IQ Tests are Not an Accurate Measure of a Person's Intelligence

880 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: A.Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory

IQ tests are not an accurate measure of a person's intelligence.

I will be analyzing the reasons why I think that IQ tests are not an accurate measure of the intelligence. These reasons will be accompanied with solid proven facts that will discount the accuracy that is falsely considered to be a part of IQ tests. Today IQ tests are a part of many instances where intelligence is being judged.

Not an accurate measure

The test that has today evolved as the IQ test was initially designed by Sir Francis Galton. He had designed it to differentiate between the “abnormal” and “normal” intellectual growth in children at that time. The capacities that he tested or that are generally tested today have not been established as to have any sort of relation with the mental growth of the individual or chance of success that he has in his life.

It has been generally seen that people who belong to low income strata or to areas with lower economic growth score lower on the tests. Their lower scores do not necessarily imply that they have low IQ, it’s just that the setup of the test, the language used (in most cases) is not the one they are familiar with. The high scores in test can also be achieved if you have had better schooling and early grooming. There are evidence where children who are made to “open” their minds in the early stages of life by being made to play mind games and puzzles have a general tendency to think “out of the box”, they grasp things like puzzles or mind boggling questions easily and can comprehend and answer them far more easily than others who haven’t been exposed to such activities. (Sternberg, & Grigorenko, 2000) . The reason is that their minds have been made to look at the...

... middle of paper ...

...just intelligent” person because he knows how to act and when to act. IQ tests may judge a part of the level of intellectual present but fails to do it on the whole basis.

Works Cited

Sternberg, R. J., & Grigorenko, E. L. (2000). Teaching for successful intelligence: To increase student learning and achievement. Arlington Heights, IL: Merrill-Prentice Hall.

Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York: Basic Books.

Plucker, J. A. (1998). Is gifted education still viable? Education Week, 17, 33-34.

Atherton J S (2011) Learning and Teaching; Piaget's developmental theory [On-line: UK] retrieved 5 May 2011 from http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/piaget.htm

BBC NEWS. (2011,April 26). IQ tests measure motivation - not just intelligence

. Retrieved 5 ,4, 2011 , from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-13156817

Show More
Related

  • Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test Analysis

    1694 Words  | 4 Pages

    Not only does the KBIT-2 lack in accommodating for cultural and language barriers, but it is also deficient towards those with mild to moderate motor difficulties due to the fact that the test requires minimal motor skills (Bain & Jaspers, 2010). However, since the test does not require time limits individuals with mild motor difficulties could be assessed. Overall, the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test, Second Edition appears to be psychometrically strong and feasible assessment to administer (Bain & Jaspers, 2010).

    Read More

  • Short Answer Questions on Assessments and Treatments of Mental Disorders

    1243 Words  | 3 Pages

    Before answering the questions let find out what intelligence test is. It is a test consisting of a series of tasks requiring people to use various verbal and non verbal skills to measure the individual’s intellectual ability. Now that we know what an intelligence test is we can now answer the question better. Three important short comings of intelligence test that have nothing to do with intelligence are: having low motivation or high anxiety which can greatly influence the performance on the test, also IQ test may contain cultural biases in their language and or tasks that may place people of one background above people of another back ground, and members of minority groups may have little experience with this kind of test or may be uncomfortable with examiners of a different ethnic back ground than them (Comer, 2013, pp.107).

    Read More

  • Examining Intelligence: Definitions, Theories and Testing

    1065 Words  | 3 Pages

    Intelligence tests have been developed by scientists as a tool to categorize army recruits or analyze school children. But still discussing what intelligence is, academics have a difficult time defining what intelligence tests should measure. According to the American researcher Thorndike, intelligence is only that what intelligence tests claim it is (Comer, Gould, & Furnham, 2013). Thus, depending on what is being researched in the test and depending on the scientist’s definition of intelligence the meaning of the word intelligence may vary a lot. This essay will discuss what intelligence is in order to be able to understand the intelligence theories and aims of intelligence tests.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Standardized Intelligence

    445 Words  | 1 Pages

    Intelligence has been defined in many different ways including ones capacity for logic, abstract thought, creativity, and problem solving. Standardized tests play a major role in education systems today. Although these tests do exemplify a student’s ability to read and write English, this test promotes “teaching to a test.” I have first handedly experienced this in my own life. Standardized tests undermine critical thinking and innovation and are not the best example of intelligence.

    Read More

  • IQ Testing

    428 Words  | 1 Pages

    There have been many studies of IQ measurement. Some believe in testing and then looking at biology or heritage of the child. These people also like to use statistics to try to put some sort of explanation on IQ levels. Then there are other groups that use cultural ecology. They study IQ by what effect the environment has on a child, and feel testing it is unfair to the child. The problem is that these two groups rarely come together to help each other. So there are big questions as to what IQ really is and how it should be measured.

    Read More

  • Essay On Iq Test

    1085 Words  | 3 Pages

    I do not think this on-line IQ test is a good predictor of a person’s future achievements. However, I do feel like they can be used in a positive way because they can help identify a persons strengths and weakness. Using the results of an IQ a teacher can help build on a child’s strengths or help a child be brought up to a certain level by using various teaching methods that the test helps identify (Myers p. 471). Therefore because of this an IQ test is a poor indictor of future achievement because a child can work to improve what...

    Read More

  • Howard Gardner and Project Zero

    1215 Words  | 3 Pages

    Howard Gardner is the “John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Adjunct Professor of Neurology at the Boston University School of Medicine, and Senior Director of Harvard Project Zero” (Gardner bio, Multiple Intelligences and Education, MI Theory, and Project Zero). As director of Project Zero, it provided and environment that Gardner could begin the exploration of human cognition (Multiple Intelligences and Education). Project Zero colleagues have been designing assessment and the use of multiple intelligences (MI) to realize more personalized curriculum, instruction, and teaching methods; and the quality of crossing traditional boundaries between academic disciplines or schools of thought in education (Gardner bio). MI theories offer tools to educators that will allow more people to master learning in an effective way and to help people “achieve their potential at the workplace, in occupations, and in the service of the wider world” (Gardner papers).

    Read More

  • Freud's Theory of Psychosexual Development

    1771 Words  | 4 Pages

    Huitt, W., & Hummel, J. (2003). Piaget's theory of cognitive development. Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University. Retrieved [date] from http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/cogsys/piaget.html

    Read More

  • Defining Intelligence

    436 Words  | 1 Pages

    One of the most definitive things ever said regarding the nature of intelligence was that intelligence is whatever IQ tests measure. The IQ test has been in use throughout the 20th century and serves as an accepted measure of a person’s intelligence. It is used by institutions such as schools and the army to screen people’s level of intelligence and decisions are made based on that. The IQ test consists of a series of questions regarding certain skills such as vocabulary, mathematics, spatial relations. The scores that a person gets on these tests depend on the amount of questions that a person answers correctly. The actual score that a person gets is dependant on how others in that age group do on those particular questions.

    Read More

  • The Measurement of Intelligence through IQ Tests

    1243 Words  | 3 Pages

    Can intelligence be measured? Does an IQ test actually measure a person’s intelligence? The answers all depend on who you ask.

    Read More

  • Intelligence: Nature or Nurture?

    1352 Words  | 3 Pages

    On the ‘nature’ side of the debate is the psychometric approach, considered to be the most dominant in the study of intelligence, which “inspired the most research and attracted the most attention” (Neisser et al. 1996, p. 77). It argues that there is one general (‘g’) factor which accounts for intelligence. In the 1880s, Francis Galton conducted many tests (measuring reaction times to cognitive tasks), (Boundless 2013), in order to scientifically measure intelligence. These tests were linked to the eugenic breeding programme, which aimed to eliminate biologically inferior people from society. Galton believed that as intelligence was inherited, social class or position were significant indicators of intelligence. If an individual was of high social standing, they would be more intelligent than those of a lower position. However he failed to show any consistency across the tests for this hypothesis, weakening his theory that social class correlated with intelligence. Nevertheless, his creation of the intelligence test led many to continue to develop...

    Read More

  • Human Development: Nature vs. Nurture

    1390 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Measureable environment does not shift the IQ by more than 3 to 5 points above or below the value it would have had under normal environmental conditions… The nature or hereditary component in intelligence causes greater variation than does environment. When nature an...

    Read More

  • Cognitive Development: Multiple Intelligences

    1530 Words  | 4 Pages

    Gardner’s theory of MI offers an alternative view of intelligence which has measured intelligence based on the results that would predict success in the current educational system. Furham (2009) sums up Gardner’s definition as “the ability to solve problems or to create products that are valued within one or more cultural settings”. This definition suggests that human intelligence is comprised of more than the predictable success in a western school system. Gardner argues that traditional definitions of intelligence and intelligence testing are too narrow and marginalize people who do not fit traditional education system that focuses on visual–spatial, verbal–linguistic, and logical–mathematical intelligences. He supports this with unique cases of idiots savant, who are people with low IQs but excel in skills in areas not measured through tradition IQ tests (Arnett, 2013). MI theory proposes that individual’s intelligence can be differentiated on eight different modalities:

    Read More

  • Special Education Placement in Public Schools

    1918 Words  | 4 Pages

    The study of IQ and how it operates in the education field has been argued through various theories. Theorist such as Howard Garner, R...

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Intelligence In Education

    1111 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Oxford Dictionary defines intelligence as “the ability acquire and apply knowledge and skills.” Many people are born naturally intelligent, able to grasp and understand concepts easily, with little work. In children, it is easy to separate those born with higher intellectual ability from the rest, because they easily excel in learning. This skill is often lost by those born with it, and through a great deal of work others attain it. In order for an individual to have true intelligence into her adult years, she must foster what gifts she is given, and strive to better her self academically. Even as early as elementary school, many who are born with natural talent begin to fall behind intellectually. These students are often not

    Read More

More about IQ Tests are Not an Accurate Measure of a Person's Intelligence

Open Document