Graphics by Presenter Media — customized, with permission, by Lynn Dorman

IQ Testing: 5 Reasons To Be Concerned

short takeaway: it’s really not all it’s cracked up to be

Photo by Grant Jacobson on Unsplash

1 — IQ or Intelligent Quotient has no useful definition

The usual definition, one used by textbooks, is that an IQ is what the IQ test measures. Not the greatest definition but I have never seen a better one.

Here, for example, is a 2020 definition from Wikipedia:

An intelligence quotient (IQ) is a total score derived from a set of standardized tests or subtests designed to assess human intelligence.

There are many kinds of intelligence and many kinds of cognitive tests. Each test measures only some of these intelligences — and only at one given point in time. People grow, people develop, people change….so do test scores.

Yes, I do know there is some correlation between some tests over some periods of time, but I also know there are many other factors to weigh in.

Graphics by Presenter Media — customized, with permission, by Lynn Dorman

2 — When reporting IQ scores…