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While this is a fantastic article, I kind of want to disagree with some of the points listed. IQ tests are standardized in a way that you don't need to be a sc
by jlgosse 16y ago
While this is a fantastic article, I kind of want to disagree with some of the points listed.
IQ tests are standardized in a way that you don't need to be a scholar or academic to know how to solve and/or answer the questions.
Look at it this way, in my opinion, the standard IQ tests of today are moreso a test of how quickly you can learn or adapt and solve, rather than of what knowledge you have.
For example, I bet that a PhD candidate (or just a "genious") would have much less difficulty learning about the insides of a car and how to fix it, than a mechanic would have in getting his PhD or equivalent to that level of knowledge
I find that people with higher than average IQs have more work ethic and learn much more quickly than people who have below average IQs, and I don't think this is a purely coincidental thing.
- jim_dot 16y agoHow are you finding out people's IQs to put them in these "good work ethic, quick learner", "poor work ethic, slow learner" buckets?
- jlgosse 16y agoI'm mostly being presumptuous about people I know from high school and college.
- sliverstorm 16y agoI suspect you fell into a trap there. Most everyone I knew with a really good work ethic knew quite a lot of stuff, were engaging to talk to, so on and so forth- great people, absolutely not stupid. But, hiding in the background was the fact that it would take them quite a while to pick things up, and they had a hard time applying what they learned outside of the box. As for me, I've found the easier something comes to me the crappier my work ethic becomes.
- rdrimmie 16y agoI disagree with the work ethic point, but I do think it's interesting and instead of both of us speculating would love to see some actual data. There are a ton of dumbass people out there chugging away at grinding jobs to stay alive, and a ton of brilliant people sitting at their desks reading hacker news (not to imply that I'm brilliant; it's the rest of you I mean).
- ryanwaggoner 16y agoHow would you objectively measure work ethic?
- jheriko 16y agoI disagree with the work ethic point based one a single datum. my work ethic drastically changed at one point in my life - whilst my IQ should have remained constant, and its quite high - 144.5 on the Mensa test I took some 15 years ago.
- arethuza 16y agoSimilar story here - I had no work ethic at all until I failed my first year at University. (I had excellent school results, five unconditional offers of places at University etc.). I went back, worked very hard, passed the exam I failed (maths) and after that graduated with a 1st. I also got a stupidly high mark in an IQ test when I was 16 - largely as we had an educational psychologist in the family who had bombarded me with tests since I was about 4. There is no way that stuff actually makes you smarter but it sure does make you better at passing silly tests.
- tokenadult 16y agowhilst my IQ should have remained constant IQ scores can and do change over the course of life. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1158919 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1158919
- tokenadult 16y agoin my opinion, the standard IQ tests of today are moreso a test of how quickly you can learn or adapt and solve, rather than of what knowledge you have. Your opinion is mistaken in part. Most IQ tests include items that are explicitly based on learned knowledge, and all are embedded in a cultural context. See IQ testing 101 by Alan S. Kaufman (the author of several IQ tests) http://www.springerpub.com/product/9780826106292 http://www.springerpub.com/product/9780826106292 http://www.amazon.com/IQ-Testing-101-Psych/dp/0826106293 http://www.amazon.com/IQ-Testing-101-Psych/dp/0826106293 for more information on item content of IQ tests and corrections of many common misconceptions about IQ testing.