Can Intelligence Be Measured by IQ Tests?

Introduction

The original purpose of the iq test was something quite different. The Binet-Simon test was established in 1905 by French psychologists in order to identify children who required customized assistance outside of the school setting. However, as time went on, psychologists improved the Binet-Simon test and devised many others. They also began attributing test results to an individual’s “general intelligence.”

Is IQ testing a reliable and objective indicator of general intelligence?

According to Dr. Stefan C. Dombrowski, a psychologist at Rider University in New Jersey, things sure weren’t like that when they first started out. According to his explanation, IQ tests have a shady history of being used to discriminate against racial and ethnic groups. Ultimately, this practice contributed to the eugenics movement, which resulted in the forcible sterilization of thousands of individuals.

Is it safe to say that IQ tests, despite their troubled history, have matured into reliable measures of intellect in today’s world?

Interpretation Matters

Dombrowski applies sophisticated statistical methodologies in the course of his research on the validity of IQ testing. When properly read, he asserts that intelligence tests do in fact have value and are reliable indicators of a person’s level of intellect.

“We do not have protections in place like an FDA in the field of psychology as we have in the field of medicine,” he adds. “This is in stark contrast to the profession of medicine.” “Although we have an ethical code, it hasn’t prevented unethical interpretative techniques from occurring for the past century. Our field has to adapt. “

According to Dombrowski, one of the ways that the tests are commonly misread is when a score from the exam other than the total IQ is used to analyze the results. IQ tests are designed to evaluate a wide range of cognitive abilities, including working memory, fluid reasoning, verbal comprehension, and many more. However, he points out that the scientific literature reveals that IQ tests are still not well suited to producing significant results for these discrete talents. Therefore, they should only be taken as evaluating the total general intelligence of a person.

However, the degree to which IQ tests correctly reflect a person’s genuine level of aptitude remains debatable. One cognitive scientist working at the University of California, Berkeley, suggests that we ought to call into question the information that is being provided by IQ testing. Steven Piantadosi investigates the subject of the universality of human cognition and language through the use of experiments in cross-cultural psychology. 

He argues that he has a responsibility to speak up against shoddy claims about intellect, as he did most recently in this Twitter thread, and he adds that he thinks he has an obligation to do so.

According to Piantadosi, one of the most significant issues is that the IQ score of a person might shift depending on the circumstances. It is well recognized that factors such as motivation and coaching may have a significant impact on IQ scores. If you don’t put as much effort into anything, you can’t expect to get as good of a result from it. Or, as he explains it, “you won’t score as highly as other individuals do if you don’t know the tactics that they use.” In my opinion, it is an incorrect statement to claim that your genuine skills can be summed up by how much effort you are willing to put into an exam.

Another problem is the inherent cultural prejudice of the exam itself, which can’t be eliminated. The Tsimane people are an Indigenous group that lives in Bolivia, and Piantadosi and his crew frequently collaborate with them. 

They have discovered that many Tsimane does not utilize labels for forms, which might have an effect on their IQ score on a test that demands the tester to think about and manipulate shapes. “People who don’t have labels for forms certainly do this kind of work differently than we do,” says Piantadosi. “It would be as if the Tsimane handed us an IQ exam with a lot of leaf shapes for which we didn’t know the names, but they did.”

Aptitude Tests as Screening Instruments

Dombrowski is correct in pointing out that all measurements have some degree of bias; nonetheless, IQ test publishers do try to avoid bias in individual test questions. He claims that they employ people to identify and eliminate problematic questions and that they utilize data analysis to eliminate questions on which one racial or ethnic group does more poorly than another.

You can also evaluate your abilities and potential by taking an Intelligence test online.

According to Ford, “(IQ tests) are culturally, linguistically, and economically prejudiced towards marginalized pupils, particularly black, first and foremost, and subsequently Hispanic.” Different IQ scores along lines of race and ethnicity would not exist if these tests were not skewed. This suggests that the tests themselves are flawed rather than our ability to interpret them.

The use of biased IQ testing is excluding many talented minority kids from gifted education programs, as demonstrated by Ford and other researchers. Ford has been researching the topic of multicultural gifted education for over 30 years, and while she has noticed some progress for Hispanic children, she has not witnessed any significant progress in the representation of black students.

The cost of ignoring these bright youngsters is high. The achievement gap widens when we fail to recognize talented kids from underrepresented groups. As a culture, we tend to lower people’s hopes and expectations. We refuse and restrict possibilities, “Ford adds.

Ford and Dombrowski concur that IQ testing can still be valuable as a component of a whole assessment of a person, but changes are necessary. However, it is up to the user to ensure that the tests are properly read and put to good use.

Dombrowski argues that IQ testing is just another instrument that may be used for good or evil.