A new study argues that the score reflects both motivation and intelligence. Kids who score higher on IQ tests will, on average, go on to do better in conventional measures of success in life: academic achievement, economic success, even greater health, and longevity.
IQ testing become a good thing if it acts as a diagnostic tool so that you or your child can get the treatment and support needed. To that end, positive uses of IQ testing can help recognise learning, developmental, and cognitive differences such as: autism spectrum disorder.
In 2012, Vanderbilt University psychology researchers found that people with higher IQs tend to earn higher incomes, on average, than those with lower IQs. Past studies have also shown that high IQs are comparably reliable in predicting academic success, job performance, career potential and creativity.
But today experts recognize that IQ is not the only determinant of life success. Instead, it is part of a complex array of influences—one that includes emotional intelligence. Many companies now mandate emotional intelligence training and use EQ tests as part of the hiring process.
Researchers have previously shown that a person's IQ is highly influenced by genetic factors, and have even identified certain genes that play a role. They've also shown that performance in school has genetic factors. But it's been unclear whether the same genes that influence IQ also influence grades and test scores.
Although science is on the fence about whether you can raise your IQ or not, research does seem to suggest that it's possible to raise your intelligence through certain brain-training activities. Training your memory, executive control, and visuospatial reasoning can help to boost your intelligence levels.
An individual's IQ does not change with age. In other words: if you did an IQ test now and then another one in 10 years' time, your IQ score will probably be very similar. This is because IQ is always measured relative to other people your age.
All things made equal, individuals in the study tended to live longer if they were considered smarter as measured by the IQ test they took when they were 18.
The researchers found that both IQ and emotional intelligence were independently correlated with well-being. * IQ was positively correlated with personal relationships, self-acceptance, personal growth, mastery and purpose in life.
Notably, the average IQ score falls between 85 and 115. A score above 140, meanwhile, is considered to be genius level.
People with low and high IQ scores can work almost any job at almost any level. But it becomes increasingly difficult to perform well in very complex or fluid jobs (such as management in an ambiguous, changing, unpredictable fields) with a lower IQ.
Being creative, optimistic, and flexible are important hallmarks of many successful people. Common sense, the ability to get along with other people, and knowing a good idea when you see one, may be more useful qualities than having a genius IQ.
They can, but it's not just that. It's that IQ is a very noisy measure of all intellectual talents averaged together, and some people with unimpressive general IQs can still be extremely talented in particular fields.
According to Weiten, "IQ tests are valid measures of the kind of intelligence necessary to do well in academic work. But if the purpose is to assess intelligence in a broader sense, the validity of IQ tests is questionable." Some scientists have disputed the value of IQ as a measure of intelligence altogether.
Research shows that the signs of intelligence are usually good memory and thinking ability, good attitude and hard-working nature, general and tacit knowledge, language proficiency and reasoning, decision-making, trust, creativity, achievements, good intuition, and problem-solving.
While they might have high standards and big picture concerns, research shows that people with high IQs are actually more likely to be happy; data from the research showed that people with the highest IQs were much happier than those with the lowest IQs.
Those with high IQ had higher risk for psychological disorders (RR 1.20 - 223.08). High IQ was associated with higher risk for physiological diseases (RR 1.84 - 4.33). Findings lend substantial support to a hyper brain/hyper body theory.
However, intelligence has drawbacks too. For example, studies have found that higher IQ is associated with more and earlier drug use. Studies have also found that higher IQ is associated with more mental illness, including depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder.
People in the lower IQ range are more likely to have lower-than-average incomes, the researchers explained. There is also a higher incidence of common mental disorders and suicidal behaviors among individuals with lower IQs.
Studies show that night owls and those who wake up later actually are smarter and more creative than their early rising counterparts. They also have higher IQs according to The Independent. Unfortunately, night owls have slightly lower academic scores than early risers (by about 8%).
Professor Edward Awh, study's co-author, said: “The number of things people can remember is robustly correlated with fluid intelligence — the larger number remembered, the higher the IQ. Resolution in memory is not predictive of IQ at all.”
Scientists have long known that our ability to think quickly and recall information, also known as fluid intelligence, peaks around age 20 and then begins a slow decline.
The lowest IQ score is 0/200, but nobody in recorded history has officially scored 0. Any result below 75 points is an indicator of some form of mental or cognitive impairment.
The highest average score for people under 64 years of age is attained by those people between the ages of 55 and 64, who get 109 on the IQ scale. People between 65 and 69 years of age have an average IQ score of 114, which puts them in the superior intelligence or above-average end of the scale.