Monday, June 14, 2010

IQ

IQ is the acronym for intelligent quotient, and refers to a score given for several standardized intelligence tests. The first of these was developed by French psychologist Alfred Binet in 1905. He constructed the IQ test, as it would later be called, to determine which children might need additional help in scholarly pursuits. Today, the IQ test is commonly based on some model of the Stanford Binet Intelligence scale.


There have been some studies on brain size and development and IQ scores. Specifically the frontal lobe of the brain seems to be the most indicative method for prediction of IQ scores. Larger frontal lobes tend to result in larger IQs.

Men and women seem to score approximately the same on IQ testing, though men exhibit a greater variance in testing, and have more very high and very low scores than do women. The American Psychological Association conducted studies on IQs and came up with the following conclusions:
  • IQ score was a fairly good predictor for school performance.
  • IQ score may also predict fairly well the degree to which a person may be successful in occupations.
  • IQ scores tend to exhibit some racial bias.
  • Test scores may be influenced by personal genetic history.

2 comments:

kyo_9 said...

Racial bias? how is that got to do with IQ test??

shaiful said...

There is much contentious debate in evaluating the IQ test, as to whether nature or nurture most influences IQ scores. As well, debate exists as to how much IQ scores should be used as a predictor of behavior. Some are concerned that IQ scores might negatively affect the perception of colleges, private schools or employers if used to determine employability or acceptance into schools.