Quote:
|
Originally Posted by ~kitty~
Not only this, but what sort of "intelligence" is being measured? We can't accurately measure someones intelligence, really.
|
Are you very familiar with psychological modeling? By "accurately measure intelligence" I take it you mean accurately measure intelligence to correspond with intelligence as most people see it. Saying this is impossible is true, but don't take the truth of that to mean much -- it's like saying "you can't know exactly what 'good' is." This doesn't mean the model is flawed. In fact, quite the opposite: it means that most people construct extremely ambiguous, circumstantial and perhaps even hypocritical definitions of intelligence to (1) protect and/or raise their self-esteem (2) validate their own perceptions and attempt to invalidate perceptions they disagree with.
To give an example, on numerous political websites I have visited 'intelligent' is synonymous with "person who agrees with me." Most people in reaction tend to give this "it can't be measured" response like you've given to avoid clarifying the ambiguity, I suspect because doing so would force them to acknowledge ways in which they might possibly not fit their own definition. Other definitions ("what's your Gossip Girl IQ?") already have some parallel in psychometrics (in the case of gossip girl, it's knowledge) that they don't realize and haven't considered simply because they intentionally shut out any clarification of the word 'intelligence' to begin with.
All of this is a red herring though because it frames the debate as an attempt to meet some definition of intelligence to be agreed upon, which will never happen because the definition for so many people hinges on its use as a psychological defense. The most
useful model of intelligence -- that is, the model with the most predictive power, is the psychometric model or 'general intelligence' or
g.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G_factor_(psychometrics)
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by ~kitty~
Taking a standardized test that gives a person a number that's based on other peoples performances in certain areas, which do not cover the whole spectrum of thought, couldn't possibly give an accurate measure of intelligence.
|
What spectrums of thought do you think are unmeasurable? I feel like you're relying on the ambiguity of the phrase "spectrum of thought" here in expectation that I will accept it and shut up. What I think you're underestimating is just how much thought has indeed been classified by the cognitive sciences.
Again, though, you are relying on the ambiguity of 'intelligence' to coast you through this claim. Your defense here -- that intelligence does not cover the entire spectrum of thought -- suggests that intelligence should encompass something which it is not. "to cover the entire spectrum of thought" would imply that intelligence should strive to be the definition of something like 'cognition'. Intelligence, however, is a
type of cognition. It occupies its own area on the spectrum of thought, to use your metaphor.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by ~kitty~
Using IQ tests as a way to validate one's own intelligence is a bit pathetic, in my opinion, and shows that this person is desperate.
|
I agree with the intent with which you probably wrote this claim but not with it as it is written. Thinking that you are so smart that you are beyond measurement is much more typical of narcissistic behavior than those who accept their intelligence is, perhaps, somewhat limited. I have interacted with several people who scored in the 30s of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory and all of those people were incensed by the concept that their intelligence could be assessed by a test. In their view, it was beyond testing.
I understand where you're coming from though. There are certainly people who use IQ tests as a self-esteem booster and cling to that number like a banker clings to his money. This is not a healthy way of seeing the world, and because the premise (that smartness makes you "better") relies on a hierarchical system, the people who do this may devalue people who do not score well on tests, which is not a very happy way to live.