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My IQ

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Re: My IQ

#21

Post by markokocic »

Shenglong wrote: post #15

|Cow, hen, pig, sheep The standard answer is supposed to be hen, as it is the only bird. I believe the standard answer is a "hen" because it's the only one that is gender-specific. In fact, it is distinctly the odd-one out because it doesn't even refer to a specific genus (or even family) of animal. I'm all for creativity (I have the same complaint often) but there needs to be some sort of standardization in communic…

Isn't that the point of the article? Everyone could pick one of those and reationalize why it should be the "standard" answer, but it doesn't mean it's the only right one. Good test would require candidate to pick an answer and then explain why, but that would make scoring such test too subjective.

Re: My IQ

#22

Post by chiph »

> > Cow, hen, pig, sheep. > The standard answer is supposed to be hen, as it is the only bird.

I thought "It's the only one that goes around on two legs." And then: "It's the only one that reproduces via eggs." Maybe not the right answer for the "right" reason, but works...

But then, as I have gotten older, my IQ is probably half what it was when I was tested as a teen (not a candidate for Mensa, sorry) Probably because I'm more certain now that I don't know all the answers. :)

Re: My IQ

#23

Post by DanBC »

Shenglong wrote: post #15

|Cow, hen, pig, sheep The standard answer is supposed to be hen, as it is the only bird. I believe the standard answer is a "hen" because it's the only one that is gender-specific. In fact, it is distinctly the odd-one out because it doesn't even refer to a specific genus (or even family) of animal. I'm all for creativity (I have the same complaint often) but there needs to be some sort of standardization in communic…

~~Sheep / ram?~~

Cow / bull?

~~Sow / uh, pig ? (I don't know about pig)~~

Hen / cock?

(Pseudo strikethrough! See child comment from pbiggar.)

Re: My IQ

#24

Post by shasta »

Shenglong wrote: post #15

|Cow, hen, pig, sheep The standard answer is supposed to be hen, as it is the only bird. I believe the standard answer is a "hen" because it's the only one that is gender-specific. In fact, it is distinctly the odd-one out because it doesn't even refer to a specific genus (or even family) of animal. I'm all for creativity (I have the same complaint often) but there needs to be some sort of standardization in communic…

'pig' can be written in a way such that it has a symmetry about a vertical line, so I'd go with it.

Re: My IQ

#25

Post by graeme »

paisawalla wrote: post #2

Great insight. Regarding Mensa itself, or any claims to intellectual superiority: one of the big lessons of my life has been that being intelligent has no intrinsic value. If you are unable to manifest your intelligence in a way that can substantially (disproportionate to your effort) improve your life or the lives of others, then your mind doesn't matter. It has no impact in the world, and I am not the first person…

That's interesting. I'm an LSAT instructor. My first reaction to reading the instructor's comment was, 'Ha, only 165, he's no genius'.

But, MENSA accepts 163 as a cutoff LSAT score for entry. So if MENSA == genius, then he is a genius.

Among people who take the LSAT though, he's only 92nd percentile. He doesn't have much business teaching the test. Anyone who's at an Ivy League law school has a better score than him.

I completely agree that intelligence, on it's own, is near useless. It needs to be combined with the other elements that make someone effective. THEN, and only then, do you have the ingredients for something powerful.

Our society lionizes intelligence to the point that many people with little but intelligence smugly rest on their laurels, and accomplish less than their potential due to defects in social skills, initiative, etc.

Re: My IQ

#26

Post by Shenglong »

DanBC wrote: post #11

I'm keen to know what the research is about cleverness and overthinking and multiple choice questions. One of the most intelligent people I know IRL has trouble with the UK driving licence theory questions because she very rapidly provides 6 correct answers, and then has to try to detangle her correct answers from the choices. I suspect that she'd do better if she tried when she was drunk (not the practical!!) becaus…

It might not be that she's overthinking--it could just be that the test-writers don't have as much education/intelligence. I use ad-hominems sparingly, so let me offer a specific example for the beginner's license test in Halifax, NS, Canada:

In cold conditions, which of the following freeze before the others?

1. Bridges

2. Overpasses

3. Shaded Areas

4. All of the above

I wasn't entirely sure what a "shaded area" was, but I figured eventually that it must be some area under shade from the sun. Next, "all of the above" didn't make sense, because how can "all of the above" freeze before all of the above? I figured that water has a higher specific heat capacity than ground, and thus in cold conditions, the heat from the water would keep bridges warmer for slightly longer. I answered Overpasses.

Apparently the answer was "all of the above". The funny thing is, when I ask this question to people, I find a pretty consistent correlation between responses: for my non-university educated friends, they typically answer D. On the other hand, my university educated friends (whose majors vary significantly) tend to answer A, B, C, or "D doesn't make sense".

Re: My IQ

#27

Post by jeffdavis »

Shenglong wrote: post #15

|Cow, hen, pig, sheep The standard answer is supposed to be hen, as it is the only bird. I believe the standard answer is a "hen" because it's the only one that is gender-specific. In fact, it is distinctly the odd-one out because it doesn't even refer to a specific genus (or even family) of animal. I'm all for creativity (I have the same complaint often) but there needs to be some sort of standardization in communic…

Strangely, the first reaction I had was that a pig is the only thing that you need to kill to get something from. You can get milk, eggs, and wool from the other animals without killing them.

Not sure why I went in that direction, but I could imagine a lot of farmers and ranchers might think along similar lines.

Re: My IQ

#28

Post by randomdata »

Shenglong wrote: post #15

|Cow, hen, pig, sheep The standard answer is supposed to be hen, as it is the only bird. I believe the standard answer is a "hen" because it's the only one that is gender-specific. In fact, it is distinctly the odd-one out because it doesn't even refer to a specific genus (or even family) of animal. I'm all for creativity (I have the same complaint often) but there needs to be some sort of standardization in communic…

I'd be inclined to answer sheep. It is the only term that can be used in a plural context.

As DanWaterworth noted, cow is gender specific and does not even refer to a specific genus either (see: Whales).

Re: My IQ

#29

Post by nacker »

IQ tests share this property of undervaluing creativity and overvaluing conformity with academic work in general.

Witness my favorite renegade intellectual, Robert Pirsig, from his Wikipedia page:

'While doing laboratory work in biochemistry, Pirsig became greatly troubled by the existence of more than one workable hypothesis to explain a given phenomenon, and, indeed, that the number of hypotheses appeared unlimited. He could not find any way to reduce the number of hypotheses--he became perplexed by the role and source of hypothesis generation within scientific practice. This led him to an awareness of a (to him) previously unarticulated limitation of science, which was something of a revelation to him. The question distracted him to the extent that he lost interest in his studies and failed to maintain good grades; he was finally expelled from the university.'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Pirsig

I score pretty well on IQ tests, but only by suppressing a constant incipient rage at many of the questions, and a constant effort to ask myself "what would be the most boring and conformist interpretation of this?" That is usually the "right" answer.

Re: My IQ

#30

Post by protomyth »

46Bit wrote: post #14
salgernon wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I met a genius that worked in the shipping department of the first software company I worked for. (Back when people shipped software.) But working in the shipping department was only what he did in order to persue his passion, which was bird watching and photography. That is where he expressed his genius, although he couldn't make a living from it, it made him happy. Reminds me of http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilso…

There's a great deal of the population who spend their lives working in shops and so forth doing relatively menial work. Why they're doing it is not about intelligence at all, it's all about drive. A driven person who's terrified of Maths and Sciences is unlikely to become a leading Physicist, but they might well power through enough basic sums to successfully establish businesses. An intelligent person who's not dri…

There are plenty of people doing "menial" work who have plenty of drive. The work is to earn a paycheck and their life isn't about that. The drive is centered on something that doesn't earn them a living (e.g. family, bird watching). Not everything in life is about work and money.
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