What is your IQ? Does it Matter?

by Sea Breeze 20 Replies latest jw friends

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  Sea Breeze

  I had an aunt that had rheumatic fever as a child and only had an IQ the high 70's. But, absolutely no one was able to BS her on an emotional level. She had an uncanny ability to see through people's BS. Yea, she didn't get some jokes. But, she was the first one to tell me straight up that the problem with our family was that there wasn't much love in it. Funny how no one else figured that out. I come from a 3 & 4 gen JW family on both sides respectively.

  Anyway, I truly enjoyed being around her. Sometimes she played dumb to get a reaction out of you. Other times she really didn't get something. But, you were never quite sure which was which; she always kept you guessing with that twinkle in her eye. That together with a sense of humor made her interesting and dear to me.
  
  The rest of my JW family wrote her off as an idiot and couldn't wait to get her into a nursing home. When that day came, I wasn't notified. When I finally became aware of it I called her doctor and had quite a long conversation with him. He told me I was the first relative of hers that sounded normal. Of course, the rest of the family had "normal" IQ's I'm sure. But, multi-generational cult involvement takes its toll.

  My JW relatives tried to force the nursing home not to let us see her because they were shunning us (we were attending a church by that time). Several JW's were running the place. I told them that I would have the police there with the news media if they tried ANY crap whatsoever. They backed down.
  
  JW relatives rarely went to see her, most never did... did I mention that she spoke her mind? That characteristic doesn't fare well In OZ.
  
  Anyway. My wife and kids and I would make the 450 mile round trip to see her regularly. One time we busted her out of the nursing home to go see grandpas grave and get some ice cream. They sent a nurse along with us to help with the wheel chair and in case of 'accidents' if you know what I mean.
  
  We had a grand time, and laughed a lot. The wheel chair got away from me a bit on a hill at the cemetery. She was scared and loving it all at the same time. I miss her.
  
  I dated a girl once that had so many gifts that it would take a whole paragraph to describe. I tested at an IQ of 125. But she told me that when she tested they refused to tell her the result because they didn't want it to go to her head. It was truly amazing the gifts that she had in math, art and music. I watched her solve a math problem once that took up a whole chalk board while holding a mentally disabled child on her hip that was periodically throwing up on her. She was just laughing it all off as she solved for X. It was surreal.
  
  But, I was still infected with WT theology and I guess her high IQ prompted her to get out after a few months into the relationship. Or, maybe her mother had something to do with it.
  
  Anyway, sorry for the rambling. What are your thoughts on the topic?
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  joey jojo

  Intelligence manifests itself in various forms, emotional, athletic, financial, numbers, memory etc.

  Someone may have a high IQ and still be dependant on their parents, or, if they have a good income, may be financial disasters.

  Then there is the whole talent vs hard work, dedication and discipline argument.

  IQ is a start but it is definitely not the complete picture.
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  smiddy3

  Having a high IQ doesn`t equate with having common sense or critical thinking skills.
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  LoveUniHateExams

  IQ is a fairly reliable measure of intellect, but I don't think it indicates emotional intelligence.

  However, there is a strong correlation between IQ and employment prospects and achievement.

  There is one particularly sensitive area of IQ - that of IQ and race.

  It seems that mean IQ does indeed vary according to ethnic group.

  For instance, take Chinese and Ashkenazi Jews. Both groups have a high mean IQ (110-115), plus they tend to earn more money that whites, Hispanics, native Americans or blacks.

  Edit - I don't know what my IQ score is. I strongly suspect I'm no genius. Of course, IQ isn't everything. There's no substitute for hard work and punctuality. I got a first class degree only because I worked hard.
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  truth_b_known

  I have heard it said that persons with a high IQ tend to be less happy in life. The higher the IQ the easier it is to acquire and apply knowledge. The more you know about how things really are the less content you may become. At that point it is a choice to be happy or be discontent.
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  stan livedeath

  i havent a clue. Indeed ive no idea how the score is arrived at. I dont think ive ever had that test.
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  road to nowhere

  IQ is partially a construct of society too. Measuring the ability to know needed things. I read that whites could judge right angles better than aboriginals, but the aboriginal could judge acute/ obtuse angles better--different worlds.

  There is a msuse of intellect and ignorance too. Ancient peoples did not blunder into things, they thought things through despite the story that any innovation was accidental. From making fire with a flint to chimney smoke to knots. They may not have known the formulae but they did observe and engineer.

  I like antique machinery and hear the "how did they build this without a computer? " comment. It is the other way round, " how did they get the data in the first place?"
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  luckynedpepper

  Jordan Peterson, once said that the US Army (older data) once said that a person with an IQ below 83 can not be trained for any job. This was part of a broader discussion on IQ being a reliable factor for a persons life successes

  He made an additional comment, as an aside, to the topic- This point always stuck with me; IQ does not define a persons value as a human being. Your story proved exactly that. Thank you.
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  Vidqun

  I like the concept of fluid and crystallized intelligence. The one aspect decreases when you grow older, the other increases. The Cattell-Horn theory of fluid and crystallized intelligence suggests that fluid intelligence is the ability to reason and think flexibly. Crystallized intelligence refers to the accumulation of knowledge, facts, and skills that are acquired throughout life. So one's IQ would be a combination of the two.

  People often claim that their intelligence seems to decline as they age. However, research suggests that while fluid intelligence begins to decrease after adolescence, crystallized intelligence continues to increase throughout adulthood.

  https://www.verywellmind.com/fluid-intelligence-vs-crystallized-intelligence-2795004
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  pistolpete

  My IQ was measured extremely high and one of my professors in College told me not to get high minded because IQ means shit in the real world.

  For example; Kim Kardashian's IQ hovers at around 95, yet her net worth is about one Billion

  Kourtney Kardashia has an IQ score: 80 Yet her net worth is 45 million

  Rodney Alcala had an IQ of 160 and was a serial killer with 130 victims.

  Albert DeSalvo had an IQ of 172 also known serial killer

  Ted Bundy has an IQ of 136 and killed over 36 women

  Nobel Prize winning physicist clearly an idiot

  Consider American theoretical physicist Richard Feynman. He actually took the IQ test as a 12 or 13 year old, hitting a squarely 'average' score of 125. And went on to be regarded as one of the most brilliant and influential figures in his field, remaking quantum electrodynamics and winning the Nobel Prize in 1965, all the while joking about his low IQ.

  The moral of the story: IQ scores are suspect, and online articles about IQ scores are highly dubious. You'd have to be a sub-90 to believe otherwise.

  IQ all begin when Alfred Binet was commissioned to identify students who needed educational assistance. It was this situation that led to the first intelligent quotient (IQ) test.

  Mr Binet STRESSED THE LIMITATIONS OF THE TEST, suggesting that intelligence is far too broad a concept to quantify with a single number.

  Instead, he insisted that intelligence is influenced by many factors, that it CHANGES OVER TIME, and that it can only be compared in children with similar backgrounds.

  But the Political atmosphere immediately used it as a “Measure” of how smart a person is or how dumb a person can be.

  As can be seen by the examples above, IQ is a number being used today in a manner it was not intended for. IQ was supposed to be a gauge to determine which students needed educational assistance.