The dark history of IQ tests - Stefan C. Dombrowski

Human intelligence and its measurement
Intelligence research has a long tradition and is still up to date. A pioneer was Wilhelm Ludwig Stern, who would have had his 150th birthday in 2021.

By Elsbeth Stern, Peter Edelsbrunner, Aljoscha Neubauer 18.06.2021
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With the implementation of compulsory education, societies had to face new realities: Many children whose parents were illiterate learned to read, write and calculate effortlessly. Teachers could not fail to notice that some children from the simplest backgrounds found it much easier to learn than children from privileged backgrounds. At the same time, there were children who were obviously unable to make meaningful use of the learning opportunities offered at school. This resulted in two fundamental findings that continue to shape scientific intelligence research to this day. First, differences in intellectual potential cannot be explained by differences in environmental support potential alone. Second, stimulating learning opportunities are needed for the full range of people's cognitive potential to unfold.

The large differences in children's learning ability raised practical problems and demanded scientific explanations. Societal changes in education and the world of work required predictions about people's future intellectual potential. It was necessary to predict as reliably as possible, on the basis of existing and measurable competencies, how well someone would cope with a future requirement for which knowledge was not yet available.

On the way to the intelligence quotient

Since psychology established itself as an independent science almost 150 years ago, the study and explanation of differences in intelligence has been one of its central subdisciplines. The Frenchman Alfred Binet (1857-1911) created the first intelligence tasks, which were aimed at deductive reasoning. The Englishman Francis Galton (1822-1911) focused on differences in information processing speed, which were mapped in statistical indicators.

The German Wilhelm Ludwig Stern (1871-1938) developed a statistical measure to map intelligence in childhood and adolescence: for each age group, he calculated how many tasks of a test were solved on average. This was the reference value: a six-year-old child who could solve as many tasks as an average eight-year-old child is obviously far above average in intelligence. An intelligence age of 8 divided by a life age of 6 equals 1.33. Since we humans are better with natural numbers, Stern multiplied this value by 100, arriving at an intelligence quotient (IQ) of 133.

This calculation is only meaningful for the lifespan in which the development of mental performance keeps pace with increasing age, which is already no longer the case in adolescence. What has remained, however, is Stern's proposal of a reference value of 100 for the mean IQ, as well as the basic idea according to which the measurement of intelligence is defined by the deviation from this mean value. Unlike traits such as height, IQ has no absolute zero and no external reference: the unit in which intelligence is measured is the standard deviation from the mean of the sample at which the test was normed. This approach, which has been in use for 100 years, was established on the basis of Stern's considerations, and was then further developed by the American psychologist David Wechsler (1896-1981) into today's deviance IQ.

Genetic predispositions

Still current is also the understanding of intelligence, which Stern described as "the general ability of an individual to consciously adjust his thinking to new demands; it is general mental adaptability to new tasks and conditions of life." For more than 100 years, reasoning tasks have formed the core of intelligence tests: new knowledge must be generated from existing knowledge under time pressure through logical reasoning. The tasks are based on linguistically, pictorially or numerically conveyed information and presuppose that one is familiar with these modes of representation. Therefore, the reliability with which intelligence can be measured increases if those being tested have attended school. The duration of school attendance also affects the intelligence quotient that a person can achieve.

That differences in intelligence found in a group of people who have received comparable cognitive support are due to genetic variations has long been undisputed in psychology. Genetic differences emerge when people are given the opportunity to demonstrate their mental capacity. Thus, a person's intelligence arises as a large number of genes and their variations are brought into play by a mentally demanding environment.

That differences in intelligence found in a group of people who have received comparable cognitive support are due to genetic variations has long been undisputed in psychology. Genetic differences emerge when people are given the opportunity to demonstrate their mental capacity. Thus, a person's intelligence arises as a large number of genes and their variations are brought into play by a mentally demanding environment. Even if one day we were to succeed - which we are currently miles away from - in locating all the gene loci and identifying the gene variations that contribute to intelligence, we would not be able to reliably infer a person's intelligence from his or her DNA, as this evolves from the interaction of genes and environment. The large number of genes and their variations, which are also thought to be distributed across all chromosomes, also explains the variation in intelligence within families. During meiosis (maturation division) and fertilization, a large gene lottery takes place, which makes the expression of a complex trait such as intelligence not clearly calculable.
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IQ (or I - q math?) tests are like chessboard "mate in 3" tests. they show something but not everything

Yeah right.

When I was in college studying to be an engineer, my roommate, who loved partying and never studied until exam day, always scored a perfect A.

He even beat me in shogi after I taught him the rules. FFS, I was the college shogi's champion.

You know why he beat me? Well, his IQ is 182.

Having leaning difficulties and how intelligent someone is are two different things.

Learning slower than others doesn’t necessarily mean someone is less intelligent.

IQ test scores based on demographics have remained largely the same though the last 100 years

(((Dombrowski)))

But how do i get an iq test for free?

IQ testing sound like it was based of racism

It's simple denialism to suggest that IQ isn't a measurable thing or that it doesn't matter/doesn't exist/isn't very different person-to-person/isn't highly heritable. Yes it is. It's the single greatest predictive element of success in higher education, in salaries, in happiness. The reason people want to pretend it doesn't matter is because of individual & group differences in average IQ. We are not all born with the same gifts, & our minds do not escape this fact.

If I have a twin, I score 80 on a iq test but I know my brother's brain inside out..but my twin does not know me but has the highest iq in history.. So he's smarter right academically? But the human brain is the most advanced complicated know wonder of the universe l..

IQ tests discriminate against blacks because blacks score poorly on them. Forget all the political indoctrination; it really is that simple.

The left hate IQ score because people of colour hardly pass. In Nigeria, the Igbo race have the highest innovators, doctors and coders , they have the highest IQ but the other lower IQ majority tribes have to bring down all standerzied test to a mere 30% as pass mark.

1924!?!? Really….?

They were right though. Just look and observe.

Never say iq is real or that group will get angry and shop might get looted

Iq tests however don't define a scientist. Many don't even know what science means. But science is only the path from the problem to the solution. If you found a solution you become an inventor. In science only your inventions define you. Hardest job on earth.

Your intelligence is based upon how well you can problem solve.

So it was basically created and used by idiots haha

You don't need a complicated IQ test to determine intelligence.
The vote for US presidency of the last 30 years shows the result with just on X.

Yet ANOTHER heavily ideologically burdened video acting as nothing else but a servent of the contemporary politically correct egalitarian propaganda.

I wish school was more like this. If i was taught things with this much passion, detail and importance then I would’ve always paid attention

You have to do tests to get Jobs that don't need a test 🤔 interesting

there are methodological problems with many iq tests too, they give english iq tests to a lot of people that can speak english but its not their native language and thats a huge problem, the other problem in the setup of the questions, depending on cultural contexts in the questions people infer stuff, that means a test with english questions designed for the british population just wont work out in idk germany or maybe south africa.

IQ tests have merit but they're never accurate measurement of a person's intelligence because there are many iq tests and they are different from each other and if one takes the same tests over and over again he's iq score will increase significantly

The first thing to know about IQ is that you can increase your score by at least 20 points through training.

The second is that IQ scores increases in countries that improve their school system. (mentioned in the video, along with other factors that improve learning like affordable and available health care)

It works well as a "general knowledge" screening, but that is about it.

I suspect you could use IQ tests to compare different groups in a country and see if there is systematic biases against certain groups, given that we would expect any random grouping not based on academic results to be unbiased. (Things like skin tone or gender comes to mind.)

"People who boast about their I.Q. are losers."
-Stephen Hawking

Loved it..

Doesn't matter because if you can do basic things like talk, write and read someone else's, iq shouldn't matter
Because someone else's opinion of your iq doesn't matter either?

👍

A person's DNA does influence their IQ score, but there are likely many hundreds of DNA variations that determine IQ, typically any individual DNA variation influences a fraction of an IQ point.

The thing is if you score below or above average, you need help. BOTH WAYS. It's not a blessing nor a curse you just need to be educated in a different way

Intelligence without wisdom is worthless.

I've taken several Iq tests scoring between 64 to 74.
i flunked every single class i ever took from grade school to high school eventually ending in expulsion .
however, when i was ten years old , i had a realization that the source of all intelligence was a silent but lively and alert state that all relativity existed INSIDE of . i went on to study this , seeking out teachers that excelled in the transmission of this state and were very adept at intellectual conformation . The initial realization became more refined and deeper until a permanence of that first experience was stabilized .
in 1969 i began to teach the experiential and theoretical aspects of this state in america and Europe . Most of my friends in high school went on to become very successful financially and some famous , but they all took my course because they said something was missing in life .
Forget IQ and know via direct realization that you are that which is whole , loving and peaceful and that this wholeness is awake to itself . NEVER has their been a time when you were not this peaceful moment .

This is misinformation. It contradicts itself throughout.😮

I have an iq of 176 -196

Why are jews at the top of the ladder in allmost everything in the U S. Their iq score is averages 115

When we ASSUME... this presentation certainly explains a great deal about many of our current misconceptions about intelligence.

I don’t know my own IQ and honestly I don’t mind keeping it that way. The number does not represent how capable i am to achieve the goals i set for myself

Look folks, either IQ is real or it isn't. Even its detractors say it is real so why are they surprised it has a hierarchy?

IQ tests are perfect. People who can't handle living in reality claim they are flawed.

what is the value of an IQ test?

I am not going to say what my iq but it was tested and many people ignored that I have dyslexia and said that I was just lazy . And I know that dyslexia is not the worst thing to live with but still is not good.

Edit : my iq is high but it still doesn’t matter if you say I’m just lazy because I can’t read as good as you …

had a psychology lecture on the topic of "history of intelligence tests" came here for a visual representation. really appreciated the effort put into these lessons!

IQ tests have been and still are weaponized to control and prevent certain groups from advancing.

I remember when I was little I looked to be autistic so they took a test on me which they said that while I have every single symton I was "too smart" to be and i took a test on a legit website call iq test academy and got a scored or 139 soooo doesn't matter how you act doesn't change your iq level

Smart people solve problems, wise ones avoid them

Not yall trying to deconstruct iq intelligence because your results ain't good 😂😂😂😂 Just accept your average dumbness and live with it.

I have very Iq score. I got like 164 poInts on the TEST.