IQ Increase

[Thales]

I know that typically IQ remains relatively stable, however, some individuals claim that that their scores on IQ tests have increased dramatically. If you have such a story, please post it here (or just general opinions), as it is a subject I am researching atm. Thanks in advance.

[Cochonette]

IQ cannot be measured realistically through a multiple choice test. "IQ tests" are pretty similar to taking the SAT, which have classes and tutoring specifically designed to increase your score.

[Thales]

Huh, I was unware that officially administered IQ tests possessed multiple choice selections. I was equally unaware that there are classes designed to increase your overall score. Do you have any more info on these classes?

[MyEyeIsOpen]

You can increase your IQ test score by just studying. That doesn't mean you'll actually be smarter. If you want to be mo9re mentally nimble, you have to use your brain to solve hard problems consistently. It will get you used to thinking hard. Don't know about the effect on IQ though, that's just a number 8)

[Cochonette]

I was just reading my theatre textbook, which quoted some director about auditioning, and he said that he uses the 4-minute-or-so auditions (per actor) to determine their intelligence quotient. That's far more believable to me than "the IQ test," which requires very little intelligence to "administer."

[1by1]

Yes, I'm unconvinced that IQ tests are a proper measure of "intelligence" or whether such a test can really exist.

What defines intelligence is the ability to learn. So really you'd need some kind of test that measures how well you can learn something, and I don't see how that can ever be done.

[Brutha]

Yes, I'm unconvinced that IQ tests are a proper measure of "intelligence" or whether such a test can really exist.

Most people who say that they are unconvinced simply are unconvinced because they never delved into the subject and seen the argument for the existence of something like IQ.

It's a bit like saying that you are unconvinced by Einsteins general relativity because you can explain the world around you without his theory.
In both cases you have a scientific theory that based on huge experimental evidence and when you don't know about the evidence then you are "unconvinced".
G (and IQ with tries to measure it) is simply correlated with a large range of mental tasks.

The idea that one should be able to be convinced or unconvinced of the results of a mature scientific field without having a understanding of the experiments and their results that form the basis of the field is naive.

[MyEyeIsOpen]

Brutha, you must be aware of the numerous difficulties with the methodologies of the studies, the conflicting data that comes from them (especially the longitudinal ones)? That's without getting into the issues with the underlying theories or anything like Gardner's theory of intelligences. Even among the experts in the field this issue is fraught with controversy.

Yes, IQ correlates to tasks, it's not meaningless, but what it actually means and what it actually measures are still very much up for debate.

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by Thales

I know that typically IQ remains relatively stable, however, some individuals claim that that their scores on IQ tests have increased dramatically. If you have such a story, please post it here (or just general opinions), as it is a subject I am researching atm. Thanks in advance.

IQ only tests certain types of thinking.

Also, to "test" an IQ by administering a standardized test, which is what people use now, really isn't effective because there is no "best way" to actually ask the questions that measure what IQ is actually trying to measure, that is, problem-solving skills and the like.


Also, on a related note, I read a story either on the Memory improvement, Memory development, Improve your Memory, Memory skills, Mnemonics, Memory Loss, Memory strategies, Memorization techniques, Brain power website or forums about one student who obtained an IQ test, then proceeded to memorize every answer and every question on the test. He then took the test again and scored a "perfect" score (whatever that is) because he knew all of the answers going into it.

Did his actual IQ increase? Well, maybe. It may be possible to increase IQ through the pmemory system, depending on what you consider to be an "IQ" anyways. But in reality, all he did was store the answers in his head, which anyone can do after enough practice. So in that sense, the test is flawed because someone can just memorize the answers in advance!

[1by1]

Most people who say that they are unconvinced simply are unconvinced because they never delved into the subject and seen the argument for the existence of something like IQ.

That's not why I am unconvinced and in general I won't express an opinion on a subject unless I do understand the topic I am talking about. I have been trained properly in the scientific process, and so I try not to make unfounded comments.

I am unconvinced that IQ tests can accurately measure intelligence, and this is based on a number of problems inherent in those tests. IQ tests typically only measure one part of human intelligence, there are other areas that are important (eg. emotional intelligence, creativity etc). Add this to the fact that other studies have shown that people with high IQs are not necessarily more successful than people with lower IQs, I generally don't see it as a good predictor of intelligence.

I could also be unconvinced by general relativity if there was a significant amount of evidence showing there are problems with it (as it happens, there are some problems when you mix it with quantum theory, so I don't believe general relativity is indeed a full discription of reality).

[Andrew Brunelle]

First of all, IQ is a test, which is subject to bias in one way or another. It does in some ways measure intelligence, but not every kind of intelligence, and I don't see it as the gold standard of intelligence. And I'm someone who has scored in the spectrum of 130-150. I once scored in the 170s, but that was when I was a child. That measures one type of intelligence, and one that will serve you well in the scientific or mathematic community, but not so well in other courses of study.

Of course it is possible to increase your IQ with the increasing of knowledge and intelligence. It's not a number you are stuck with for life, kind of like an SAT score. You can always take the test again and do better...or worse.

[LostMyMap]

Questions on this forum that reference IQ tests are actually themselves IQ tests. Those who can address the OP's question or request for information without going immediately into tangential and repetitive discussions about the relative efficacy of IQ tests, pass the test.

As to the OPs request, sorry I don't have a story, other than "Flowers for Algernon" which we read in high school.

I do believe it is possible to raise your IQ (intelligence, brain power, mental abilities, yada yada) in the same way as you can increase your physical abilities. By concerted effort. And within reasonable limits.

[Thales]

Originally Posted by LostMyMap

Questions on this forum that reference IQ tests are actually themselves IQ tests. Those who can address the OP's question or request for information without going immediately into tangential and repetitive discussions about the relative efficacy of IQ tests, pass the test.

As to the OPs request, sorry I don't have a story, other than "Flowers for Algernon" which we read in high school.

I do believe it is possible to raise your IQ (intelligence, brain power, mental abilities, yada yada) in the same way as you can increase your physical abilities. By concerted effort. And within reasonable limits.

I appreciate your focused response. So, as you believe it is possible to raise IQ, how would you think (just opinions here of course) you would be able to gauge someone's potential IQ (I know IQ is "potential" anyway, but I digress). Through academic progress?

[LostMyMap]

Originally Posted by Thales

I appreciate your focused response. So, as you believe it is possible to raise IQ, how would you think (just opinions here of course) you would be able to gauge someone's potential IQ (I know IQ is "potential" anyway, but I digress). Through academic progress?

If you can figure out a definitive answer to that, you can revolutionize the education system! Seriously, you see how easily people can debate the meaning of IQ. Heck, even the word 'smart' is a good argument starter. It's so hard to really get a good grasp at measuring someone's brain power.

But, yes, some sort of progress measurement. To continue the phsyical analogy, if you started running, say two miles at a time, you would expect to get faster over time and feel less gassed at the end of it. One objective and one subjective measurement of progress. So it makes sense that if you were to do something to exercise your mind, you would be able to do what you exercised, better, faster, whatever.

And there are just so many areas of mental ability to measure. For example, I am an expert at things like logic (I am a software/database developer) and pattern recognition. I was reading at college level by 6th grade. But yet I struggled with calculus and differential equations, where I saw other people just 'get it' with no effort.

I suspect there is a lot of study in academia on this subject, but I can't point you towards anything specific.