It’s very difficult to assess someone’s intelligence over a short period of time, but the longer you observe that person, the more accurate will be your assessment. Here are some characteristics I have found in the very high IQ people I’ve met although these are, of course, generalizations that will have some counterexamples. High IQ …
In his bestseller, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman outlined the two modes of thinking that he called System 1 and System 2. Roughly speaking, System 1 mode consists of intellectual processes that are “hard-wired” into our psyche and are performed automatically, or with minimal effort. Our startled reaction to an unexpected loud noise or …
After time humans get more intelligent, why do we still have wars? Read More »
Psychologist Linda Gottfredson in her 1997 article titled, “Why g Matters: The Complexity of Everyday Life” (Intelligence 24(1) p. 90) stated: Minimum enlistment standards since World War II have generally been higher than the 10th percentile, and closer to what they are today for the different services: the 16th percentile on the Armed Services Vocational …
Does the U.S. military have a minimum IQ requirement for entry? Read More »
The IQ tests, such as the Raven’s Progressive Matrices or the Wechsler tests that include measures of verbal comprehension, perceptional reasoning, working memory, and processing speed, have been administered to large numbers of randomly selected people. From this sampling the distribution of scores is mapped onto a normal distribution with mean IQ equal to 100 …
Are IQ tests themselves compliant with the scientific method? Read More »
IQ is an approximate measure of learning ability. For a 12-year-old, it is expressed relative to all other 12-year-olds. An IQ of 100 is average. About two-thirds of 12-year-olds have an IQ between 85 and 115. Any 12-year-old with an IQ greater than 115, has displayed a learning capacity that is greater than about 84% …
It is unlikely that anyone of average IQ could solve the Poincaré conjecture. Before attempting a solution, a person would have to invest years of study to acquire the background necessary to understand what’s involved. Then a great deal of abstract thinking, involving very high-order thinking skills would be required. The mathematicians, Freedman, Smale, and …
How long would it take for an average IQ person to prove the Poincare conjecture? Read More »
Actually, an IQ score of 120 for a person of any age corresponds to the 91st percentile. This means that you have scored higher than approximately 91% of all people who have taken that IQ test. Since IQ can change during the teenage years, your IQ when you become an adult may be a little …
I am 11 years old and my IQ is 120. Is that normal? Read More »
As you have probably seen throughout your life, everyone makes mistakes, but those of different levels of intelligence tend to make different kinds of mistakes. Based only on my personal observations, those in the lower levels of intelligence are more likely to make mistakes related to health issues, such as proper diet, adequate exercise and …
The short answer is “yes”, if your talking about being good at advanced mathematics. (A person who is good at the executing the algorithms of arithmetic may or may not be highly intelligent. Success at the more sophisticated forms of mathematics would be needed to confirm high intelligence.) In our technological society, people who excel …
If someone is good at math, does that mean that he/she is intelligent? Read More »
You raise a very interesting question. In the process of obtaining doctorates in both mathematics and the social sciences, I’ve lived in these two worlds and I think I can speak impartially about both. The lure of pure mathematics and theoretical physics is that they contain deep problems that are self-contained and require prolonged abstract …
