> So I suppose the IQtest.com might be roughly equivalent to the Cattell > test (have the same SD in other words) (Every IQ test has a mean of > 100).
Assuming you know how many ounces in a pound (aren't there different ounces and pounds for different things?) and how much a nickel and a dime is.
I'm pretty sure nickel=5 and dime=10, but there was a long delay while I dredged that up from some sitcom memory bank...
Always seems wierd to me that for tests with a mean of 100, I hardly ever meet anyone who tests less than 100, and most of the people I talk to are in the 150 range. Either I've got really picky tastes in friends, or all my friends are full of sh1t...
Cheers Russell C.
From <<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IQ>>:
IQ
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
IQ, an abbreviation for "intelligence quotient", is a score derived from a set of standardized tests that were developed with the purpose of measuring a person's cognitive abilities in relation to one's age group. It is expressed as a number normalized so that the average IQ in an age group is 100 – in other words an individual scoring 115 is above-average when compared to similarly aged people. It is usual, but not invariable, practice to standardise so that the standard deviation ( ) of scores is 15. Tests are designed so that the distribution of IQ scores is more-or-less Gaussian, that is to say that it follows the bell curve. Scores on a given test in a given population have tended to rise across time throughout the history of IQ testing (the Flynn effect), so that tests need repeated renormalisation if these standards are to be maintained.
IQ scores are generally taken as an objective measure of intelligence. Because intelligence is difficult to define, the definition "Intelligence is what the IQ test measures" has been seriously proposed.
Modern ability tests produce scores for different areas (e.g., language fluency, three-dimensional thinking, etc.), with the summary score calculated as a some general measure, whose significance is disputed. Significantly, individual subtest scores correlately highly with one another and with between different tests.
While it might be argued that IQ tests encode their creator's beliefs about what constitutes intelligence, analyses of an individual's scores on a wide variety of tests will reveal that they all measure a single common factor and various factors that are specific to each test. This kind of analysis has led to the theory that underlying these disparate cognitive tasks is a single factor, termed the g factor, that represents the common-sense concept of intelligence.
Opponents argue that it is much more useful to know which are the strengths and weaknesses of a person than to know that he or she holds a measureable superlative on n percent of the populace in some "general intelligence" measure. Such opponents often cite the example of two people with the same overall IQ score but very different ability profiles. However, most people have highly balanced ability profiles. Differences in subscores are greatest among the most intelligent, which may lead them to this misconception.
Others argue that IQ testing is unnecessarily narrow and have proposed wider testing that covers emotional/social intelligence, creativity, artistic intelligence, etc.
The modern field of intelligence testing began with the Stanford-Binet test. It is worth noting that Alfred Binet, who created the IQ test in 1904, was aiming to identify students who could benefit from extra help in school: his assumption was that lower IQ indicated the need for more teaching, not an inability to learn. Indeed, this interpretation is still held by modern experts. A popular modern IQ test is the Raven's progressive matrices test
(The following numbers apply to IQ scales with a standard deviation = 15.) Scores between 90 and 110 are considered averageso a person scoring 95 is simply average, not below-average. For children scoring below 80 special schooling is encouraged, children above 135 are "highly gifted". In previous years, scores below 70 (regarded as evidence of "feeble-mindedness") were divided into ranges labelled moron, imbecile and idiot, while scores above 150 were labelled genius. Some writers say that such scores outside the range 55 to 145 are essentially meaningless because there are not enough people to make statistically sound statements.
[...snip...]
Opposition to IQ testing
Many scientists disagree with the practice of psychometrics in general. In _The Mismeasure of Man_, Professor Stephen Jay Gould strongly disputes the basis of psychometrics as a form of scientific racism, objecting that it is:
...the abstraction of intelligence as a single entity, its location within the brain, its quantification as one number for each individual, and the use of these numbers to rank people in a single series of worthiness, invariably to find that oppressed and disadvantaged groups--races, classes, or sexes--are innately inferior and deserve their status. (pp. 24-25).
Later editions of the book include a refutation of _The Bell Curve_.
The SAT is an IQ Test
A recent study determined that the SAT is a de facto IQ test and that SAT scores can be used in lieu of IQ scores for the purpose of psychological investigations.
Online IQ tests
Although such tests have become wildly popular with the explosion of the internet in recent years, there is great reason to believe that these IQ tests are highly inaccurate in their estimation of one's IQ. For example, by inputting random answers on one particular IQ test, an IQ of roughly 80 is obtained. Comparing results among a large set of people shows a common factormost scores are above 110. Most of these websites attempt to sell certificates showing test results. It is therefore recommended not to take online IQ tests as a true judge of one's IQ, even when considering that people who take these tests voluntarily are likely to be above average anyway.
Much more interesting and useful information (much of it in graphic and tabular form, so it can't be reproduced here) can be found at <<http://members.shaw.ca/delajara/index.html>> and its subpages.
-- Ronn! :)
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