While there are many different IQ tests that use logic and reasoning to measure intelligence, the Raven’s Progressive Matrices have the most widespread usage because they are not “culture-loaded.” That is, they are purely visual, language-independent, and free of knowledge favoring any particular culture. Each test consists of either 48 or 60 items, presented in …
The short answer to this question seems to be, “Some do and some don’t.” A recent study, titled, One Personality Trait Distinguishes Gifted People, and reported in Psychology Today on November 14, 2021, looked at correlations between giftedness and the Big 5 traits (Extraversion, Conscientiousness, Openness to Experience, Neuroticism and Agreeableness).* They found the following: …
Do gifted children have difficulty relating to other kids? Read More »
Your intellectual potential and IQ are significant determinants in how your life unfolds. From your early school years, the ease with which you learn will often determine how much you enjoy school. If you have a low IQ, you may struggle with mathematics and other cognitively demanding subjects, preferring to work with “real objects” rather …
How does IQ Affect everyday life & career opportunities? Read More »
For several years, I was Supervisor of Mathematics for a large school board serving over 50,000 students. In that capacity, I ran workshops for teachers providing instruction and resources for teaching mathematical problem solving. On one such occasion, I overheard a teacher saying to his colleagues, “I have one little bugger whom I hate; he’s …
How does an average teacher deal with gifted students? Read More »
The skills demanded of a good writer depend upon the genre. I can speak with some experience on didactic writing, because I’ve written more than 30 non-fiction books and textbooks on mathematics, intelligence, and finance. However, I will only speculate on the intellectual requirements for different types of fiction. Fiction at the highest level, such …
Do you have to be intelligent to be a good writer? Read More »
Absolutely! Debating is a learned skill. Of course, having a high intelligence and a depth of knowledge is an advantage, but a smart person who hasn’t honed a debating skill could be beaten easily in a debate with a less intelligent opponent who understands some fundamental techniques. Here are some examples of debating principles that …
Do we all have the potential to become the next Albert Einstein, or are some people born with greater brain power than the rest of us? The debate rages on, fueled by strong emotions and fomented by cherished ideologies. Many who subscribe to an egalitarian ideology argue that, except for the mentally challenged, we all …
In 1904, Alfred Binet was the director of the psychology laboratory at the Sorbonne in Paris. The Minister of Public Education commissioned Binet to develop tests to identify less capable students who should be provided some form of special education. To this purpose, Binet set out to develop a series of tests connected to everyday …
What was the controversy over the existence of intelligence? Read More »
When we are young, our brains grow at a prodigious rate. In a very short time, we acquire verbal language, learn how to read and write, and absorb information quickly, retaining names and reciting snippets of television commercials with 100% accuracy. Parents have forgotten how quickly they acquired knowledge and skills during their formative years, …
Why do parents think their child is a genius until the IQ Test is taken? Read More »
IQ is not an absolute measure of intelligence, but rather a measure relative to the rest of the human population. IQ tests are normed so that IQ scores are distributed on a normal curve with mean 100 and standard deviation 15 (Wechsler) or 16 (Stanford-Binet), as shown in the graph below. Someone with IQ of …
