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the average Ph.D. is smarter...than their friend with a bachelor’s degree. This raises an interesting question: what is intelligence? A cursory Google search s

the average Ph.D. is smarter...than their friend with a bachelor’s degree. This raises an interesting question: what is intelligence? A cursory Google search shows there's no solid consensus in academia. Having said that, there was a symposium years ago (1921) in which thirteen leading psychologists proposed definitions. [0] Here are a few of them: 1. the tendency to take and maintain a direction 2. judgment, otherwise called good sense, practical sense, initiative 3. adjustment or adaptation to the environment. . . 4. global capacity to act purposefully, think rationally, and deal effectively. . . 5. the ability to plan and structure behavior. . . 6. the ability to solve genuine problems or difficulties. . . While Ph.D. students have an impressive amount of specialized knowledge, they don't seem to meet all of these criteria for intelligence. Some Ph.D. students are spending hundreds of thousands on degrees without having a clear career plan, then struggling to lead successful, productive lives once they graduate. This seems opposite in some ways to the qualities of practical sense, judgement and planning ability that characterize intelligence. [0] http://www.unc.edu/~rooney/iq.htm http://www.unc.edu/~rooney/iq.htm

rdl 13y ago
It's mostly that the lower bound to get a PhD (at least in a non-imaginary field) is higher than to merely get an SB. If you assume a non-pessimal distribution[1], the average pHD will be smarter than the average SB. [1] This isn't necessarily true of the smartest individuals, and you could imagine a distribution where the 120-130 IQ people stick around to get PhDs, but the SB people are 115-160 IQ, and they leave to go into other fields. Probably true of English, Political Science, etc. -- the smartest people of those undergrad programs probably go into law or finance rather than remaining as grad students and professors within the field itself.

rdl 13y ago

It's mostly that the lower bound to get a PhD (at least in a non-imaginary field) is higher than to merely get an SB. If you assume a non-pessimal distribution[1], the average pHD will be smarter than the average SB. [1] This isn't necessarily true of the smartest individuals, and you could imagine a distribution where the 120-130 IQ people stick around to get PhDs, but the SB people are 115-160 IQ, and they leave to go into other fields. Probably true of English, Political Science, etc. -- the smartest people of those undergrad programs probably go into law or finance rather than remaining as grad students and professors within the field itself.