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Whenever I see a headline like that, the thought that comes to mind is "and boosted the IQ of the other half?" It's interesting how none of the comments here h
by userbinator 3y ago
Whenever I see a headline like that, the thought that comes to mind is "and boosted the IQ of the other half?"
It's interesting how none of the comments here have brought up the "but IQ doesn't mean anything" talking point yet. I wonder why.
- alex_young 3y agoWhat would the mechanism for boosting IQ be? Seems like they are saying half of the population was more exposed to it.
- sva_ 3y agoProbably because IQ is based on 100=average, so if the average moves down and you stay constant, yours would move up.
- fnordpiglet 3y agoMedian
- meowface 3y agoFor IQ, the average is also the median.
- fnordpiglet 3y agoThat’s the idealized outcome but the shape of actual populations doesn’t yield a perfect normal distribution. But you’re right the 100 IQ centering assumes a perfect normal distribution, so as such it is intended to both be calibrated to the average and the median.
- Jedd 3y agoPossibly parent is assuming that because IQ is a distribution with 100 at the center, any movement results in a shift of that median. Potentially you could interpret this as suggesting a tacit (mathematical) increase elsewhere, but I don't think the math works out like that.
- alex_young 3y agoIQ is indeed standardized to 100, however the underlying results are measurably different over time. There is in fact an upward trend to IQ scores: When IQ tests are revised, they are again standardized using a new sample of test-takers, usually born more recently than the first; the average result is set to 100. When the new test subjects take the older tests, in almost every case their average scores are significantly above 100. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect
- po 3y agoIQ does measure something related to the brain's cognitive ability. The debate is if it's measuring "intelligence" and what the definition of that is, not that it doesn't mean anything. IQ tests are highly reliable in that you generally get the same scores when you retest. A movement from one year to the next relative to the population at whole is significant.