The concept of intelligence level or intelligence quotient (IQ)

Studying IQ with Science

Since the thirties of the twentieth century, scientists have attempted to scientifically determine the level of intelligence.
The problem of studying and measuring the level of intelligence throughout the twentieth century was addressed by such scientists as V. Stern, R. Stenberg, A. Binet, J. Piaget, C. Spearman, G. Eysenck, J. Guilford, D. Wexler and others . Determining what a person’s IQ is, what indicators need to be taken into account - all this was the object of study. Practicing psychologists put forward various hypotheses and conducted experiments to study intelligence:

• determining the relationship between the processes occurring in the human brain and its responses to them;
• dependence of cognitive abilities on the size and weight of the brain;
• comparison of the level of intelligence of parents and their children;
• interdependence of the level of intelligence and social status of a person;
• dependence of the level of intelligence on the age of the individual.

Scientists also developed test methods to determine the level of intelligence. Since that time, the question of what an IQ number is - a quantitative indicator that gives an idea of ​​thinking abilities - has become relevant.

What affects IQ

Heredity

The role of genetics and environment in predicting IQ is reviewed in Plomin et al.

(2001, 2003)[3]. Until recently, heredity was mainly studied in children. Various studies in the USA have shown the influence of heredity on IQ in the range between 0.4 and 0.8.[4][5][6] This means that the difference in IQ among observed children depends on genes by 40 to 80%. The rest depends on the child’s living conditions and measurement error. Heritability between 0.4 and 0.8 means that IQ is largely heritable [7][8][9].

The study of the life path of adopted children led to the unequivocal conclusion that the differences in their fate were mainly determined by heredity and random factors, and not by the family in which they were raised. Already by the age of 16, the correlation between the IQ of adopted children and their adoptive parents becomes close to zero. Differences in children's educational attainment depend twice as much on the educational attainment of biological parents as on the educational attainment of adoptive parents.[10]

Individual genes

The human brain controls most of the more than 17,000 genes available.[11] Although some studies show the influence of individual genes on IQ, none have a significant effect.[12] Most of the identified relationships between genes and IQ were false positives.[13] Recent studies have shown a weak influence of individual genes on IQ among both adults[14] and children.[15]

Search for hereditary causes of IQ

Research has begun to explore the genetic differences between people with high and low IQs. Thus, the Beijing Genomics Institute[16] is starting a project on a genome-wide search for associations in people with high mental abilities[17][18]. The discovery of genetic causes may allow the invention of means to increase IQ. Countries that gain access to such technologies will be able to move even further forward in economic, scientific and technological development.

Environment

The environment, in particular the family, has a significant influence on the development of a child’s intelligence. Dependencies were identified on many factors characterizing the standard of living of a family, for example: the size and cost of the house, annual income, relationships between family members, methods of education, and more. This influence brings a share of 0.25-0.35 to the IQ. But the older the child becomes, the weaker this dependence manifests itself, almost completely disappearing by the time of adulthood. These studies were conducted among ordinary two-parent families[5][19][20][21].

Due to the genetic characteristics of each person, children from the same family may react differently to the same environmental factors.[5][20]

An unhealthy, restricted diet can reduce the brain's ability to process information. Research 25,446 people Danish National Birth Cohort

led to the conclusion that eating fish during pregnancy and breastfeeding an infant increases its IQ[22].

Another study of more than 13,000 children found[23] that breastfeeding can increase a child's intelligence by 7 points. After the publication of these results, they were subjected to severe criticism, and three critical responses to the article were published in the same journal. Insufficient analysis of previous studies and ignorance of accepted theories were noted [24]; a simpler alternative mechanism for the formation of changes in IQ was proposed [25]; the adequacy of the test in this age category of subjects was questioned; imbalance (“bias”) of the subjects in terms of linguistic composition was noted; other methodological issues are highlighted; and in general the reliability of the results has been questioned[26].

IQ level indicators

What does the result indicate?

• IQ level above 140 points. People with this level of intelligence are believed to have excellent creative abilities, as well as ways to move science forward by inventing new theories. Only 0.2% of the population has such high intelligence. For example, Stephen William Hawking or Bill Gates.
• IQ level from 131 to 140 points. Only 3% of the population can boast of mental development in this range. Such people can be excellent managers, have a professional understanding of certain areas, and can become outstanding scientists and researchers. Such personalities include Arnold Schwarzenegger and Nicole Kidman.
• High level of intelligence - from 121 to 130 points. The value of such an IQ is inherent in few people - 6% of the population. People whose intelligence is in the range of 121-130 points can easily graduate from university and get a well-paid job, and in creative or managerial professional industries they can achieve excellent results.
• IQ from 111 to 120 points. A value varying in the range of 111−120 points indicates an above-average level of intelligence. It is quite easy for such people to study at a university, and if they have qualities such as focus and hard work, they will be able to find an excellent job. 12% of the population has this level of intelligence.
• The average IQ level is 101-110 points. The vast majority are people who have an average level of mental development. This is 25% of the population. It is more difficult for such people to graduate from university, but with sufficient perseverance and hard work, they will find a good job.
• 91−100 points. The same number of people have an IQ between 91 and 100. Having successfully passed the final exams, such people will be able to successfully find employment in middle management.
• 81−90 points - below average. 10% of the population has below average intelligence. After graduating from school, such people can successfully get a job involving physical labor.
• 71-80 points - lesser degree of mental retardation. These people (10% of the population) have a harder time finishing school.
• 51−70 points - a mild form of mental deviation (moronism). Such people (7% of the population) can graduate from a specialized school for the mentally retarded.
• From 20 to 50 points. This is dementia. People with this disability are unable to learn, but can take care of themselves.
• An IQ of up to 20 is idiotic. People suffering from idiocy are not subject to training and education, most often they are in care and cannot take care of themselves. A severe form of mental retardation, in which the individual is in his own illusory world and is unable to perceive the environment. This is 0.2% of the population.

What is an IQ test?

The Eysenck IQ test includes forty tasks, which take thirty minutes to complete. If while completing a task you are unable to understand the essence of the question, then you should not dwell on it for long. You may be on the wrong path to an answer and waste your time. Hurry up to find the answer to the next question.

However, it is worth knowing that most tasks are quite solvable and you should not give up quickly. You need to show patience and ingenuity to successfully complete the task. Keep in mind that the tasks only become more difficult towards the end of the test. The vast majority of people will answer some of the questions, but no one can solve all forty problems correctly in thirty minutes.

The answer to the task is a word, a number or one letter. In some cases, you need to come up with a solution yourself. You should not write the answer to an unsolved problem at random, but if you have some assumptions, then it is better to answer the question.

Most ordinary people have an intelligence level in the range of 100-120 points.

If you score more than 130 points, you can call yourself smart, and if you score more than 150, feel free to consider yourself a genius. However, do not forget that such a test is aimed at identifying the level of preparation for solving logical problems, but it will not show your intelligence. However, after passing the test, the result will appear on your screen in the form of a unique link that you can share with friends, paste into your blog, or send to your employer.

Age characteristics

What IQ a normal person has depends greatly on age. It is believed that peak development occurs at age 26. The moment of highest development of intelligence can vary from 20 to 34 years, depending on the conditions of the particular subject. After 60 years, the level of intelligence sharply decreases only if a person stops setting difficult tasks for himself and does not load his thinking in any way, limiting himself to standard situations.

It is accepted that the IQ level is a constant value. For children, different norms for the development of intelligence have been adopted, approximately assessing normal development. The normal IQ of a 14-year-old person is considered to be 70-80 points, but for an adult this would indicate a deviation from the norm. Thus, the level of intellectual development is constant compared to the group (by age), but when considering an individual, IQ changes significantly with age.

Assessing the level of development of students' intellectual skills

Assessing the level of development of students' intellectual skills

In psychology, there are many approaches to assessing intelligence, and intelligence itself is understood differently by different authors. From a diagnostic point of view, it seems to us the most convenient approach when intelligence is considered as a specialized substructure in the holistic structure of the personality, but at the same time as a structured integrity of mental abilities manifested in various forms of activity. Rudolf Amthauer approached intelligence from this position when creating his test of the structure of intelligence.

There are many methods for diagnosing intellectual development (they are usually called intelligence tests). These include, for example, the Wechsler Intelligence Scale, the R. Amthauer Intelligence Structure Test, Raven's Progressive Matrices, the Heidelberg Test of Speech Development, the J. Vana Group Intelligence Test, the School Test of Mental Development (SHTUR), etc. In this case, it is impossible do not take into account the fact that there are various kinds of difficulties associated with their use in school. These difficulties are due to the following reasons:

1) Intelligence tests usually contain a large number of subtests and tasks, which is labor-intensive and time-consuming for diagnosis. For example, R. Amthauer's intelligence structure test contains 9 subtests and 176 tasks. The testing takes 90 minutes (without preliminary procedures and instructions. The Wechsler test for preschoolers and primary schoolchildren includes 11 subtests. Raven's black-and-white progressive matrices contain 60 matrices, combined into 5 series of 12 tasks, etc.

2) Some techniques can only be used individually, since many subtests involve working with special stimulus material (Raven matrices, the “Labyrinths” subtest in the Wechsler children’s test) or require oral answers (the “Sentences” subtest in the Wechsler children’s test [1].

Difficulties also include those associated with the acquisition of stimulus material for these techniques.

The School Test of Mental Development (STID) is a widely used method in our country. This is facilitated, first of all, by the acceptable volume of tasks and the availability of stimulus material, however, it is not entirely suitable for assessing intellectual skills, since STUR is aimed rather at measuring the level of students’ learning, the amount of specific knowledge within the framework of the school curriculum. In other words, how well a student performs on a given test depends largely on how he or she was taught. Therefore, we chose the Group Intelligence Test by J. Vana and the Structure of Intelligence Test by R. Amthauer as the most suitable for diagnosing intelligence. We used the first of them to diagnose the intellectual development of students in grades 3-6, and the second for students in grades 8-10 (normative scales for Russian schoolchildren were studied under the leadership of Kudryavtseva N.A.).

Below we will present the results of a diagnostic study of schoolchildren in grades 3 – 6 using the Group Intelligence Test (GIT) methodology adapted by Akimova M.K., Borisova E.M., Kozlova V.T. and Loginova G.P. A In our opinion, this test is the most convenient, compact and accessible to use. In addition, a significant advantage of this technique is the possibility of its group application, i.e. working with the whole class at the same time [3].

The GIT contains 7 subtests: 1) Following instructions (4 min), 2) Arithmetic problems (6 min), 3) completing sentences (5 min), 4) determining the similarities and differences of concepts (1.5 min), 5) number series (4 min), 6) establishing analogies (3 min), 7) symbols (4 min). The total time for completing the tasks is 27.5 minutes, that is, with preliminary preparation, the technique can be completed in 1 lesson. [4]

Based on the experience of using GIT, one should emphasize its positive side associated with measuring a wide range of intellectual skills, mental processes and acquired knowledge. For example, the “Symbols” subtest allows you to assess the development of attention; the speed capabilities of performing simple mental work are tested. The subtest “Establishing analogies” allows you to judge the level of development of mental operations, as well as the breadth of vocabulary, knowledge of the meaning of words in the Russian language, and the subtest “Determining the similarities and differences of concepts” allows you to judge the ability to analyze concepts and compare them based on identifying essential features. The development of students’ thinking can also be judged by the performance of subtest 5 (“Number series”), where a successful solution requires quickly establishing a pattern in the sequence of numbers. In addition, this subtest allows you to test the student’s ability to quickly count and reveals the ability to find logical patterns. The Arithmetic Problems subtest mainly tests mathematical skills, the development of mathematical knowledge and actions, which are acquired by schoolchildren in the learning process. Subtest No. 3 (“Completing Sentences”) tests students’ mastery of the Russian language program, vocabulary, and the ability to correctly construct a sentence, and the first subtest tests intelligibility, the ability to accurately follow instructions, the speed of understanding simple instructions and their implementation, as well as some basic knowledge of different areas [(2], p. 68).

The disadvantages of the GIT test include the limited range of its application - mainly children aged 10-12 years (the norms are given for students in grades 3-6) [3].

Diagnostic results

To diagnose and assess the level of intellectual development of schoolchildren, two sixth grades were selected: regular (6 A) and gymnasium (6 B). The following results were obtained from this study.

The gymnasium class coped with the test tasks more successfully than the regular class. The average score in class 6 “B” is 94.8 points, which corresponds to the age norm, while the average score in class 6 “A” is 69 points, which corresponds to a low level of intellectual development (see tables and graphs in Fig. 1 and 2 ).

In the gymnasium 6 “B” class, individual indicators were distributed as follows: 30.8% of students scored points corresponding to a high level of intellectual development (above the age norm), 30.8% of results corresponded to the age norm, 26.9% of students showed results that were slightly below the norm and only 11.5% of the class showed a low level. There are no worst indicators of the level of intellectual development in grade 6 “B” (see Fig. 3).

In class 6 “A” the following results were obtained: 21.7% of students corresponded to the age norm for the level of intelligence development in the class. 34.8% of students showed results slightly below the norm; 17.4% of students correspond to a low level and 26.1% to a very low level. There are no high indicators of intellectual development in the class (see Fig. 4).

The difference in the indicators obtained by class can be seen when comparing these graphs (Fig. 5).

GIT allows you to evaluate individual and average student results not only in points, but also in the percentage of tasks completed correctly. Based on this, it is possible to compare which class or which group of children (of those being compared) performed better on which tasks and which ones performed worse. The graph (see Fig. 6) shows that in all subtests 6 “B” showed higher results.

By analyzing these data, you can see which tasks (subtests) turned out to be the most and least difficult for children.

Figure 7 shows that both for all children in general, and separately for students in grades 6 “A” and 6 “B,” the most difficult tasks were the “Arithmetic Problems” subtest. The tasks of the “Number Series” subtest turned out to be the easiest (this was especially pronounced for students of grade 6 “A”), while for students of grade 6 “B” the tasks of the “Symbols” subtest turned out to be the easiest.

In addition to general and average indicators, the technique allows you to graphically present and analyze the individual results of each child. For example, the graph (see Fig. shows the individual indicators of two students of the 6th “B” class, who showed the best and worst results, relative to the average value (for a given class). The points corresponding to correctly completed tasks for each subtest are plotted on the graph (in percent). The resulting graph reflects the individual structure of the child’s mental development. This example shows that the student with the best result on six subtests consistently performs correctly more than 55% of the tasks (55% - 77%). This is much higher than the average values ​​for the subtests in the class However, his result on the second subtest (“Arithmetic Problems”) is much lower - 30% (this is slightly below the average in the class).

In accordance with these data, recommendations for the individual development of students are developed.

The study attempted to analyze the results obtained when students completed tasks of subtests related to the mathematical and linguistic cycles (see Fig. 9). The graph shows that for students in grade 6 “A” the differences in results are not too great; there is a slight predominance of results on the mathematical subtests (which is consistent with the above data showing the relative ease of one of the mathematical subtests for students in grade 6 “A”). whereas in grade 6B, a more significant predominance of performance is noted in the sphere of the Russian language. In the future, we plan to conduct a correlation analysis of the sum of the results on two mathematical subtests of the GIT methodology (arithmetic problems and number series) with average grades in mathematics, and the sum of the results of the subtests “Sentence Completion” and “Concepts” with average grades in the Russian language.

We compared the data obtained in our school with the results of another school (regular 6th grade school No. 311 NEAD, Moscow). A comparison was made of the average indicators of the 6th grade of school No. 311 and the average indicator for two classes of school No. 236. It turned out that according to the average indicators of intellectual development (according to the GIT test), both schools are at a level slightly below the age norm and are for school No. 311 - 84.2%, and for school No. 236 - 81.9%. If we compare the average of the 6th grade of school No. 311 separately with 6 “A” and 6 “B” grades of school No. 236, then this figure will be approximately between them (84.2% for school No. 311 versus 69% for class 6 “A” and 94.8% for class 6 “B” - see Fig. 10).

Figure 11 presents an analysis of the ratio of the percentage of students who scored points related to different levels of intellectual development in the two schools being compared.

A comparison of data from two schools characterizing the success of completing tasks of the GIT test in various subtests shows that students of school No. 311 are ahead of the gymnasium class of school No. 236 according to the results of the subtest “Arithmetic problems”, but only in one subtest “Number series” show a result below 6 “ A" class. Approximately the same results were obtained when completing the tasks of the “Analogies” subtest.

Conclusions:

In conclusion, let us recall the main goals for achieving which the results of assessing the intellectual development of schoolchildren can be used.

1. Implementation by the director, deputy. Director for Educational Management, methodological associations of teachers monitoring the effectiveness of the pedagogical process and the teaching of school disciplines;

2. Determining the causes of school failure of individual students and eliminating them when providing assistance from psychological and social services;

3. Identification of intellectual skills that are insufficiently developed among group students in order to enhance the development of this intellectual skill in lessons and additional classes;

4. Comparison of the effectiveness of different educational systems and teaching methods, evaluation of the work of individual teachers based on the success of students in completing certain tests;

5. Determination of individual areas of correctional work with students by psychologists and additional education teachers;

6. Recommendations for parents on helping children learn and master certain intellectual skills;

7. Class composition taking into account the level of intellectual development of students (general education and gymnasium at 2 levels, specialized at 3 levels of education)

8. Identification of students with a high level of development of mathematical intellectual skills, humanitarian abilities, developed theoretical and logical thinking to individualize the learning process.

Diagnosis of the level of intellectual development of students influences the choice of educational system for each student and for the formation of classes.

For example, for students with a mathematical mindset, it is recommended to study in lyceum classes, and for elementary school students - study according to D.B. Elkonina - V.V. Davydova, L.G. Peterson, for students with a humanitarian mindset - training in gymnasium classes.

Application.
The “Intellectual lability” method
(modified by S.N. Kostromina) - for adolescents aged 12-15 years (used both frontally and individually).

The technique is used to predict success in learning. It requires subjects to have a high concentration of attention, quick reaction, reveals the ability to focus on the conditions of the task, fulfill and take into account several requirements at the same time, and possess an accurate analysis of various signs.

The subjects must complete simple tasks on a special form (25 numbered squares) within a limited time (3 - 4 seconds).

Instructions

:
"Listen carefully.
You can't ask again. The task read is not repeated. We need to work quickly." Test tasks

Square No. 1: Write the first letter of the name Sergey and the last letter of the first month.

Square No. 2: Write the numbers 1, 6, 3. Circle the odd ones.

Square #4: Write the word “steam” backwards.

Square #5: Draw a rectangle. Divide it with two horizontal and two vertical lines.

Square #6: Draw 4 circles. Cross out the first circle and underline the third.

Square #7: Draw a triangle and a square so that they intersect.

Square #8: Write the word "chalk". Under the consonants, place an arrow pointing down, and under the vowels, place an arrow pointing to the left.

Square No. 10: If today is not Wednesday, then write the penultimate letter of the word “book”.

Square No. 12: Draw a rectangle and a diamond next to it. In the rectangle, write the sum of the numbers 5 and 2, and in the rhombus, write the difference of these numbers.

Square No. 13: Draw 3 dots so that when connected they form a triangle.

Square #15: Write the word "pen". Cross out the vowels.

Square #17: Divide the square with two diagonal lines. Indicate the intersection point with the last letter of the name of our city.

Square No. 18: If the sixth letter in the synonym is a vowel, then put the number 1.

Square No. 20: Draw a triangle with a circle in it.

Square No. 21: Write the number 82365. Cross out the odd numbers.

Square No. 22: If the number 54 is divisible by 9, check the box.

Square No. 19: If the third letter in the word “gift” is not “and”, write the sum of the numbers 6 and 3.

Square No. 23: If the words "house" and "oak" begin with the same letter, add a dash.

Square No. 24: Write the letters “M”, “K”, “O”, enclose the letter “M” in a square, “K” in a circle, “O” in a triangle.

Square No. 25: Write the word “fireworks.” Circle the consonants.

Processing the results:

The assessment is made based on the number of errors. An error is any task that is missed, not completed, or completed with an error. Compliance standards:

0-2 errors: high lability, good learning ability.

3-4 errors: average lability.

5-7 mistakes: low learning ability, difficulties in retraining.

More than 7 mistakes: unsuccessful in any activity.

Bibliography.

1. Burlachuk L.F., Morozov S.M. “Dictionary reference book for psychodiagnostics”, St. Petersburg, “Peter”, 2002.
2. Istratova O.N., Exacousto T.V. “Handbook for a secondary school psychologist”, Rostov-on-Don, “Phoenix”, 2004.
3. Psychology of a teenager. Workshop. Tests, methods for psychologists, teachers, parents / ed. A.A. Reana, St. Petersburg, 2003.
4. Guide to the use of group intelligence test (GIT) for younger adolescents. Obninsk, “Printer”, 1993.

What IQ Tests Really Measure and Why They're Not Universal

A test very close to what we understand today as an IQ test was developed in 1912 by the German psychologist William Lewis Stern. He took as a basis various tasks and puzzles of the 19th century and tied them into his system of studying child psychology - the result was partly reminiscent of the psychological test developed in parallel by Alfred Binet. Essentially, Stern wanted to create a method for assessing the developmental potential of children, but all subsequent IQ tests (including those of the controversial British psychologist Hans Jürgen Eysenck, who popularized the very idea of ​​​​measuring IQ) assumed variations for adults.

A test where you have to answer 40 questions in 30 minutes is too outdated and inaccurate. But it has penetrated so deeply into universities, research institutes, and now the Internet that it still cannot be eradicated. If you took an IQ test in school, it was probably one of the many variations of the Eysenck test. At the same time, a standardized test has not appeared for more than 100 years: there are several dozen basic versions (by Cattell, Wexler and other psychologists), as well as several hundred of their modifications - and this is if we take into account only the tests used by major scientists, and do not take adapted versions for different ages are taken into account.

Most likely, each of us has taken an IQ test, at least out of interest, but many find it difficult to answer what exactly it measures. The most popular answer is some kind of conditional “mind”. In fact, the average IQ test measures your ability to analyze new information (both using and not using old) relative to your age. In this case, the tests are specially designed in such a way that the average value is equal to 100 points. It is believed that a score below 70 points indicates problems in mental development, but the so-called threshold of genius varies greatly from version to version: somewhere it starts from 140 points, somewhere from 160.

Criticism

IQ tests have been repeatedly criticized by scientists and politicians. Thus, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences V. A. Vasiliev discovered that in Eysenck’s IQ tests, a significant part of the problems were composed incorrectly, or the author’s solutions were incorrect. Here are Vasiliev’s statements on this matter:

I...decided to study the tests without haste, especially since their answers systematically did not coincide with mine in problems from my professional areas: logic and geometry. And I discovered that most of the test author’s decisions were incorrect. And in some cases, the test subject can only guess the answer - it makes no sense to rely on logic[40].

If a person answered the same way as Eysenck, then he thereby only demonstrates the standardization of his thinking, a quick and predictable reaction to a simple stimulus. A slightly less flat person will think a hundred times before answering... There are a myriad of possible solutions to each such problem. The smarter you are, the more likely it is that your decision will not coincide with the author's. The practical meaning here is only one: the one who gives the “correct” answer on the test will find it easier to fit into the average education system and communicate with people who think the same way as him. In general, Eysenck tests ideal averaging[40].

Without the goal of criticizing IQ tests, the Soviet psychologist Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky, however, showed in his works that the current IQ of a child says little about the prospects for his further education and mental development[41]. In this regard, he introduced the concept of “zone of proximal development.”

In 2012, British scientists came to the conclusion that human intelligence consists of several components and cannot be reduced to one indicator[42].

Methods for measuring intelligence

Initially, the tests contained only vocabulary exercises. Today, such techniques include the following exercises: non-arithmetic counting, logical series, addition of geometry figures, recognizing parts of an object, memorizing facts and drawings, operations with letters and words.

In the scientific world, the term “intelligence quotation” was adopted and adapted. This concept was first introduced by V. Stern (1912), proposing to designate the number that is obtained by dividing the age of the subject’s mind by his biological age. The Stanford-Binet scale (1916) was the first time the term “IQ” was mentioned.

The abbreviation “IQ” is widely used in Russian literature, but domestic scientists do not translate this concept literally (translated from English as “amount of intelligence”), but as “intelligence quotient.”

IQ is an indicator that is determined after an IQ test. Coefficient is a value expressing the percentage ratio of an individual’s mental age to his biological age. Determining what an IQ level is means finding out how much a person can use certain capabilities of his brain.

Moreover, indicators of the proper level of intelligence at a certain age are calculated based on the average statistical indicators of people of the same age as the subject.

What is IQ?

IQ (intelligence quotient) is a quantitative indicator of the level of intelligence in comparison with the level of the average person. The statistical average is considered to be a person of the same age and development as the one for whom this coefficient is measured. It turns out that IQ does not show the level of intelligence itself, but its compliance or deviation from the norm, i.e. middle level.

Average IQ can be compared to average height. For example, according to research in Kazakhstan, the average height of women is 164.4 cm, men - 177.5 cm. We compare a person’s height with the average and give an assessment: if the height exceeds the average, then we consider the person tall, and vice versa. It is important to understand that this average level is not constant, but depends on various factors. The situation with determining IQ level is approximately the same.

Meaning of test results

The average IQ corresponds to 100 units. This is an average figure between 90 and 110 units, which is usually received by 50% of people tested. 100 units corresponds to half of the problems solved in the test, respectively, the maximum indicator is 200 units. Values ​​below 70 units are often classified as mental deficiency, and above 140 as genius.

IQ is a relative indicator that reflects the level of performance of a specific intelligence test. Such a test cannot serve as a comprehensive measure of intellectual ability.

Intelligence tests cannot show the level of erudition of a person, but only his ability to think, and mainly in a certain way. The more developed type of thinking of a given person is determined: logical, figurative, mathematical, verbal. By which type of thinking is less developed, one can determine the desired development of mental abilities.

Of course, a high IQ level is by no means a guarantee of success in life. Purposefulness, determination, hard work, clear goals and motivation to achieve success are of great importance in a person’s life. We should not forget about heredity, genetic data, innate inclinations and talent, as well as the significant influence of the social environment and family.

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IQ from 131 to 140

People with an IQ of 140-131 make up about 3% of the population. Their abilities are far above average. Whatever field of activity they choose, they can achieve the highest results, because they have not only high mental, but also creative abilities. Such people make excellent managers, researchers, and scientists. At the same time, they are well versed not only in their profession, but also have a broad outlook and knowledge in other areas, which they can apply to achieve success in their field.

Such people constantly monitor new inventions and discoveries and immediately find use for them to optimize their own life and work. If they need to completely change their line of work, they can quickly achieve good results in a business that they have never done before. A striking example of such a person is Arnold Schwarzenegger, who in the first half of his life became one of the most titled athletes and a successful film actor, and in the second half achieved good results in politics as the governor of California.

IQ level above 140

People with an IQ of 145 or higher make up no more than 0.2% of the world's population. These are the people who are classified as geniuses who have a powerful analytical mind combined with creative abilities that allow them to simultaneously analyze dozens of factors and make long-term forecasts, determine the path of development of science on a global scale, generate new ideas, develop new theories, propose non-standard solutions, determine new directions of human movement, make scientific and technical discoveries.

The most prominent representatives of this group of scientists and thinkers included Bill Gates and Stephen Hawking. Most Nobel Prize laureates who have made scientific discoveries have an IQ above 150. However, even among ordinary people, including children, sometimes there are unique ones who have superpowers and show test results approaching 200 points.

How is a person's IQ formed?

IQ level is influenced by several factors, including heredity, environment (family, school, social status of a person). The test result is also significantly influenced by the age of the test taker. At the age of 26, as a rule, a person’s intelligence reaches its peak, and then only declines.

It is worth noting that some people with exceptionally high IQs found themselves completely helpless in everyday life. For example, Kim Pik could not fasten the buttons on his clothes. Moreover, not everyone had such talent from birth. Daniel Tammet gained his ability to remember huge numbers of numbers after a terrible attack of epilepsy as a child.

Why measure IQ level?

IQ level does not determine our life and does not guarantee a certain future. We cannot say for sure what intelligence depends on. Why even measure such an imprecise indicator?

IQ tests help identify people who have special learning needs. If a child’s result is significantly above average, then it makes sense to teach him a more complex program. If the result is low, you need to create conditions for acquiring the minimum necessary knowledge to take care of the person.

A little history

The concept of “intelligence quotient IQ” was first formulated in 1912 by Wilhelm Stern. This is a very famous psychologist and philosopher. He proposed using the result of dividing actual age by intellectual age as the main indicator of the level of development. After him, in 1916, this concept was used in the Stanford-Benet intelligence scale.

Gradually, people began to take an active interest in their level of intelligence, so a huge number of various tests and scales were invented that made it possible to find out its coefficient. The creation of numerous tests led to the fact that many of them were unreliable, so it is quite difficult to compare the results of different tests.

How to determine the level of intelligence? Today, in many schools, children are tested to find out their level of intelligence. The development of the Internet has contributed to the fact that people, including adults, can easily get tested online.

Summary

To summarize the article, I would like to add that, despite the fact that IQ is largely determined by factors that do not depend on a person (genetics, environment, gender, race, etc.), the intellectual abilities of almost every person can be trained, in other words, they can be developed.

Currently, many different developmental programs have been developed that can increase a person’s intelligence, for example, intellectual games, puzzles, tests, and various trainings. In addition, there are many ways in which you can increase your IQ without resorting to special programs. This includes banal reading of books, solving crosswords and scanword puzzles, watching educational TV shows, and even communicating with smart and developed people and eating right.

Every person has the power to increase their level of intelligence. The main thing is to constantly learn and not stand still. And for additional motivation, you should always remember that people with a high IQ are much less susceptible to various diseases and live longer.

We also recommend reading:

• Storytelling
• Types of tests and their features
• How to become smarter: 4 types of intelligence according to Stephen Covey
• Wechsler test
• Amthauer Structure of Intelligence Test
• Japanese system of intelligence development
• General Intelligence Factor
• What You May Not Know About Intelligence
• The concept of reducing creativity to intelligence
• Guilford's model of the structure of intelligence
• Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences

Key words:1Cognitive science

Some features of passing the test

The standard Eysenck test includes 40 tasks, which take 30 minutes to solve. To complete them, a person must:

• have the ability to perform mathematical operations;
• have a large vocabulary and perfect command of spoken language;
• have logical thinking;
• be observant;
• be able to highlight the main thing;
• have a good memory;
• be diligent and be able to concentrate.

Most problems are quite simple and their solution does not take much time. However, if during testing any question caused difficulty, you need to quickly decide whether it is worth wasting time on it. To reduce the number of incorrect answers, you need to read the task carefully and thoughtfully.

Before you start taking the test, you should make sure that:

• you are not sick;
• you are in a good mood;
• nothing disturbs or distracts you;
• you are in no hurry;
• you are not hungry and did not overeat at your last meal;
• you don't feel hot or cold.

The essence of the technique

During the testing process, the test taker must solve as many tasks as possible in arithmetic, logic, and spatial thinking. Most tasks have answer options from which you must choose the correct one. In some tasks the answer must be written in words.

The tasks require you to establish numerical or letter patterns, identify common parts of words, and select the missing geometric figure. The tasks are divided into blocks. Towards the end of each block, the tasks become more difficult. The more correct answers a person manages to give in the allotted time, the more points he gains.

Age characteristics

Intelligence testing should be carried out no more than 2 times in a lifetime. The first time is at the age of 10-12 years, when the child has acquired a sufficient amount of knowledge for testing, and in adulthood, when mental abilities have reached the peak of their development. A person’s IQ is calculated by the ratio of their mental development score (in points) to their age, multiplied by 100.

The concept of intelligence level or intelligence quotient (IQ)

Unsuccessful attempts to define the essence of intelligence led to the desire to understand it through intellectual execution. This means that the question “What is intelligence?” was reformulated as follows: “What type of behavior is called intellectual?” To answer this question, we need to create situations that provide a choice - to act intellectually or non-intellectually, and then observe individual differences between people who choose intellectual and non-intellectual ways of performing. According to many psychologists of the early 20th century, intellectual tests create precisely those situations in which only one choice from several alternatives can be correct. An intellectual test is a model of the type of problem where intellectual execution is possible. Therefore, some psychologists (A. Binet, C. Spearman, L. Theremin, etc.) began to call intelligence what is measured by intelligence tests. Intelligence quotient (IQ) has become synonymous with intelligence.

The concept of level of intelligence was first used by the famous Roman philosopher and orator Marcus Tullius Cicero: by intelligence he meant the totality of mental abilities inherent in a particular person. The classic concept of intelligence level has been known for almost a century. Its creator is the French psychologist Alfred Binet, who, together with his collaborator Theodore Simon, published the first series of tests to measure intelligence. A. Binet proceeded from the assumption that the level of intelligence (as an innate ability) remains constant throughout life and is aimed at solving different problems. A few years later, psychologists William Stern and Lewis Terman improved Binet's tests, introducing the concept of "intelligence quotient" in 1912.

V. Stern drew attention to some shortcomings of mental age as an indicator in the scales proposed by Binet. The main drawback was that the same difference in the “mental age” of two individuals for different age levels has different meaning. The younger the child’s chronological age, the more significant the changes that occur in his mental development during each year of life. Therefore, Stern proposed to determine not an absolute measure of intelligence (the difference between mental age (MA) and chronological age (CA)), but a relative one (the quotient obtained by dividing CM by CA). IQ was first used in the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale in 1916.

Thus, intelligence quotient or IQ is not a constant value and changes under the influence of the environment. Intelligence quotient or IQ is a reflection of both previous and subsequent learning achievements.

The concept of intelligence quotient or IQ characterizes the result of intelligence tests. Historically, IQ was defined as the proportion of mental development and chronological age multiplied by 100. Now IQ is measured in other ways, but still on a scale of 100 units with a standard deviation of 16.

This indicator is determined as a result of arithmetic division based on the score obtained by the person who completed the intelligence test. This score is called mental age and is divided by the chronological age of the examinee, and then multiplied by one hundred. For most people, it fluctuates between 85 and 115 points.

There are standardized IQ scores or levels:

· IQ in the range of 65 – 85 means a low level of intelligence;

· IQ in the range of 85 – 100 means a normal level, the lower limit of normal;

· IQ in the range of 100 – 115 means a normal level, the upper limit of the norm;

· IQ in the range of 115 – 130 means a high level of development of intellectual abilities;

· An IQ in the range of 130 – 160 means that a person is mentally gifted.

Let us add that, according to many psychologists, the formation of the level of intelligence is largely influenced by both heredity and environmental conditions. It is believed that when a person reaches 16 years of age, his intelligence can no longer grow. At some stage, they began to pay attention to the limitations of the classical definition of intelligence - it turned out that even if you know the intellectual potential of a particular person, you still cannot predict whether he will be able to achieve success at work or in his personal life.

It has repeatedly happened that people with a very high level of intelligence could not adapt to their environment, while their colleagues with average mental abilities turned out to be successful.

general information

The abbreviation IQ stands for intelligence quotient, which can be translated as “amount of intelligence.” In the Russian-speaking language environment, the established expression “intelligence quotient” is more often used.

However, it is believed that in order for the results to be as truthful as possible and really be trusted, it is worth taking into account not only the results of the test itself. Other factors such as age and gender need to be taken into account.

Many also believe that the results of this test are more likely to indicate a person's aptitude for a particular type of task, rather than actual intellectual ability. Therefore, you can prepare for it by solving problems that resemble those presented in the tasks.

Is high IQ important?

There are several organizations that bring together people with extremely high IQs. Mensa International will accept those who score higher than 98% of the population (that is, two out of a hundred people). Although you will still need to take not a standard IQ test, but a specially revised one. The Prometheus Society is much stricter: their tests are designed so that only one person in 30 thousand can pass them. The organization is growing very slowly: in 2013 it had only about 130 members.

The Mensa website allows you to take part in an intellectual exercise - take a test of 30 questions in an hour. This is not a traditional IQ test or a Mensa admissions test. You are warned that the test is created for entertainment purposes only, but is based on the same questions and techniques for assessing intelligence as the real Mensa exam, which is not publicly available. Many tasks are reminiscent of the Eysenck test, but at the end they will describe in detail how to solve the questions and the most common mistakes you made. Members of Mensa and Prometheus do not have any extraordinary achievements. 68-year-old American journalist Marilyn vos Savant, a member of Prometheus and the Guinness World Records holder for IQ scores from 1986 to 1989, writes a column for Parade magazine, solves logical paradoxes, has published several books and written several plays. But you might not have heard of her at all, although according to the test results she is the most outstanding woman in history. The last Guinness World Record holder, Korean Kim Un-young, quickly mastered mathematics and foreign languages, solved speed problems on local television programs, but by the time he was 51, he also had not achieved anything truly significant. In 1990, the Guinness Book of Records stopped including IQ champions in its publications altogether, explaining that there were too many tests, they all gave different results and it was impossible to determine the winner.

While it's true that average IQs are falling across the developed world, it hasn't had any noticeable impact, says Thomas Tiddle, a professor at the University of Copenhagen and the same scientist who noticed the decline in average IQs among the Danish military. The number of scientific publications is growing, an increasing percentage of people are receiving higher education, the pace of technology development is increasing every year, and it is not very clear whether the average IQ value can influence anything other than statistics. So you shouldn’t attach too much importance to some arbitrary numbers.

The material was first published on the Look At Me website.

Pioneers of Mind Research

At first, psychologists doubted that the human mind could be measured, much less accurately. While interest in measuring intelligence goes back thousands of years, the first IQ test has only recently emerged. In 1904, the French government asked psychologist Alfred Binet to help determine which students were most likely to struggle in school. The need to establish the intelligence of schoolchildren arose so that they could all receive compulsory primary education. Binet asked colleague Theodore Simon to help him create a test that focused on practical issues: memory, attention and problem solving - things that children are not taught in school. Some answered more difficult questions than their age group, and so, based on observational data, the now classic concept of mental age emerged. The result of the work of psychologists - the Binet-Simon scale - became the first standardized IQ test.

By 1916, Stanford University psychologist Lewis Terman adapted the Binet-Simon scale for use in the United States. The modified test was called the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale and became the standard intelligence test in the United States for several decades. Stanford-Beane uses a number known as IQ to represent an individual's performance.