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IQ by official definition measures reasoning and problem solving capacity in people. In some domains (science, engineering) it's a crucial factor for success, w

IQ by official definition measures reasoning and problem solving capacity in people. In some domains (science, engineering) it's a crucial factor for success, while in some like learning a foreign language or music or art it's not. High IQ certainly contributes positively in any activity, but when you have a child gifted for music or visual arts or sport or languages, it's just that, a talent. And when that child with time becomes really good in it, it's again usually thanks to a lot of hard work and practice on their part. IQ plays little effect in that process - as long, of course, as the person is not below some threshold that would make the activity too hard for them.

csa 4y ago
> while in some like learning a foreign language or music or art it's not You absolutely must be joking. This tells me that you have never learned a foreign language to a high level of proficiency, and that you know very little about art. Regarding the rest of your post, talent certainly exists, and things like motivation and talent are better predictors of success than IQ, but IQ tests don’t claim to predict success (even though IQ scores and success might be mildly correlated). As I mentioned in another reply (please read it), folks seem to think that IQ tests claim to predict success. They don’t. It’s an unfair onus to put on IQ tests.
- ivanhoe 4y ago
  > This tells me that you have never learned a foreign language to a high level of proficiency, and that you know very little about art. Well, I've obviously learned English well enough to fool you :P Anyways, I might have misunderstood you, dunno... my impression was that you're saying exactly that - that IQ is the main predictor of academical success - which is something that I both strongly disagree, and have a plenty of anecdotal examples around me that prove it wrong.
  - csa 4y ago
    > Well, I've obviously learned English well enough to fool you Cheers. I walked straight into that. That said, I imagine that there is more to that story. Fwiw, IQ is mildly correlated to a lot of things, including academic success. But as I said and strongly believe, success in academics has much stronger predictors than IQ. I have personally trained many groups of “low performers” and “less smart people” to run circles around high IQ people. I have a mountain of (unfortunately proprietary) data that shows how much certain types of training can accelerate learning. All that said, the toughest and most abstract ideas/areas are pretty much limited to the high IQ people. I will add that this comes with baggage — they are often frustrated that their peers don’t see or understand what they see and understand.

csa 4y ago

> while in some like learning a foreign language or music or art it's not You absolutely must be joking. This tells me that you have never learned a foreign language to a high level of proficiency, and that you know very little about art. Regarding the rest of your post, talent certainly exists, and things like motivation and talent are better predictors of success than IQ, but IQ tests don’t claim to predict success (even though IQ scores and success might be mildly correlated). As I mentioned in another reply (please read it), folks seem to think that IQ tests claim to predict success. They don’t. It’s an unfair onus to put on IQ tests.

ivanhoe 4y ago
> This tells me that you have never learned a foreign language to a high level of proficiency, and that you know very little about art. Well, I've obviously learned English well enough to fool you :P Anyways, I might have misunderstood you, dunno... my impression was that you're saying exactly that - that IQ is the main predictor of academical success - which is something that I both strongly disagree, and have a plenty of anecdotal examples around me that prove it wrong.
- csa 4y ago
  > Well, I've obviously learned English well enough to fool you Cheers. I walked straight into that. That said, I imagine that there is more to that story. Fwiw, IQ is mildly correlated to a lot of things, including academic success. But as I said and strongly believe, success in academics has much stronger predictors than IQ. I have personally trained many groups of “low performers” and “less smart people” to run circles around high IQ people. I have a mountain of (unfortunately proprietary) data that shows how much certain types of training can accelerate learning. All that said, the toughest and most abstract ideas/areas are pretty much limited to the high IQ people. I will add that this comes with baggage — they are often frustrated that their peers don’t see or understand what they see and understand.