5 ms·

Problem solving ability is basically just IQ.

georgeecollins 6y ago
If that were true, everyone with a very high IQ would be a great poker player, a great negotiator, a great writer, a great leader, a great investor.. etc. IQ is as proxy for problem solving if the problems look like a standardized test. The problems people face in the real world require more specialization and a more complex combination of skills and traits.
- gucciTheWizard 6y ago
  IQ is a general measure for pattern recognition. Most modern IQ tests are heavily dependent of things like ravens matrices. Pattern recognition in obviously helpful when problem solving.
  - nassimslab 6y ago
    Is IQ really legit? I heard form Nassim Nicholas Taleb that the math used by psychologist is weak.
    - wesleywt 6y ago
      It's not. It was originally used to find profoundly disabled children. But know extended to be the be all and end all of intelligence. It's weak science.
    - anthonypasq 6y ago
      its legit in the sense that is a huge variable in predicting general life success/educational attainment. if you think those outcomes are decent proxies for intelligence then IQ is useful
- MaximumYComb 6y ago
  IQ is one of the strongest predictors we have for many life outcomes, such as career success, wealth, lower risk of death. This doesn't mean "everyone with a very high IQ will blah blah blah" but it does mean that those with high IQs are more likely to achieve certain things.
  - popinman322 6y ago
    Strongest predictor taken from a pool of weak predictors is still a weak predictor.
    - read_if_gay_ 6y ago
      I might be pulling things out of my ass here but IIRC the correlation is up there with that of your parents’ wealth. And in current political discussion lots of time is spent on how to deal with the latter. It may in fact still be a weak predictor, but that obviously doesn’t make it meaningless.
      - collyw 6y ago
        IQ is somewhat inheritable as well though. Is it IQ or inherited wealth that is the factor?
        MaximumYComb 6y ago
        The studies account for wealth.
  - lowiqengineer 6y ago
    What should I do if I know i have a low IQ?
    - DoreenMichele 6y ago
      First, understand that IQ tests can be biased and can shaft minorities. Second, they are tools and are only as good as the person making use of them. Third, eat right, exercise, live right, etc. Performance is impacted by health and even supposedly high IQ people will perform worse if they are sick, short of sleep, etc. IQ isn't a useless concept, but I'm somewhat well versed in the history of IQ tests, etc, and it's got a lot of issues with it.
- james_s_tayler 6y ago
  Well... There is fluid intelligence and crystalized intelligence. What you're pointing out is that crystalized intelligence is what matters. Fluid intelligence mediates the ability to gain crystalized intelligence. Higher IQ in theory means you should get further faster. Though even without if you are dedicated enough to obtain the same level of crystalized intelligence you might be able to do so. I suspect at some point the cognitive ceilings are different, but who knows by how much.
- ZephyrBlu 6y ago
  Time put in still matters no matter how smart you are. I think a person with a high IQ could be a great poker OR a great negotiator OR a great writer. Perhaps 2-3 total.
AQuantized 6y ago
Disagree totally with this. My psychometric IQ has been stable for a long time, yet my problem solving ability has increased significantly. Some ways to modulate it might be reading material such as George Polya's "How to Solve It," taking your own notes on heuristics and techniques you've found useful and continuously reapplying and iterating them, and simply delving deep into many hard problems (be they directly coding related or not).
- fancyfish 6y ago
  Agreed. Problem solving is a skill separate from IQ and unlike IQ it can be developed over time. If you want to level up your problem solving skill, carry around a small notebook and pay attention to the problems you see in other people, or in the office, in public, or in yourself. Write down the problem and its cause, continually drilling down into root causes. Then make a graph of problems and root causes, with directed edges showing causation. Within one or two years of doing this you will recognize patterns others do not see. I have improved my problem solving skill by at least 7-8% by doing this. The key is iteration. My IQ has been stable like yours, around the 96th percentile, and despite being a Tier 1 top-talent engineer, I’ve had to actively improve my problem solving ability over time.
  - pc86 6y ago
    Interesting that you are you self-aware you can tell the difference between a 6% and a 9% increase is something as nebulous as "problem solving ability." Edit: Oh, the account is nothing but troll comments. Nevermind.
- RandoHolmes 6y ago
  IQ is a prerequisite for being a problem solver, but is not enough. You also need to have the correct mindset for it.
InfiniteRand 6y ago
I think problem solving is knowing when and what terms to google
- Talanes 6y ago
  The amount of times I've solved something no one else could, just because I went the extra check of looking up the manufacturers documentation when the companies fell short...
- collyw 6y ago
  Real problem solving is what you do when google doesn't have the answer.
james_s_tayler 6y ago
Not really. It's both fluid and crystalized intelligence that are required. The better you can pattern match the faster you will be able to acquire crystalized intelligence by being able to connect the dots and you'll likely be able to leverage superior pattern matching abilities to utilize less crystalized intelligence to draw the same conclusions in certain cases. But if you have no or very little crystalized intelligence in the domain you're trying to problem solve in then you aren't going to get very far. It's very much a combination of the two.
barry-cotter 6y ago
This betrays a lack of familiarity with the literature on intelligence. Fluid intelligence doesn’t change much if at all between 14 and 27, when it starts its long slow decline. Crystallized intelligence can keep rising for decades after that. The number of fields where fluid is more important than crystallized is very small if very important. Having a vast knowledge base, built on a foundation of experience, is more important for most full time academics, never mind those of us not engaged in research. You can’t play at all if your fluid intelligence isn’t high enough but there are a lot of people out there who’re smart and vastly less successful than dumber people who worked consistently at something. At the top are the smart, hard working and lucky but intelligence is not the be all and end all.

If that were true, everyone with a very high IQ would be a great poker player, a great negotiator, a great writer, a great leader, a great investor.. etc. IQ is as proxy for problem solving if the problems look like a standardized test. The problems people face in the real world require more specialization and a more complex combination of skills and traits.

gucciTheWizard 6y ago
IQ is a general measure for pattern recognition. Most modern IQ tests are heavily dependent of things like ravens matrices. Pattern recognition in obviously helpful when problem solving.
- nassimslab 6y ago
  Is IQ really legit? I heard form Nassim Nicholas Taleb that the math used by psychologist is weak.
  - wesleywt 6y ago
    It's not. It was originally used to find profoundly disabled children. But know extended to be the be all and end all of intelligence. It's weak science.
  - anthonypasq 6y ago
    its legit in the sense that is a huge variable in predicting general life success/educational attainment. if you think those outcomes are decent proxies for intelligence then IQ is useful
MaximumYComb 6y ago
IQ is one of the strongest predictors we have for many life outcomes, such as career success, wealth, lower risk of death. This doesn't mean "everyone with a very high IQ will blah blah blah" but it does mean that those with high IQs are more likely to achieve certain things.
- popinman322 6y ago
  Strongest predictor taken from a pool of weak predictors is still a weak predictor.
  - read_if_gay_ 6y ago
    I might be pulling things out of my ass here but IIRC the correlation is up there with that of your parents’ wealth. And in current political discussion lots of time is spent on how to deal with the latter. It may in fact still be a weak predictor, but that obviously doesn’t make it meaningless.
    - collyw 6y ago
      IQ is somewhat inheritable as well though. Is it IQ or inherited wealth that is the factor?
      - MaximumYComb 6y ago
        The studies account for wealth.
- lowiqengineer 6y ago
  What should I do if I know i have a low IQ?
  - DoreenMichele 6y ago
    First, understand that IQ tests can be biased and can shaft minorities. Second, they are tools and are only as good as the person making use of them. Third, eat right, exercise, live right, etc. Performance is impacted by health and even supposedly high IQ people will perform worse if they are sick, short of sleep, etc. IQ isn't a useless concept, but I'm somewhat well versed in the history of IQ tests, etc, and it's got a lot of issues with it.
james_s_tayler 6y ago
Well... There is fluid intelligence and crystalized intelligence. What you're pointing out is that crystalized intelligence is what matters. Fluid intelligence mediates the ability to gain crystalized intelligence. Higher IQ in theory means you should get further faster. Though even without if you are dedicated enough to obtain the same level of crystalized intelligence you might be able to do so. I suspect at some point the cognitive ceilings are different, but who knows by how much.
ZephyrBlu 6y ago
Time put in still matters no matter how smart you are. I think a person with a high IQ could be a great poker OR a great negotiator OR a great writer. Perhaps 2-3 total.

AQuantized 6y ago

Disagree totally with this. My psychometric IQ has been stable for a long time, yet my problem solving ability has increased significantly. Some ways to modulate it might be reading material such as George Polya's "How to Solve It," taking your own notes on heuristics and techniques you've found useful and continuously reapplying and iterating them, and simply delving deep into many hard problems (be they directly coding related or not).

fancyfish 6y ago
Agreed. Problem solving is a skill separate from IQ and unlike IQ it can be developed over time. If you want to level up your problem solving skill, carry around a small notebook and pay attention to the problems you see in other people, or in the office, in public, or in yourself. Write down the problem and its cause, continually drilling down into root causes. Then make a graph of problems and root causes, with directed edges showing causation. Within one or two years of doing this you will recognize patterns others do not see. I have improved my problem solving skill by at least 7-8% by doing this. The key is iteration. My IQ has been stable like yours, around the 96th percentile, and despite being a Tier 1 top-talent engineer, I’ve had to actively improve my problem solving ability over time.
- pc86 6y ago
  Interesting that you are you self-aware you can tell the difference between a 6% and a 9% increase is something as nebulous as "problem solving ability." Edit: Oh, the account is nothing but troll comments. Nevermind.
RandoHolmes 6y ago
IQ is a prerequisite for being a problem solver, but is not enough. You also need to have the correct mindset for it.

InfiniteRand 6y ago

I think problem solving is knowing when and what terms to google

Talanes 6y ago
The amount of times I've solved something no one else could, just because I went the extra check of looking up the manufacturers documentation when the companies fell short...
collyw 6y ago
Real problem solving is what you do when google doesn't have the answer.

james_s_tayler 6y ago

Not really. It's both fluid and crystalized intelligence that are required. The better you can pattern match the faster you will be able to acquire crystalized intelligence by being able to connect the dots and you'll likely be able to leverage superior pattern matching abilities to utilize less crystalized intelligence to draw the same conclusions in certain cases. But if you have no or very little crystalized intelligence in the domain you're trying to problem solve in then you aren't going to get very far. It's very much a combination of the two.

barry-cotter 6y ago

This betrays a lack of familiarity with the literature on intelligence. Fluid intelligence doesn’t change much if at all between 14 and 27, when it starts its long slow decline. Crystallized intelligence can keep rising for decades after that. The number of fields where fluid is more important than crystallized is very small if very important. Having a vast knowledge base, built on a foundation of experience, is more important for most full time academics, never mind those of us not engaged in research. You can’t play at all if your fluid intelligence isn’t high enough but there are a lot of people out there who’re smart and vastly less successful than dumber people who worked consistently at something. At the top are the smart, hard working and lucky but intelligence is not the be all and end all.