavily depend on what is called crystallized intelligence, the ability to tune one's intellectual ability towards solving particular kinds of problems, rather than fluid intelligence, the kind of broad analytical ability that IQ is intended to measure. This is not a failing of IQ as a measure of intelligence, but certainly something that people who place a lot of stock in the concept tend to gloss over.

==Heritability==
Though numerous familial and [[twin studies]] have found high [[heritability]] estimates for IQ, all attempts to find direct genetic relationships that drive IQ scores have failed to deliver on the expectations of that heritability.<ref name="ncbi">Paul Haggarty, et al. [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2892514/ Human Intelligence and Polymorphisms in the DNA Methyltransferase Genes Involved in Epigenetic Marking] ''PLoS One'' 25 June 2010</ref><ref name="Franic">Sanja Franić, et al. [http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289614001706 Mendelian and polygenic inheritance of intelligence: A common set of causal genes? Using next-generation sequencing to examine the effects of 168 intellectual disability genes on normal-range intelligence] ''Intelligence (Volume 49),'' Elsevier. March-April 2015</ref> This "heritability paradox" has some explanations with serious academic weight, such as by {{wpl|epigenetics|epigenetic}} characteristics,<ref name="ncbi" /> such as imprinting, which can be passed from parent to child without any permanent multi-generational genes attached, and common developmental factors such as nutrition and prenatal hormone exposure. Additionally, the aforementioned non-absolute nature and continual recalibration of IQ means that it's nigh-impossible to use it to track the intelligence of a population over multiple generations.

==Racist BS==
Various [[white supremacists]] like to pull IQ studies as "proof" of their superiority. Historically, IQ testing has also been associated [[eugenics]] and [[scientific racism]].<ref>[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/375636242_Confronting_Scientific_Racism_in_Psychology_Lessons_from_Evolutionary_Biology_and_Genetics Confronting Scientific Racism in Psychology: Lessons from Evolutionary Biology and Genetics] by Kevin A. Bird et al. (2023) ''American Psychologist'' 79(4):497-508. doi:10.1037/amp0001228. Link is to preprint version.</ref>

The problem is, intelligence is much more a product of overall ''health'' than of inherent ability. Iodine deficiency can lower an overall population's average IQ by around 15 points,<ref>[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15734706/ The effects of iodine on intelligence in children: a meta-analysis of studies conducted in China, Ming Qian]</ref> to say nothing of disease and malnutrition overall. If a region or ethnic group has "low" IQ, that's more likely to be the result of poor public health than any systemic genetic issues.

==High IQ society==
{{main|High IQ society}}
The high IQ society is for people who score high on the IQ test and are most definitely not insecure in any way, shape, or form.

==IQ on the internet and IQ in academia==
If your psychology or [[statistics]] textbook brings up IQ, the author probably wants you to explore a challenging academic topic which pushes human minds to their limits. Thinking about IQ can be a gateway to thinking about traits that loosely correlate with other traits, and just what makes a construct valid in psychology, which are wonderful ways to stretch your academic brain. But if a stranger on the Internet wants to talk to you about IQ, it is usually the leadup to an argument that [[Biological determinism|poor people or Black people are naturally inferior to rich white men]], or an argument that the stranger deserves power and respect because he did well on an IQ test once. If you are reading this article, you probably consume more Internet posts about IQ than textbooks about IQ. So read those posts and listen to those videos like they are by a used-car salesman telling you about his wares, not a friend talking about the new show she got in to. 

Academic publications on IQ are not as exciting as Internet posts, but they don't have as many lies meant to justify the author's prejudices or defend the author's fragile ego. (Although a few people with PhDs publish research on IQ that just happens to justify their prejudices).

==See also==
*[[Cognitive differences between sexes]]
*[[Intelligence]]

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

[[Category:Racialism]]
[[Category:White supremacy]]

Categories: Racialism, White supremacy