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Agreed, I don't think the conclusion is reliable because we have yet to understand what exactly IQ is. If you don't know what you're measuring, how do you know

Agreed, I don't think the conclusion is reliable because we have yet to understand what exactly IQ is. If you don't know what you're measuring, how do you know IQ can or can't be improved? My layman's prediction is we will be able to measure IQ in the future by some means of scanning the brain's process of building connections and nerves. An aptitude test is simply measuring the side effects of IQ.

RivieraKid 13y ago
I think that the idea of intelligence as a single number is similarly flawed as comparing cars just by speed.
- ESRogs 13y ago
  You're right that it doesn't tell the whole story, but one of the major findings in the last century of psychology is that the one-number summary actually contains a surprising amount of information. "Mental tests may be designed to measure different aspects of cognition. Specific domains assessed by tests include mathematical skill, verbal fluency, spatial visualization, and memory, among others. However, individuals who excel at one type of test tend to excel at other kinds of tests, too, while those who do poorly on one test tend to do so on all tests, regardless of the tests' contents." "[G factor] is a variable that summarizes positive correlations among different cognitive tasks, reflecting the fact that an individual's performance at one type of cognitive task tends to be comparable to his or her performance at other kinds of cognitive tasks." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G_factor_(psychometrics) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G_factor_(psychometrics).
gwern 13y ago
> My layman's prediction is we will be able to measure IQ in the future by some means of scanning the brain's process of building connections and nerves. There's some interesting imaging research over the past decade or two suggesting that if you want to reify IQ as something physical, it might wind up being something along the lines of global connectivity - how well and efficiently distant brain regions can communicate and coordinate activities.
- wslh 13y ago
  But, how about creativity? it seems much difficult to measure than IQ and with it you can achieve results that are beyound your IQ. What do you think? pd: strange that this is the first time creativity is mentioned in this thread.
  - gwern 13y ago
    Creativity is so hard to quantify or even describe that I don't think anyone can say anything meaningful about what it's useful for or what its relationship to evolution might be.

RivieraKid 13y ago

I think that the idea of intelligence as a single number is similarly flawed as comparing cars just by speed.

ESRogs 13y ago
You're right that it doesn't tell the whole story, but one of the major findings in the last century of psychology is that the one-number summary actually contains a surprising amount of information. "Mental tests may be designed to measure different aspects of cognition. Specific domains assessed by tests include mathematical skill, verbal fluency, spatial visualization, and memory, among others. However, individuals who excel at one type of test tend to excel at other kinds of tests, too, while those who do poorly on one test tend to do so on all tests, regardless of the tests' contents." "[G factor] is a variable that summarizes positive correlations among different cognitive tasks, reflecting the fact that an individual's performance at one type of cognitive task tends to be comparable to his or her performance at other kinds of cognitive tasks." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G_factor_(psychometrics) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G_factor_(psychometrics).

gwern 13y ago

> My layman's prediction is we will be able to measure IQ in the future by some means of scanning the brain's process of building connections and nerves. There's some interesting imaging research over the past decade or two suggesting that if you want to reify IQ as something physical, it might wind up being something along the lines of global connectivity - how well and efficiently distant brain regions can communicate and coordinate activities.

wslh 13y ago
But, how about creativity? it seems much difficult to measure than IQ and with it you can achieve results that are beyound your IQ. What do you think? pd: strange that this is the first time creativity is mentioned in this thread.
- gwern 13y ago
  Creativity is so hard to quantify or even describe that I don't think anyone can say anything meaningful about what it's useful for or what its relationship to evolution might be.