There’s another aspect of the shortcomings of IQ tests that people might not be aware of. Cognition is quite flexible, and abstract problem-solving ability can be met by many combinations of underlying, modular capacities. A person lacking in certain respects can make up for the lack, at the price, perhaps, of thinking a little more slowly.
Take me for an example. On the WISC-III IQ test, my combined score is 145. There are two composite scores that the combined score is made up of, the verbal score (I got 155, the maximum possible on that test) and the performance score (I got 125). There are also a number of different individual capacity scores. On most, I scored above the 95 percentile. On two or three, I scored right in the middle, and in one (visual short term memory) I scored in the first percentile.
Let me repeat that. I scored in the first percentile for the capacity to keep visual information in my short-term memory. (I scored in the 97th for aural short term memory, and 99.9th for linguistic.) How does that change how I solve problems, how I think about the world? Well, I perform many tasks about twice as slowly (but just as accurately) as others with my composite IQ. I have to use other circuits than most people do to solve the same problems, circuits that aren’t as efficient. Circuits that may even work slightly differently, giving me a different perspective on problems, which may be superior or inferior, I don’t know (likely depending on the individual problem). I strongly suspect that this is a large part of the cause of my intense dislike of school.
(BTW, people with a large difference between performance and verbal IQ are classified as having non-verbal learning disorder. That’s right, even really smart people can have learning disorders.)
IQ is not a single number. Even IQ recognizes a large part of the complexity of human intelligence. It’s not the psychologists that make the mistake of reducing it to a single number.
Why did I write this long comment on a dead thread? Dunno.
There’s another aspect of the shortcomings of IQ tests that people might not be aware of. Cognition is quite flexible, and abstract problem-solving ability can be met by many combinations of underlying, modular capacities. A person lacking in certain respects can make up for the lack, at the price, perhaps, of thinking a little more slowly.
Take me for an example. On the WISC-III IQ test, my combined score is 145. There are two composite scores that the combined score is made up of, the verbal score (I got 155, the maximum possible on that test) and the performance score (I got 125). There are also a number of different individual capacity scores. On most, I scored above the 95 percentile. On two or three, I scored right in the middle, and in one (visual short term memory) I scored in the first percentile.
Let me repeat that. I scored in the first percentile for the capacity to keep visual information in my short-term memory. (I scored in the 97th for aural short term memory, and 99.9th for linguistic.) How does that change how I solve problems, how I think about the world? Well, I perform many tasks about twice as slowly (but just as accurately) as others with my composite IQ. I have to use other circuits than most people do to solve the same problems, circuits that aren’t as efficient. Circuits that may even work slightly differently, giving me a different perspective on problems, which may be superior or inferior, I don’t know (likely depending on the individual problem). I strongly suspect that this is a large part of the cause of my intense dislike of school.
(BTW, people with a large difference between performance and verbal IQ are classified as having non-verbal learning disorder. That’s right, even really smart people can have learning disorders.)
IQ is not a single number. Even IQ recognizes a large part of the complexity of human intelligence. It’s not the psychologists that make the mistake of reducing it to a single number.
Why did I write this long comment on a dead thread? Dunno.
This thread lives on! And you’re partially responsible. Thanks!