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Only 2% of the world’s population has an IQ above 132. We tell you what this indicator means and how it affects learning, career and life success
IQ, intelligence quotient, or intelligence quotient, is an indicator of a person’s intelligence that can be measured using special psychological tests. Psychologists talk about an average IQ, as well as an IQ above or below normal. The term IQ in the ordinary and psychological sense can be replaced by the synonyms of “cognitive abilities”, “mental abilities” or “intelligence”.
IQ tests are designed so that the results can be described using a normal distribution scale. The average IQ is considered to be 100, with a deviation of plus or minus 15. This means that if you measure the IQ of a large group of people, most will score between 85 and 115 points.
IQ tests do not evaluate the level of knowledge, erudition or, for example, creativity. They were created to measure so-called general intelligence – different aspects of mental abilities: verbal, analytical, logical, visual-spatial, and working memory.
In 1904, the British psychologist Charles Spearman noticed that different cognitive abilities are closely related to each other. In other words, if you have a good memory, then most likely you are good at reasoning logically. Spearman suggested that there was a “general intelligence” and that it could be measured. This measurable indicator – the factor of general intelligence (general intelligence factor) he denoted by the letter g.
Based on Spearman’s theory, psychologists began to come up with methods for measuring the g factor: tests, questionnaires, tasks for different age groups. By measuring general intelligence with tests, scientists study the relationship between it and, for example, the amount of white matter in the brain, race, gender, heredity, success rates and socially negative phenomena.
What tests measure IQ
IQ tests or tests to determine the level of intelligence is the general name for tests created in different years to measure the intelligence of different groups of people. There is no single standard and universal IQ test.
Stanford-Bine test
This is one of the most famous IQ tests for children. In the early 1900s, French psychologists Alfred Binet and Théodore Simon developed an intelligence measurement scale to separate gifted children from those who needed help and support in learning. Subsequently, the Binet test was finalized by Stanford University professor Lewis Terman, and the new version was called the Stanford-Binet intelligence scale.
The test assessed the intelligence of the child according to 5 parameters:
- mobile intelligence – the ability of a person to analyze and solve problems, regardless of the accumulated experience;
- verbal intelligence and general knowledge;
- mathematical thinking;
- visual-spatial intelligence;
- working memory.
The tasks were verbal and non-verbal.
Now the test exists in the 5th edition and is used in the US and Europe in clinics, continuing education centers or schools for children with learning difficulties. In our country, the Stanford-Binet test also evaluates the mental development of children.
Wechsler test
American psychologist David Wechsler proposed in 1939 a series of tests to measure intelligence. Initially, the test was used for clinical purposes and only for adults. It was later adapted for children. Subsequently, both scales were refined.
The Wechsler test consists of two parts:
- verbal tasks – solve arithmetic problems, repeat numbers, answer general questions;
- non-verbal tasks – lay out the cubes, lay out the pictures, connect the puzzles.
The difficulty increases from task to task. The test tests logical and verbal thinking, visual-spatial intelligence.
The Wechsler test is actively used in our country: to determine mental retardation in children and adults, in the diagnosis of developmental delay, autism in a child. Its results are used for medical diagnostics, the test is mandatory within any official commissions: PMPK (Psychological-Medical-Pedagogical Commission) or ITU (Medical-Social Expertise) and others. It is conducted by clinical and medical psychologists.
Eysenck test
This intelligence test was created by the British psychologist Hans Eysenck. There are about a dozen of his options, several of them are combined in the “combined Eysenck IQ test” of 40 questions. Test with verbal and non-verbal tasks measures mathematical thinking, verbal and visual intelligence.
The Eysenck test has become widespread in our country, but in the English-speaking world it is almost never used to measure intelligence. The Wexler test is considered more reliable and correct in the West. In 2019, investigations were carried out regarding the scientific activities of Hans Eysenck, many of his works were recognized as “raising big questions.” Perhaps for this reason, the Eysenck test is not mentioned among modern IQ tests in the English-language Wikipedia.
Raven’s test or Raven’s progressive matrices
This is a non-verbal test consisting of 60 task drawings, which are called “matrices”. In each task, you need to choose the missing element that will complement the picture. The difficulty of the questions increases as you progress.
Introduced in 1936 by British psychologist John Raven, the test measures general intelligence, including abstract thinking and a person’s ability to analyze and solve problems regardless of prior experience. Due to the ease of use and interpretation of the results, as well as the lack of verbal tasks, the test quickly spread and began to be used to diagnose mental intelligence in US Army recruits, university students and schoolchildren.
School mental development test STUR
This test was developed by a group of Russian psychologists specifically to diagnose the mental development of students in grades 7–9. It consists of 6 parts, each contains the same type of questions on general knowledge and erudition, on the ability to establish analogies, reason logically, and find patterns in a number series. The test is based on the material of the school curriculum. The results are calculated not only for each student, but also compared with the general level in the class.
It seems that it is impossible to call STUR an intelligence test in its purest form: it measures how much the level of mental development of one student coincides with the general level in the group and whether the child has problems mastering the school curriculum.
Galina Andreeva, clinical psychologist, RANEPA postgraduate student:
“The tradition of measuring and studying intelligence is a Western tradition, domestic psychology developed tests for diagnosing thinking. In our country, the most common intelligence tests are the Wexler test, the Raven matrices, the Eysenck-Gorbov test.”
How and why IQ tests are used
To determine the level of intelligence in society, including by country
In 2002, British psychologists Richard Lynn and Tatu Vanhanen published IQ and the Wealth of Nations. It provides average IQ data for 81 countries. There are many interesting and controversial conclusions in the book, one of them is that in countries with colder climates, average IQ values are maximum. The book has been widely criticized for its methodology and flawed data collection, but that hasn’t stopped Richard Lynn from doing new country-by-country IQ research: according to a 2019 report, the world’s highest average IQs are held by Japanese, Taiwanese, and Singaporeans.
To measure the intelligence of students
Many intelligence tests are specifically designed to assess students’ abilities, predict how they will perform in a curriculum, and help them adapt as needed.
For example, the Stanford-Binet test is used in Western countries to assign children to different types of schools. With the help of the STUR test, psychologists evaluate how well children cope with the school curriculum, what they learn better, what worse. An assessment of verbal, mathematical and critical thinking is also included in the standardized GRE (Graduate Record Examinations) exam, which everyone entering the graduate and graduate programs of an American university must pass.
To evaluate candidates for employment
Various tests close to IQ tests are often used when applying for jobs in large audit, consulting, law firms and investment banks. For example, consulting company Deloitte, one of the “Big Four Auditors”, selects candidates using special assessment tests. They test verbal intelligence, mathematical and analytical skills, “situational” thinking.
One of the most famous critical thinking tests, the Watson-Glazer test, is over 85 years old. It is used by British and American law firms when selecting internship candidates. It tests logical thinking and fluid intelligence.
In our country, such tests can be encountered when applying to large insurance, auditing and legal companies.
For self-test
People often decide to test their IQ on their own. The reasons can range from pure curiosity to suspicions that their cognitive abilities have declined.
Galina Andreeva:
“Sometimes adults feel distracted, forgetful, tired and want to test their intelligence. Parents often want to test their child’s intelligence if they suspect a decline. This can be done privately in many children’s psychological centers, as well as in neuropsychological centers or with a private psychologist.
The problem with diagnosing intelligence is that people learn part of the test in advance on the Internet. Of course, a psychologist easily calculates trained people, but he can no longer use the IQ test, which means that other methods have to be used, for example, methods of pathopsychological examination. These techniques are good, but they are not quantitative; they don’t end up with a numerical IQ result.”
With the help of tests on the Internet, most likely, it will not be possible to determine your IQ. To get a reliable result, you will need a specialist psychologist, because slowness, excitement, or minor changes in the wording of tasks affect the assessment.
Is a high IQ score associated with success?
Although scores on all IQ tests are normally distributed with a mean score of 100, the number of points a person scores on different tests. may differ slightly. This is due to both errors and different tasks of the tests themselves.
Galina Andreeva:
“The test standards that are currently used in our country are rather soft, i.e. An IQ in the range of 90 to 109 is, frankly, an average result. It means that you solved the test as well as half of the people your age. If a child develops well and parents pay attention to his additional activities, then it is natural to expect that he can show results above 110 on an IQ test.
High IQ is, of course, nice. IQ results are directly correlated with school performance, but high intelligence alone does not guarantee indispensable success in life. Success has more to do with social skills, achievement motivation, the ability to arbitrarily set goals, take risks and, in general, be an active person.”
Neuropsychologists believe that a high IQ score has a positive effect on professional performance, social mobility, and the quality of work performed. With decision-making in everyday life, people with high intelligence also cope more successfully.
People who score high in IQs in childhood and adolescence are healthier later in life and are less likely to die young. Researchers followed 1 million men for about 20 years after taking intelligence tests. The mortality of men with relatively high intelligence was 32% lower than that of men with low intelligence.
High IQ people
Now among the smartest people on the planet with an IQ of more than 200 are American astrophysicist Christopher Hirata, Australian mathematician Terence Tao and American journalist Marilyn vos Savant, who from 1985 to 1989 was listed in the Guinness Book of Records in the category ” Highest IQ. Guinness subsequently dropped the category, stating that intelligence tests were too unreliable to determine a single record holder. Moreover, the test, which showed a very high score for Marilyn vos Savant, was criticized by psychologists over time.
Einstein’s IQ is sometimes said to have been very high or very low. But there is no documentary evidence that it was ever tested at all. In the early 1900s, when Einstein became a scientific luminary, IQ tests were in their infancy.
Galina Andreeva:
“If parents suspect some kind of giftedness in their child, then you can check the abilities of a child over 11 years old on Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices. They are used to diagnose children in special schools with a complicated program.
In my opinion, learning a foreign language is the best way to “pump” intellectual abilities – this is a generally recognized trend that really works for both children and adults. Only you need to study not in the application on the phone, but at least in online courses – at a more dynamic pace.