Countless studies have attempted to relate IQ test scores to a variety of abilities. One of the common associations is that people with a higher quotient have greater professional success. And some studies suggest that they tend to perform better academically, have more successful careers, and are more likely to enjoy economic comfort.
However, no such links were found. Another study found that regardless of differences in apparent intelligence, people who had better rational thinking skills experienced significantly fewer negative life events, such as serious financial debt, an unplanned pregnancy, or being expelled from school.
Likewise, many manifestations of raw brain power may not be accounted for in standardized intelligence tests, such as creativity, emotional intelligence, or practical technical skills.
Just a few years ago, scientists at University College London were able to establish a general decision-making ability in young people that is particularly strong in those with stable social relationships among their peers. Interestingly, however, no correlation was found between the IQ of the participants and this manifestation of social intelligence.
This begs the question: can human intelligence be reduced to a number?
The idea behind the test is very simple, but it can lead to unscientific claims. At the most superficial level, the seductive promise of an accurate measure of intelligence can attract pseudoscience like flies to honey.
For example, Leonardo da Vinci is credited with a remarkable ratio of between 180 and 220. While there is no doubt that the archetypal “Renaissance Man” possessed a truly prodigious mind,
it’s not clear how anyone would come to a solid conclusion about his IQ without having him sit down and take the IQ tests.
The results are also used as a weapon in populism. Countless politicians throughout history have downplayed their opponents’ IQ while boasting about their own without providing any evidence of it.
The murky history of IQ
One of the first cases of widespread use of IQ-like tests was during World War I recruitment in the US Army. To determine which recruits were to perform which tasks, they were given a test developed by Robert Yerkes, a psychologist who later became a major figure in the eugenics movement.
About 1.7 million men have been tested, providing researchers with a huge data bank on intelligence and demographic characteristics. For some scientists reviewing the results, they seem to prove several truths: intelligence is genetic, innate, and can be precisely quantified.
Due to the rampant racism and nationalism of the time, the test results quickly became embroiled in very ugly racial debates
– eugenicists make misleading claims that certain racial groups, i.e. blacks, are fundamentally less intelligent without taking into account the wealth of environmental factors that could explain possible differences within a population. Not to mention the fact that many of the recruits tested are first-generation immigrants who don’t speak English as a first language.
Race and IQ are artificially linked and used to fuel eugenic policies aimed at improving the US gene pool. Yerkes himself, the inventor of the Army’s so-called “Alpha” test, once stated, “None of us as citizens can afford to ignore the menace of racial degradation.”
This idea proved difficult to suppress and continued to bubble under the surface of American society throughout the twentieth century, erupting amid a major scandal in 1994 caused by the publication of the book The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life. of psychologist Richard J. and political scientist Charles Murray. Its basic premise is that IQ has a huge impact on people’s personal outcomes in life, even more so than their socioeconomic status. According to their hypothesis, financial income, workplace performance and the chances of stumbling into illegal activities can be predicted precisely by IQ.
However, both scientists and journalists fiercely dispute the results in the book,
claiming that its arguments are weakly grounded, full of errors and smack of social Darwinism.
Nature or nurture
Since then, many have challenged the dangerous assumption that genetics and race can be used as reliable indicators of intellectual ability, pointing out that many analyzes do not account for environmental factors.
Rather than just race—which itself is a vague, socially constructed concept—it is far more accurate to understand intelligence through the lens of social deprivation and poverty. Racial minorities often belong to marginalized communities that have poorer access to health care and education, as well as a high risk of discrimination and violence. When these factors are properly accounted for or removed, significant coefficient differences decrease.
It is not difficult to find actual evidence to support this argument. In 1984, researcher James Flynn made a groundbreaking observation: From the 1930s to the end of the 20th century, IQ increased rapidly. In each decade, differences in IQ points ranged from 3 to 5, which equates to an average increase of 13.8 IQ points in just 46 years.
This jump is too rapid to be explained by evolution, but is consistent with broader social and environmental trends such as improved (and available) food, reduced infectious diseases, better education and improved living standards.
This pattern can also be seen in developing countries today, where researchers have found that
IQ increases rapidly as countries become richer and provide more welfare for people.
As history shows, IQ scores and general intelligence tests can fall into the wrong hands and be used to reinforce prejudice—something that is in danger of returning in our increasingly polarized world. If you dig deeper, however, you’ll see that these ideas contain a much more promising and less fatalistic lesson for the world: better lives create better brains. If we spend our energies on enriching the lives of many, rather than sowing division, the collective intelligence of humanity has the potential to blossom and benefit us all.
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