Are you insecure about your intelligence?

[dag12]

Originally Posted by stargroup100

pffft who the hell goes to yale for engineering

are you dumb or something

Pffft like it really matters at the undergrad level

/defendingYale

[Reincarnate]

yeah six figures out of college is overrated anyway right

more fun to be dragged through the shitty economy

[Kilroy_x]

It matters for networking and brand recognition. But then that same brand recognition allows you to buy a one-off piece of paper from a diploma mill if you're really desperate for a job. Hey guyz I have a BS from "Cornel", I can haz jobs?

[darkshark]

Difficulty of a chart does change over time.

Difficulty is an interpretation.

Interpretation changes as we adapt and improve.

[Zageron]

Originally Posted by Reincarnate

The Raven APM test is a pretty decent test imo

I recall doing a Raven type test a long time ago @ http://www.iqtest.dk/main.swf
Managed a perfect score.

Did another one today @ http://www.egopont.com/iqtest
Got a perfect score within 8 minutes.

Where can I find a more legit version of this test?

[Reincarnate]

My old iqtest.dk score: http://img44.imageshack.us/img44/3533/iqtestdk.png

Jacking from an old post from Reach:

SPATIAL TESTS (Culture Fair)

1. Mensa Denmark - Based on Ravens APM: http://www.iqtest.dk/main.swf Has a ceiling of 145.
2. TRI 52: Take this test if you scored 130 or higher on the first test: http://www.cerebrals.com/tests/tri/TRI52.html Has a ceiling of 165

VERBAL TESTS (Culturally biased)

1. CCAT: Take this test if you scored well on the first Spatial test or would like to try a verbal test instead. Keep in mind it is quite difficult. http://www.cerebrals.com/tests/ccat/verbal1.html Has a ceiling of 170+. (*NOTE: This test requires English and basic math proficiency)

VERBAL + SPATIAL TESTS

1. TITAN Test: Take this test if you scored over 150 on the TRI 52 or the CCAT: http://www.eskimo.com/~miyaguch/titan.html Has a ceiling of 190 (*NOTE: This test is not free to score).

CONTESTS

Cerebrals Society International Contest: http://www.cerebrals.com/tests/cpic/...%20CONTEST.pdf

[iironiic]

Are these IQ tests accurate for finding your true IQ? I heard that you'll have a better idea of what your IQ is if you took the test (administered by a certified psychologist) on paper with a time constraint.

[awein999]

When I think of the word intelligence, the last thing that jumps into my mind are grades, and ACT/SAT scores. Intelligence means so much more than a grade received in school, or how much less dumb you are than most people in the classroom. Keep in mind those standardized tests are typically races. For true knowledge it is a marathon not a sprint.

The beauty of intelligence is that you can be a smarter than the average person if you excel at one thing, which can be pretty much anything. I think of intelligence broadly as the ability to see situations around me with a rational, levelheaded perspective.

And lets face it, your attitude and the choices you make in life are greatly more important than your intelligence. There are unintelligent people that have the skill of being greatly kind and empathetic towards others while some very smart people lack that great attribute dearly.

[cixOclock]

I've done one IQ test to my knowledge back when I was twelve I think it was around 120 or something like that can't really remember.
Whereas my dad who actually is smart... (thanks for making me look bad), has around 170, 180.

But that was years ago, but now I study a lot of philosophy, old writings, Chaucer, and other old writers, mainly old Japanese works like Sun Tzu.

I don't have a lot of math knowledge, but that's mainly because it bores me and I find infinity rather boring.
I'll have to try out the IQ tests though...

However, I'd have to say it annoys me when someone is chauvinist about their intellect, but ahwell.

And oh yeah, this:

Originally Posted by awein999

And lets face it, your attitude and the choices you make in life are greatly more important than your intelligence. There are unintelligent people that have the skill of being greatly kind and empathetic towards others while some very smart people lack that great attribute dearly.

[Reincarnate]

you can be very socially intelligent, mathematically intelligent, musically intelligent, artistically intelligent, spatially intelligent, logically intelligent, verbally intelligent, whatever. Many flavors of intelligence and ways of simply being able to be really good at a particular form of mental skillsets.

but there is a concept called "g" which is "general intelligence": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G_facto...ychometrics%29



"An illustration of Spearman's two-factor intelligence theory. Each small oval is a hypothetical mental test. The blue areas show the variance attributed to s, and the purple areas the variance attributed to g."

a highly g-loaded person can be good at generally anything he tries/practices. the same can't be said for some people who may have an extreme talent in one particular sector of intelligence.

But don't go knocking around "intelligence" as if it's some loose-weave concept that isn't important somehow. Intelligence is extremely empowering and opens so many doors for you. Definitely not worth being insecure over. It's easier to make better life decisions when you're intelligent enough to make them.

[3Bey]

I think of intelligence broadly as the ability to see situations around me with a rational, levelheaded perspective.

Oh, if it's that you're talking about, I had a boost of intelligence in the last past year. And now, if you say that, for you, intelligence means this, well, yes, I'm f***ing intelligent compare to the average! XD

But, more seriously, to talk about what Reincarnate is bringing, I see it like this: intelligence opens the doors, and wisdom (or how aweiin99 just called intelligence), help you to choose which door you should go through. Our society gives a lot of importance to the first kind of intelligence, and kinf of forget the other...

But this intelligence is very, VERY important. From my point of view, it's the most important. But, well, I agree that being smart like you all seems to be can be very usefull.

The only thing is that, like you all just demonstrated, some people who really are intelligent ( and I'm talking of the one who opens door), kind of build thier selfestime around it, and judge people depending to it, when it's...not the only thing that matter in life...

But, for me, if I can just succeed and study in medecine, it would be just fine!XD

[ffraxis]

A genius is a regular person who can use their brain and work hard a lot.
A smart person is a regular person who can use their brain and work sometimes.
A dumb person is a regular person who can use their brain and do little work.
An idiot is that person that contradicted what you believe to be true in an apparently insulting fashion.
A handicapped person includes all of the above.

[Zageron]

What do the Raven IQ tests really determine though? I mean, I am terrible at Calculus. I can't do it. It's extraordinarily hard to me. I'm sure I'm also impossible bad at many other things as well. So what do these tests measure? By having a perfect score I can't be all knowing...

[awein999]

There appears to be little to no relation regarding intelligence insecurity and motivation for greater intelligence. Interesting.

Then again it's a small sample size with a low variance of poll takers

[Cavernio]

I don't care what psychometricians say, if you know what a test is going to be like, you can study for it, ergo the results of it are going to be based on how well you studied it more than anything else. (But I suppose the same can be said of real life.) I am still very doubtful about how well psychometric tests can be generalized beyond the test. **** g and IQ and any of those other tests that people mentioned.

Canada FTW, no college aptitude tests required.

Kilroy, you assume again that you're smarter than everyone else, but just never had the right opportunities...but it seems you assume everyone else had them. You would be much happier if you didn't sit on such a high horse; even if you're right, it's only making you miserable. (But really, who am I to be speaking about happiness.)
Interesting tidbit you've probably heard of already, (but in case you haven't), men are 'generally' better at visualization tasks than women.

[DossarLX ODI]

I was thinking that "intelligence" just means that you can profit from experience. In other words, being able to apply whatever you've learned or what skills you have.

All of you can agree that whatever knowledge you possess now didn't just come out of thin air. It came from experience.

[3Bey]

Canada FTW, no college aptitude tests required.

They still check our result with the R quote (may have another name in english...)...

All of you can agree that whatever knowledge you possess now didn't just come out of thin air. It came from experience.

yes but the facility you had to gain them come from intelligence.

[Reach]

Originally Posted by Cavernio

I don't care what psychometricians say, if you know what a test is going to be like, you can study for it, ergo the results of it are going to be based on how well you studied it more than anything else. (But I suppose the same can be said of real life.) I am still very doubtful about how well psychometric tests can be generalized beyond the test. **** g and IQ and any of those other tests that people mentioned.

What do you say of studies on the reliability of tests such as RAPM? It is quite high.

A number of studies attempt to train people to do better on the test, resulting in small gains after several training periods (1-5 points), and as much as 10 points gained with extensive training (months). However, the catch is that once training stops, your score goes back to whatever you scored the first time and stabilizes throughout your lifespan +- standard error (Actually, your raw score tends to decrease slowly after the age of ~30, but the score you receive corrects for age).

Also, what do you say of the correlation between IQ and scholastic performance? Ravens APM scores have been shown to correlate ~r =0.8 with SAT math scores, and even 0.7 with SAT verbal scores. That is, people that do well on IQ tests consistently do well at any kind of standardized test. Also, Job performance? IQ tests are most definitely the best predictor of job performance we have. People with higher IQs consistently learn faster and perform better across time. The Army knows this all too well; they have so much data backing this up it's not even funny. For example, why do you think you have to 'pass' the aptitude test to be a pilot? Lower IQ is correlated with more accidents and lower reaction time, leading to astronomically higher costs to the army. Smart people are cheaper and more efficient.


G is far from useless. It's simply important to understand the limitations of the test, what the score actually means, and what g actually means. g is correlated with almost everything you do on a mental level, because...that is the essence of g. That doesn't mean it defines you or what you can do. I see IQ tests and their mental assessment analogously to the way pictures show your physical characteristics; a picture can show you a lot about what someone looks like and their physical characteristics, but it's only a single snapshot in time in a particular situation. Even with that said, you still continue to look very similar throughout your life...


If you're interested in why g is an important concept, I recommend reading: http://www.udel.edu/educ/gottfredson...hygmatters.pdf

"Intelligence is not the amount of information people know, but their ability to recognize, acquire, organize, update, select, and apply it effectively."

[OneHandNow]

lol reading rubix vs stargroup100 was pretty funny


to answer the topic's question:

i am most definitely not insecure about my intellect - i am rather proud of it because i know i'm part of the top

and i always strive for more, because i know there are infinitely many more people who are more knowledgable, and ultimately a better person than i am




edit: welp, tried the spatial test (culture fair), got up to number 34, and had 25 minutes leftover and didn't feel like spending the next 25 minutes on the 5 problems and just guessed on the other 5..

136 x_x

[bmah]

I'm one of those people whom people say "you're smarter than you'd like to admit" - that's what they say. I guess you can say this uncertainty in myself, regardless of my potential, is a form of intellectual insecurity.

Originally Posted by OneHandNow

i am most definitely not insecure about my intellect - i am rather proud of it because i know i'm part of the top

and i always strive for more, because i know there are infinitely many more people who are more knowledgable, and ultimately a better person than i am

Intellectual? Alright. Mentally secure? This quote sure doesn't sound like it. You shouldn't be overly concerned about your intellectual placement; rather, get some experience in other activities and then complement that with your knowledge.