1 Personality vs. IQ Success
Personality affects success more significantly than IQ.
2. Alfred Binet, who created the first practical IQ test, believed intelligence could change and develop. He opposed using his test as a standard measure of fixed intelligence.
3. Awarding people money for doing well on IQ tests causes them to score higher. For instance, $10 increased people’s scores by 20 IQ points. Therefore, IQ tests measure not only intelligence but also effort.
4. People with high IQs tend to appreciate dark humor more.
5. The “Flynn Effect” shows that the average IQ of humans is steadily rising with each generation. To maintain the average at 100, we continuously increase the difficulty of IQ tests. Today’s children, who take tests from past decades, average significantly higher than 100.
6 Impact of Iodized Salt on IQ
The introduction of iodized salt in the USA in the 1920s increased the national IQ average by 3.5 points within a decade. In certain states with historically high levels of iodine deficiency, the average IQ increased by as much as 15 points within the first decade.
7. IQ tests only measure your intelligence relative to everyone else. If we all got smarter or dumber as a group, the IQ numbers would stay the same.
8. When asked about his IQ, Stephen Hawking said, “I have no idea. People who boast about their IQ are losers.”
9. People with high IQs can suffer from dysrationalia, meaning they are extremely susceptible to cognitive bias and poor decision-making.
10. Hitler banned IQ testing for being Jewish, as did Joseph Stalin for being bourgeois.
11 Sterilization Policies and IQ – IQ Tests
Up until 1977, North Carolina considered sterilization appropriate for individuals with an IQ of 70 or lower.
12. In 2011, a court in the U.K. banned a man with a 48 IQ from having sex, determining that he didn’t have the mental capacity to understand the health risks associated with his actions.
13. High IQ is associated with various mental and immunological diseases, including depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, ADHD, as well as allergies, asthma, and immune disorders.
14. There is an IQ floor of 80 points to serve in the US Armed Forces. This requirement was relaxed during the Vietnam War, and these individuals died at five times the rate of other Americans in the war.
15. Skateboarding legend Tony Hawk has an IQ of 144 and was bullied for being a skater in high school.
16 Shockley’s Controversial Proposal – IQ Tests
Nobel Prize laureate William Shockley, who invented the transistor, also proposed that individuals with IQs below 100 be paid to undergo voluntary sterilization.
17. Frequent marijuana use during adolescence (ages 13-20) is associated with an average loss of 8 IQ points in mid-adulthood.
18. The words “idiot,” “imbecile,” and “moron” were specific descriptors of IQ-based intelligence, with each indicating a different IQ range.
19. The environment still contains lead from gasoline usage in the last century, which continues to lower children’s IQ scores. According to scientists, it is impossible to identify a blood mercury level below which no adverse impact is detectable.
20. Someone with Down syndrome can have an IQ of 120.
15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
21 Francis Galton’s Innovations
Charles Darwin’s cousin Francis Galton invented the dog whistle, meteorology, forensic fingerprinting, mathematical correlation, the concepts of “eugenics” and “nature vs. nurture,” as well as the concept of inherited intelligence. He had an estimated IQ of 200.
22. Your IQ drops when you’re in a group. The higher the number of members, the lower your IQ goes.
23. The police force in New York can reject an applicant if their IQ score is too high.
24. The Nuremberg trials administered psychological and IQ tests to Nazi war criminals. All had above-average intelligence, and many had superior or very superior intelligence. Hermann Göring had an IQ of 138.
25. Dolph Lundgren, known for playing Ivan Drago in Rocky IV, has an IQ of 160 and studied chemical engineering at MIT.
RE: Fact #27 (Joe Arridy’s IQ and Death Row) – That’s seriously bumming me out.
RE: Fact #26 (Firstborn Children and IQ Tests) – Being a second child, I’m happy to say I’m not like everyone else.
RE: Fact #1 (Personality vs. IQ Success) – A lot of studies show that IQ is super important when it comes to doing well in life. But some reporters try to trick people by twisting the results. They’ll say personality is more important, but what they really mean is that personality helps predict success in addition to IQ. It doesn’t mean personality is more important than IQ. Sometimes they’ll even say things like, “Personality matters more than IQ” which is kind of misleading.
The effect of intelligence on your life gets bigger as you get older because it takes time for a high IQ to make a difference. This is why studies with younger people, like those using GPA data, usually show a weaker connection between IQ and success. This study seems to have people of different ages, but it’s not clear how old they were when they were tested. But since they have GPA, it seems like they were measured when they were kids.
The main thing to remember is that this study backs up what we’ve always known: IQ is the best predictor of success. You can get a better prediction by looking at lots of different things, but if you can only measure one thing, IQ is the one to go for.
RE: Fact #7 (Relative IQ Measurement) – Yeah, we’ve gotten smarter over time, probably because our brains develop and also because schools are more focused on standardized tests these days. When you take an IQ test, you’re compared to others your age.
Maybe it’s because we don’t put lead in gasoline or paint anymore.
RE: Fact #43 (Chess Ratings and IQ) – IQ tests are just looking for a specific set of skills, and that doesn’t have much to do with how good your memory is.
RE: Fact #30 (Historical IQ Increases) – What I mean is, the things we think of as “smart” have changed over time. We value book smarts and thinking things through, but our ancestors valued being able to fix stuff, build things, and work with their hands. Those modern IQ tests might touch on some visual skills and quick thinking, but they don’t really measure how good you are at fixing a leaky pipe or knowing when to plant your crops. Back then, if you couldn’t do those things, you were pretty much useless.
RE: Fact #15 (Tony Hawk’s IQ and School Life) – Reminds me of when that fact about Ke$ha being a “genius” blew up on factrepublic, with the top comment calling her “Basically Einstein.”
RE: Fact #19 (Lead Exposure and IQ Decline) – Apparently, adding iodine to salt made everyone smarter by 15 points. Then, adding lead to gasoline made everyone dumber by 15 points.
RE: Fact #45 (Young Hoon Kim’s IQ Record) – Remember that time a radio station had a “Hold your Wee for a Wii” contest? It didn’t end well, someone actually died from drinking too much water.
RE: Fact #25 (Dolph Lundgren’s IQ and MIT) – Talk about a wild luck. Robbers once broke into his place, but took off when they saw pictures and realized it was Dolph Lundgren’s house!
I’m putting Dolph Lundgren in pictures of my family and hanging them up everywhere.
RE: Fact #23 (High IQ Rejection in Police) – Yeah, I remember that happening in Rhode Island. The whole idea was that smart people would get tired of doing that kind of work and just leave.
RE: Fact #49 (John Lorber’s Brain Discoveries) – Seriously, how is that even possible? It’s totally wild, like seeing a bunch of hamsters doing the twist under a super-powerful microscope. If someone’s missing 90% of their brain, how could they even function? It’s like that part was just…extra.
I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around this.
RE: Fact #21 (Francis Galton’s Innovations) – Bjerkness was just some jerk, I guess.
RE: Fact #34 (Poverty’s Effect on IQ) – So basically, it’s saying that how well people do on IQ tests depends on how focused they can be. If they’re worried about getting food or taking care of their families, they might not do as well. It makes sense, right?
RE: Fact #35 (Brandenn Bremmer’s Genius and Tragedy) – Maybe it’s depression, like everyone says. But I’m thinking maybe it’s just curiosity.
RE: Fact #12 (UK Court Ruling on IQ) – The court should really be looking into the person who agreed to have sex with someone with such a low IQ.
RE: Fact #44 (Death from Excess Water Intake) – Intelligence and wisdom are two totally different things, you know.
RE: Fact #14 (IQ Floor for US Armed Forces) – You know, those guys in the movie *Forrest Gump*, where Forrest and Bubba are together? That’s based on a real thing, and this article talks about how those soldiers had some serious problems.
RE: Fact #20 (Down Syndrome and IQ) – This fact doesn’t really talk about it, but there’s this thing called mosaic Down syndrome. Some people with it have typical Down syndrome symptoms because of a chromosome problem, but they can also be really different in terms of how they look, how tall they are, how they talk, and stuff like that. Some people might not even know they have Down syndrome, you know? Maybe those people have mosaic Down syndrome.
RE: Fact #8 (Stephen Hawking on IQ) – He has a point.
RE: Fact #29 (Robert Forster and Triple Nine Society) – I figured out that in a city with a million people, about a thousand would be smart enough to join. But that’s not exclusive enough, I need to find something harder to get into.
A movie or TV show made that joke, I think. Like, “I’ll never get over her. She was one in a million.” Then someone’s like, “Well, there are tons of girls in New York, let’s find the other four!”
RE: Fact #38 (Isaac Asimov on Mensa Members) – That’s kind of their whole deal, right?
RE: Fact #8 (Stephen Hawking on IQ) – I was really blown away by this comment in the article: “Just last month a Gallup poll found that only 35 percent of Americans accept Darwin’s theory of evolution, while 45 percent prefer the creationist view. ”
Stephen Hawking’s response was, “Maybe it is because people in America have less sense of belonging to a tradition and culture than in Europe, so they turn to fundamental religion. “
RE: Fact #36 (Sharon Stone’s Mensa Claim – IQ Tests) – The only people I’ve heard bragging about their IQ are people who definitely aren’t geniuses.
Speaking of IQs… have I ever mentioned mine?
RE: Fact #25 (Dolph Lundgren’s IQ and MIT) – Calling him a Fulbright Scholar is a lot cooler than saying he studied Chemical Engineering.
RE: Fact #33 (IQ vs. Job Performance) – It’s more about playing nice with the boss and customers than actually knowing your stuff, right?
RE: Fact #34 (Poverty’s Effect on IQ) – I get it. When I was flat broke, couldn’t even afford a security deposit, all I could think about was that $500. You get so desperate, it’s hard to breathe. I’m okay now, but it really sucks to be poor. I feel bad that they don’t get much help or sympathy.
RE: Fact #3 (Money’s Effect on IQ Scores) – Being smart isn’t enough if you don’t put in the work. The test still shows how well you can use your smarts in real life.
RE: Fact #27 (Joe Arridy’s IQ and Death Row) – They say he smiled on his way to the gas chamber. He only got nervous for a minute, until the warden calmed him down.