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IQ Matters Less Than You Think

nautil.us

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Re: IQ Matters Less Than You Think

#271

Post by debacle »

com2kid wrote: post #254
MaxBarraclough wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't follow. I didn't say that personality, or intelligence, is a single-dimensional variable.

I am more railing against the discussion of IQ as the definitive way to measure intelligence. Everyone down thread is arguing "Yes IQ! No IQ! Confounding factors!" It is as if people argued about someone's GPA in college while not paying attention to the subject's major, study habits, or natural abilities.

There is no other measure we have that tracks as well with intelligence.

Re: IQ Matters Less Than You Think

#272

Post by debacle »

baccheion wrote: post #165
Shekelberg wrote: post #155

Funny how HN is full of people with >120 IQ claiming that IQ doesn't matter. If that's really true, than why is pretty much everyone here in the top 10-15% of the population? Where are all the <100 IQ people here claiming to have successful careers in the tech industry despite their IQ scores? Remember, the average IQ is 100 by definition, so roughly half the general population is <100. What are the odds of this happ…

Average IQ among intuitor types (xNxx; MBTI) is said to be one standard deviation above the norm (115+ SD15). They are also very overrepresented online. Having an IQ 2 standard deviations above the norm (130+ SD15) tends to attract problems/difficulty/friction in corporate environments. That is, companies are biased toward Te users (xxTJs) and extroverts + judgers (ExxJs) with IQs in the 115-125 range. Synthesis usua…

Do you have citations for the things you have said here? I am not being accusative. You seem to know what your talking about and I want to read further.

Re: IQ Matters Less Than You Think

#273

Post by rbrbr »

Headlines like this are tedious. The obvious question without even reading the article is "for what". Obviously IQ does only matter in some contexts. If you don't see that you might lack some of it.

Re: IQ Matters Less Than You Think

#274

Post by com2kid »

debacle wrote: post #271
com2kid wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am more railing against the discussion of IQ as the definitive way to measure intelligence. Everyone down thread is arguing "Yes IQ! No IQ! Confounding factors!" It is as if people argued about someone's GPA in college while not paying attention to the subject's major, study habits, or natural abilities.

There is no other measure we have that tracks as well with intelligence.

There is no single, easy to post about online, number.

Intelligence is not single faceted. Posting and interpreting an entire psych tests worth of numbers is possible, but it is harder to have silly Internet arguments over subtly and nuance around a topic that requires research and education.

The level of discourse talking about "IQ" reaches is the same as discussing a new vehicle by saying it has 300 horse power, and not mentioning if it is front wheel drive, rear wheel drive, or how many wheels the vehicle even has.

Sure if the delta is large enough then it doesn't matter, but there is a serious trees/forest problem that happens with these topics of discussion.

Re: IQ Matters Less Than You Think

#275

Post by clubm8 »

I think maybe a better way to think of "smarts" leading to success is to not look only at IQ, but also attention

An oversimplified example from electrical engineering:

Watts are units of power. Amperage * Voltage = wattage.

Amperage refers to how much current (width of the pipe) and voltage refers to the speed of the current (how fast the water flows).

I think that we focus so much on intelligence testing, but neglect to focus on attention. I think that making use of your smarts, intelligence, or whatever term you want to give it needs a combination of intelligence and attention.

If you are very smart (180 IQ) but can't focus for long, you will be outdone by the woman or man who "only" has 130 IQ but has persistence.

IIRC studies of Nobel winners (a good measure of "smarts" and achievement) confirm my theory - finding that after a certain cutoff, there are diminishing returns for IQ alone in terms of obtaining a nobel.

Re: IQ Matters Less Than You Think

#276

Post by astura »

wufufufu wrote: post #253
astura wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>There are still plenty of fields where you can start late in life and not come from wealth but still be the best in the world. Such as?

https://www.quora.com/What-are-examples-of-some-world-class-...

What?

1) Quora is a garbage site

2) All those examples minus one (which I'll get to) people started before the age of 22. That's not "late in life."

4) The example of the person who started running marathons at 84 has broken records "for his age group." Big deal, there's like, what, less than ~5 people in their 80s running marathons in the world?

5) Just because a few people can do it (and that hasn't even been demonstrated) doesn't mean everyone can with a little work.

Re: IQ Matters Less Than You Think

#277

Post by astura »

bpatel576 wrote: post #166
annabellish wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any research backing up this position? It seems to fly in the face of every reputable study I've seen, which suggests the opposite is true - average genes, hard work, and sacrifice is not enough to "guarantee" anything.

It seems a bit nieve to think that you need to have an above average IQ to make it into Middleclass society.

The comment you are replying to was not saying that.

Re: IQ Matters Less Than You Think

#278

Post by LukeShu »

SiempreViernes wrote: post #269
WorkLifeBalance wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference between 99th and 99.99th percentile is 1.4 standard deviations, a common IQ test ought to be able to be accurate to that. Otherwise it couldn't measure the difference between 100 and 120 IQ (0 to 1.4z) which it clearly can.

Sorry, I don't understand: how do you know the percentile difference in terms of standard deviations but not know if a test is accurate enough?

By assuming that it's a normal distribution.

Re: IQ Matters Less Than You Think

#279

Post by CompelTechnic »

dragonwriter wrote: post #205
owens99 wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surprisingly, many findings show there is not. Malcolm Gladwell explains this well in his book Outliers. https://www.honorsociety.org/articles/trouble-geniuses-malco... “Gladwell cites studies done by Arthur Jensen that indicate the IQ level needed to successfully attend and graduate from undergraduate college is 115, after which Jensen believe IQ becomes relatively unimportant. For comparison, Albert Einstein, a wel…

> He gives the example [paraphrasing from memory] of an individual with an IQ of 170 who was so intelligent it impaired his ability to relate to normal people and hold a job. High IQ doesn't do that (in fact, it makes it easier to understand other people, including those of average intelligence, if you are so inclined), though people with high IQ and a problem that does impair their social interactions may be incline…

Relating to somebody has two parts: understanding them and empathizing with them. The empathizing part is largely built on feeling similar to them, which could be hard with a big IQ difference.
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