Who introduced the IQ? Levels of IQ values ​​and their interpretation. IQ values

Introduction
Few concepts in psychology attract more attention and few are as stubbornly elusive as mental development (intelligence). Despite numerous efforts over recent years to develop some independent definition of the term, its meanings remain closely linked to the techniques developed to measure it. Binet, the inventor of the individual's intelligence test, believed that intellectual behavior could be manifested in such abilities as reasoning, imagination, insight, judgment and adaptability. Other theorists insisted that only three fundamental cognitive processes should be distinguished (abstraction, learning, and handling new things). Still others argued that all these abilities were merely the manifestation of a single basic factor (the so-called general factor) which was supposed to underlie all intellectual functions. In 1927, frustration was already felt from using this concept. Spearman, a great expert in the field of psychometrics, despaired of defining this concept as a whole and called mental development "...just a sound, a word that has so many meanings that in the end it has none."
Before the test and measurement movement began, the term meant "the ability to benefit from experience," which implied the ability to behave adaptively, to function successfully in a particular environment. Therefore, any “intelligence test” that is considered valid will accurately predict adaptive and successful functioning in a particular environment. Since their inception, the use of intelligence tests as predictors of school success has dominated, and it is therefore, of course, not surprising that reasoning, judging, learning, dealing with new things, abstracting, etc. were considered “adaptive and successful” behavior patterns. All such tests of intelligence will always be socially and culturally determined. They will reflect the ideals and values ​​of the culture to which the creators of these tests belong, and "adaptive and successful" functioning will always mean "adaptive and successful" functioning within that culture.
Ultimately, mental development will be, conceptually, what it has always been, the ability to benefit from experience, and, pragmatically, what it has become, what mental development (or intelligence) tests measure.

Diagnostics of mental development.
When characterizing a person’s thinking, they first of all mean his intellectual abilities, i.e. those abilities that ensure a person’s “inclusion” in a fairly wide range of activities and situations. These intellectual abilities of a person are primarily associated with such characteristics as:
1. mental development;
2. intelligence.
Mental development is understood as the totality of both knowledge, skills, and mental actions formed in the process of acquiring these skills and knowledge. The most general characteristic of the level of mental development is the preparedness of the functioning of thinking within the limits of the age-related socio-psychological standard (SPN). That is, the level of mental development should reflect the most typical, general, characteristic features of mental activity for a given society, relating to both the volume and quality of knowledge and skills, and the stock of certain mental actions.
The level of mental development achieved by a person depends on his intellectual abilities. Intelligence (or general mental ability) is not the sum of knowledge and mental operations, but what contributes to their successful assimilation. If intelligence is a condition for the acquisition of knowledge and skills, then mental development characterizes primarily the content, methods and forms of thinking. Intelligence is a relatively stable structure of abilities, which are based on processes that ensure the processing of information of different quality and its conscious evaluation. Intellectual qualities are personality qualities that predetermine the functioning of the intellect. Here are several definitions of intelligence: “Intelligence is a relatively stable structure of an individual’s mental abilities”; or “Intelligence is the mind, the ability to think, insight, the totality of those mental functions (comparison, abstraction, concept formation, judgment, conclusion, etc.) that transform perceptions into knowledge or critically revise and analyze existing knowledge.” Intelligence is also identified with a system of mental operations, a problem-solving style, an individual cognitive style, etc. The lack of unambiguity in the definitions of intelligence is associated with the diversity of manifestations of intelligence. However, all these manifestations have something in common that allows them to be distinguished from other behavioral features, namely, the activation in any intellectual act of thinking, memory, imagination - all those mental functions that are responsible for cognition of the surrounding world.
In practice, the diagnosis of mental development arose as intelligence testing and developed in this direction throughout the first half of the twentieth century. It has even become quite common to use the Stanford-Binet IQ test as a “generalized” symbol of intelligence and level of mental development. Intelligence quotient (IQ) is a quantitative indicator indicating the overall level of development of an individual’s thinking compared to the sample on which the intelligence test was standardized.
Intelligence tests are used to diagnose mental development. Intelligence tests are a group of tests designed to assess the level of development of a person’s thinking (intelligence) and his individual cognitive processes, such as memory, attention, imagination, speech, perception.
A special analysis carried out by Russian psychologists (works by Konstantin Markovich Gurevich, Daniil Borisovich Elkonin, Natalia Fedorovna Talyzina, etc.) on the problems of diagnosing intelligence led to the formulation of an important conclusion that intelligence tests mainly measure the degree of familiarity of the subject with the culture that presented in the test, the level of assimilation of the achievements of this culture. However, the test itself does not show why one was able to do this better than the other.
Most psychologists now recognize that intelligence tests measure the level of formation of certain intellectual skills, that is, the level of mental development, but cannot diagnose the contribution of natural capabilities (i.e., an innate ability called intelligence) and the individual’s training in the result shown. Thus, the global predictive value of intelligence tests on a life-long scale cannot be considered proven, since often it is not potential that is tested, but the result of development. One can only assume that a person will act more adequately in situations that resemble the tasks presented in the tests.
Currently, the most commonly used methods for diagnosing intelligence in psychology are:
a) Test for diagnosing mental development by D. Wexler. It includes two scales: verbal and non-verbal (action scale), and provides for the calculation of IQ for each scale separately and the total IQ. The test provides the possibility of establishing a psychiatric diagnosis associated with mental retardation. The form of the test is individual, i.e. can only be carried out with one subject. Currently, there are three forms of Wechsler scales, designed for different ages.
b) Test of mental development of junior schoolchildren - J. Raven's test, or "Raven's Progressive Matrices". Raven's test is an intelligence test designed to diagnose a person's mental abilities using color and black and white versions of drawings, which must be analyzed and natural connections between them found. This nonverbal test was developed by L. Penrose and J. Raven in 1936 in black and white and in 1949 in color.
c) Test for diagnosing the mental development of students in grades 3-6 - Group Intelligence Test (GIT) by the Slovak psychologist J. Wanda.
d) Test for diagnosing mental development of students in grades 7-9 - School Test of Mental Development (SHTUR), developed by the team of Konstantin Markovich Gurevich.
e) Mental development diagnostic test for high school students (grades 8-10) - test of the structure of intelligence by R. Amthauer, created in 1953 and intended to measure the level of intellectual development of persons aged 13 to 61 years. The test was developed primarily as a test for diagnosing the level of general abilities in connection with the problems of professional psychodiagnostics.
Along with intelligence, in Anglo-American psychology in the mid-50s, the study of special intellectual abilities called creativity (from the Latin creatio - creation, creation) stood out and became very popular. Creativity tests are tests for diagnosing a person’s creative abilities. The impetus for highlighting creativity was data on the lack of connection between traditional intelligence tests and the success of solving problem situations.
It has been recognized that creativity depends on the ability to use information given in tasks in different ways at a fast pace. This ability was called creativity and began to be studied independently of intelligence - as an ability that reflects an individual’s ability to create new concepts and develop new skills. Creativity is associated with the creative achievements of an individual.
Attempts to define creativity through cognitive variables are aimed at assessing unusual intellectual factors and cognitive styles. J. Guilford and his associates, starting in 1954, identified 16 hypothetical intellectual abilities that characterize creativity. Among them are:
1) fluency of thought - the number of ideas arising per unit of time;
2) flexibility of thought - the ability to switch from one idea to another;
3) originality - the ability to produce ideas that differ from generally accepted views;
4) curiosity - sensitivity to problems in the world around us, the ability to develop a hypothesis;
5) irrelevance - logical independence of the reaction from the stimulus;
6) fantastic - complete isolation of the response from reality in the presence of a logical connection between the stimulus and the response.
Guilford combined these factors under the general name divergent thinking, which manifests itself when the problem has yet to be defined or disclosed and when there is no pre-prescribed, established path to solution (as opposed to convergent thinking, which focuses on a known or “appropriate” solution to the problem) .
The first creativity tests were created by J. Guilford and his employees in the 50s. These techniques, known as the Southern California Tests, measured characteristics of a type of thinking that Guilford called divergent thinking.
Currently, the creativity tests of E.P. Torrance are better known and most widely used. Despite Torrance’s declared goal of constructing test tasks as a model of the creative process and reflecting not the result, but the process of creativity, in reality his tests (especially verbal) are essentially similar to the Southern California Guilford tests.
In examining various types of abilities that represent intelligence, as measured by traditional intelligence tests, and creativity, also measured by special tests, scientists have found conflicting results. It is impossible to give a clear answer to the question of whether intelligence and creativity are related based on these results.

IQ.
The question of the relationship between IQ and acquired cognitive skills and natural ones, i.e., still remains open. hereditarily given features of the functioning of cognitive processes, and the possibilities of its interpretation as an indicator of mental development. However, a clear presentation of the value of the quantitative index as allowing the distribution of subjects on a general scale with equal intervals and a criterion value of 100 (if the mental age is equal to the passport, their ratio is equal to one, or 100%) makes it a convenient psychodiagnostic tool, despite the vagueness of interpretations of those internal psychological properties that ensure the test subject’s success in completing tasks. Thus, a competing interpretation is the understanding of intelligence testing as a variant of testing general abilities.
The connection with the construct of abilities is determined by the fact that the achieved level of intelligence provides the subject with the potential to solve a number of problems and perform various types of activities that require intellectual orientation.
Intelligence quotient (en. IQ - intelligence quotient) is a quantitative assessment of a person’s level of intelligence: the level of intelligence relative to the level of intelligence of the average person of the same age. Determined using special tests. IQ tests are designed to assess thinking abilities, not the level of knowledge (erudition). IQ is an attempt to estimate the factor of general intelligence (g). IQ tests are designed so that the results are described by a normal distribution with a mean IQ of 100 and such a spread that 50% of people have an IQ between 90 and 110 and 25% each have an IQ below 90 and above 110. The average IQ of American college graduates is 115. excellent students - 135-140. An IQ value of less than 70 is often classified as mental retardation.
Intelligence quotient is calculated using the formula IQ = IQ / XI × 100, where IQ is mental age and IQ is chronological age. For example, a person 20 years old, whose mental age is 22 years old, has an IQ of 22 / 20 × 100 = 110. That is, a 12-year-old child and a university graduate can have the same IQ, because the development of each of them corresponds to their age. The Eysenck test provides a maximum IQ level of 160 points.
Many people think that the higher the IQ, the smarter a person is. Intelligence testing was very popular in the world a few years ago. It is especially popular with us now. Several books were published, and intelligence tests began to appear in periodicals. However, in the West, the popularity of such tests has waned. And largely because large-scale studies have shown that the so-called intelligence quotient (IQ) is a very relative “measure” of human intelligence.
It is noted that IQ rather speaks about the speed of thought processes (test tasks must be completed in a limited period of time), rather than about the ability to think or about the originality of thinking. At the same time, among the greatest thinkers there were some slow-witted people, such as Albert Einstein.
It should also be noted that, as research has shown, outstanding success in science, art, business and politics is often achieved by those people who have a low IQ, while those with a high IQ do not achieve much success and are often helpless in solving everyday problems.
And about one more interesting study. It turns out that women and men assess their IQ differently. This was reported by scientists from the Scottish University of Edinburgh. Their study included 502 women and 265 men. They had to estimate their 1Q level, as well as that of their parents. A coefficient of one hundred points is considered the norm. It turned out that women assigned themselves an average IQ of 120 points, and men - 127.
In addition, most men were confident that their IQ was significantly higher than their mother's, but they were just as smart as their fathers. In turn, women indicated that their coefficient was lower than that of their father, but equal to that of their mother. Based on such interesting results, the authors of the study came to the conclusion that women are less likely to succeed in their careers, as they often underestimate the level of their own intelligence.
After first C. Spearman and then other researchers began to use factor analysis (as a technique for multivariate statistical analysis of correlations) to identify the structure of connections between indicators of individual task performance, intelligence testing began to include a number of “self-evident” assumptions.
First, it is an assumption about the existence of a common factor that determines the success of a number of tasks. It was called the general factor (factor g). A factor that supposedly contributes to the successful completion of a number of tasks belonging to different classes or types has come to be called a group factor. Specific factors were considered as internal conditions associated with the manifestation of latent variables that contribute to the performance of this particular type of task.
Secondly, it is the assumption that “ability tests” should be understood as diagnostics of relatively simple psychological prerequisites for the successful performance of tasks of certain types; hence the names “ability for spatial representations”, “mnemonic ability”, etc. The combination of these “simple” components in the developed complex batteries of ability tests could give a differentiated picture of interindividual variability and at the same time not affect the properties of intelligence.
The use of total IQ in intelligence tests is based on the fullest possible coverage of various simple abilities. At the same time, modern studies of intellectual strategies, on the contrary, suggest a connection between intelligence indicators and more complex and high-level methods of control by the subject of his cognitive activity. But in simulated situations of complex intellectual decisions, there are no longer test procedures, since the task of inter-individual comparisons becomes difficult to accomplish.

Conclusion
Most of the tests developed in the 1920s as intelligence tests began to be called tests of learning ability, since they identified a combination of individual psychological properties that ensured the success of educational activities. Currently, learning ability tests and so-called diagnostic programs are of particular interest, in which, during testing, changes associated with an individual’s cognitive acquisitions during the course of performing test tasks are also assessed.
In higher education, intelligence tests can be used to test applicants at the stage of their admission to a university, to monitor the characteristics of mental development during training, identify difficulties, difficulties and make decisions about the necessary correction or self-correction, to assess the quality of education itself from the point of view in terms of how it contributes to the full mental development of young people.

List of used literature
1) Article “Intelligence Quotient”, source – website “Encyclopedia of Misconceptions”,

Intelligence Quotient (IQ)- quantitative assessment of a person’s level of intelligence (IQ).

IQ tests are designed so that the results are described by a normal distribution with a mean IQ of 100 and such a spread that 50% of people have an IQ between 90 and 110 and 25% each have an IQ below 90 and above 110. An IQ score of less than 70 is often classified as mental retardation.

Story

The concept of IQ was introduced by the German scientist Wilhelm Stern in 1912. He drew attention to serious deficiencies in mental age as an indicator in the Binet scales. Stern proposed using the quotient of mental age divided by chronological age as an indicator of intelligence. IQ was first used in the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale in 1916 (originally Binet in 1903).

Nowadays, interest in IQ tests has increased many times over, resulting in the emergence of many different unfounded scales. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to compare the results of different tests, and the IQ number itself has lost its informative value.

Tests

Each test consists of many different tasks of increasing difficulty. Among them are test tasks for logical and spatial thinking, as well as tasks of other types - the tests usually include logical and arithmetic tasks, orientation in practical situations - the ability to independently compare, generalize known facts (creative approach, including non-standard thinking - ambiguous answers are allowed , formulation of several hypotheses, different arguments), testing RAM, etc. Based on the test results, IQ is calculated. It has been noticed that the more test options a subject takes, the better results he shows. The most famous test is the Eysenck test. More accurate are the tests of D. Wexler, J. Raven, R. Amthauer, R. B. Cattell. There is currently no single standard for IQ tests.

The tests are divided by age group and show the development of a person corresponding to his age. That is, a 10-year-old child and a university graduate can have the same IQ, because the development of each of them corresponds to its age group. The Eysenck test is designed for the age group of 18 years and older and provides a maximum IQ level of 180 points.

What affects IQ

Heredity

The role of genetics and environment in predicting IQ is reviewed in Plomin et al. (2001, 2003). Until recently, heredity was mainly studied in children. Various studies have shown heritability to be between 0.4 and 0.8 in the US, meaning, depending on the study, that between slightly less than half and well over half of the difference in IQ among children observed was due to their genes. The rest depended on the child’s living conditions and measurement error. Heritability between 0.4 and 0.8 suggests that IQ is “significantly” heritable.

Individual genes

The human brain is responsible for most of the more than 17,000 genes available. Although some studies show the influence of individual genes on IQ, none of them have a significant effect. Most of the identified relationships between genes and IQ were false positives. Recent studies have shown a weak influence of individual genes on IQ among both adults and children.

Search for hereditary causes of IQ

Research has begun to explore the genetic differences between people with high and low IQs. Thus, the Beijing Institute of Genomics is starting a project on a genome-wide search for associations in people with high mental abilities. 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 the IQ to a share of 0.25 - 0.35. 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.

Due to the genetic characteristics of each person, children from the same family can react differently to the same environmental factors.

An unhealthy, restricted diet can reduce the brain's ability to process information. A study of 25,446 people by the Danish National Birth Cohort concluded that eating fish during pregnancy and while breastfeeding increases a baby's IQ.

Another study of more than 13 thousand children found 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. An insufficiently complete analysis of previous studies and ignoring accepted theories was noted, a simpler alternative mechanism for the formation of changes in IQ was proposed, 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, others were emphasized methodological problems, and the overall reliability of the results has been questioned.

Group differences

Floor

Most researchers believe that, in general, the average development of intelligence is approximately the same in men and women. At the same time, the spread among men is more pronounced: among them there are more both very smart and very stupid; that is, among people with very high or very low intelligence there are more men. There is also some difference in the severity of various aspects of intelligence between men and women. Until the age of five, these differences do not exist. From the age of five, boys begin to surpass girls in the field of spatial intelligence and manipulation, and girls begin to surpass boys in the field of verbal abilities.

Among men, people with high mathematical abilities are much more common. According to the American researcher K. Benbow, among especially gifted people in mathematics, there is only one woman for every 13 men.

Race and nationality

Studies among US residents have shown a statistically significant gap between the average IQ of different racial groups. Thus, according to The Bell Curve (1994), the average IQ of African Americans is 85, Hispanics are 89, whites (European descent) are 103, Asians (Chinese, Japanese and Korean descent) are 106, and Jews are 113.

This gap can be used as a justification for the so-called. "scientific racism", but according to some studies the gap is gradually closing.

In addition, the average IQ measured by older tests has been increasing over time. As a result of the Flynn effect, the average IQ of Blacks in 1995 corresponds to the average IQ of Caucasians in 1945. Such significant changes that have occurred over several decades cannot be explained by genetic factors.

The influence of social factors on IQ is confirmed by studies of orphans. In the United States, children of African descent raised by white adoptive parents have ~10% higher IQs than non-white adoptive parents. In one study, in three out of four tests, no statistically significant racial differences in IQ were found among young (2-5 years old) children in children's homes in the UK; in one test, white children showed lower results.

A difference of 10-15 points in IQ assessment was observed when comparing the average indicators of oppressed social groups (untouchables in India, Burakumin in Japan, Maori in New Zealand) and the dominant social groups in these countries. However, the difference disappeared upon emigration to another country, for example, a study among children of Japanese immigrants in the United States showed no differences in burakumin indicators from other Japanese. On this basis, a theory was formed about the key influence of the social structure of society and social identification in learning and taking tests. Such identification may also lead African American children to view good grades and the desire to get a high-status job as a betrayal of their identity.

A country

Differences in average IQ between countries have been found. A number of studies have found a connection between a country's average IQ and its economic development, GDP, democracy, crime, birth rate and atheism. In developing countries, environmental factors such as poor nutrition and disease are likely to lower the average national IQ.

(English) IQ - intelligence quotient)— quantitative assessment of a person’s level of intelligence: the level of intelligence relative to the level of intelligence of the average person of the same age. Determined using special tests.

IQ tests are designed to assess thinking abilities, not the level of knowledge (erudition). IQ is an attempt to assess the factor of general intelligence.

IQ tests are designed so that results are described by a normal distribution with a mean IQ of 100 and so that 50% of people have an IQ between 90 and 110 and 25% have an IQ below 90 and above 110. The average IQ of American college graduates is 115. excellent students - 135-140. An IQ value of less than 70 is often classified as mental retardation.

Story

The concept of IQ was introduced by William Stern in 1912. He directed attention to serious deficiencies in mental age as an indicator in the Binet scales. Stern proposed using the quotient of mental age divided by chronological age as an indicator of intelligence. IQ was first used in the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale in 1916.

Nowadays, interest in IQ tests has increased many times, which is why a large number of different unfounded scales have appeared. Therefore, it is very difficult to compare the results of different tests and the IQ number itself has lost its informative value.

IQ tests

Each test consists of many different tasks, where the difficulty level gradually increases. Among them are test tasks for logical and spatial thinking, as well as tasks of other types. Based on the test results, IQ is calculated. It has been noticed that the more variants of the test a subject passes, the better the results he demonstrates. The most famous test is the Eysenck test. More accurate are the Wechsler tests, the Raven test, the Amthauer test. When using the Raven test, a level of 70 points is considered critical. Below this level, clinical psychologists classify mental retardation. There is currently no uniform standard for IQ tests.

The tests are divided by age groups and show the development of a person according to his age. That is, a 10-year-old child and a university graduate can have the same IQ, since the development of each of them corresponds to its age group. The Eysenck test is designed for the age group of 18 years and over and provides a maximum IQ level of 180 points.

It is important to note that most tests that can be found on the Internet that claim to measure IQ are developed by incompetent organizations and individuals and usually significantly inflate the results. All of the research that shows a connection between IQ and intelligence, general problem-solving ability, academic and professional potential, and other social outcomes relates to the results of professional IQ tests, such as the Wechsler test, and the like.

Impact on IQ

Heredity

The role of genetics and environment in IQ prediction is discussed in Plomin et al.(2001, 2003). Until recently, heredity was mainly studied in children. Various studies have shown heritability to be between 0.4 and 0.8 in the US, meaning, depending on the study, between slightly less than half and well over half of the difference in IQ among children observed was due to their genes. The rest depended on the child’s living conditions and measurement error. Heritability between 0.4 and 0.8 suggests that IQ is “significantly” heritable.

Individual genes

The human brain is responsible for most of the more than 17,000 genes available. Although some studies show the influence of individual genes on IQ, none have a significant effect. Most of the identified relationships between genes and IQ were false positives. Recent studies have shown a weak influence of individual genes on IQ among both adults and children.

Search for hereditary causes of IQ

Research has begun to look at the genetic differences between people with high and low IQs. Thus, the Beijing Institute of Genomics (eng. Beijing Genomics Institute) begins a genome-wide search for associations in people with high mental abilities. 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 discovered 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, etc. Such exposure brings an IQ fraction of 0.2-0.35. But the older the child becomes, the weaker this dependence manifests itself, and almost completely disappears by the time of adulthood. These studies were conducted among ordinary two-parent families.

Due to the genetic characteristics of each person, children from the same family can react differently to the same environmental factors.

An unhealthy, restricted diet can reduce the brain's ability to process information. Study of 25,446 people Danish National Birth Cohort led to the conclusion that eating fish during pregnancy and breastfeeding an infant increases its IQ.

Another study of more than 13,000 children found 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. An insufficiently complete analysis of previous studies and ignoring accepted theories was noted, a simpler alternative mechanism for the formation of changes in IQ was proposed, the adequacy of the test in this age category of subjects was questioned, imbalance (“bias” of subjects in the language component was emphasized, other methodological problems, and the overall reliability of the results has been questioned.

Group differences

Floor

Most researchers believe that, in general, the average development of intelligence is approximately the same in men and women. At the same time, men have a more pronounced spread: among them there are more very smart and some very stupid; that is, among people with very high or very low intelligence there are more men. There is also some difference in the severity of different aspects of intelligence between men and women. Until the age of five, these differences do not exist. From the age of five, boys begin to outperform girls in the area of ​​spatial intelligence and manipulation, and girls begin to outperform boys in the area of ​​verbal abilities.

Among men, people with high mathematical abilities are much more common. According to American researcher K. Benbow, among especially gifted people in mathematics, there is only one woman for every 13 men.

Race

A study among US residents showed a statistically significant gap between the average IQ of different racial groups. Thus, according to The Bell Curve (1994), the average IQ of African Americans is 85, Hispanics are 89, whites (European descent) are 103, Asians (Chinese, Japanese and Korean descent) are 106, and Jews are 113.

This gap can be used to justify so-called "scientific racism", but some studies show that it is gradually closing.

In addition, the average IQ measured by older tests has been increasing over time. Due to the Flynn effect, the average IQ of blacks in 1995 corresponds to the average IQ of Caucasians in 1945. Such significant changes that have occurred over several decades cannot be explained by genetic factors.

The influence of social factors on IQ is confirmed by studies of orphans. In the US, children of African descent raised by white adoptive parents have ~10% higher IQs than non-white parents. In Britain, black boarding school students have higher IQs than white ones.

A country

Differences in average IQ between countries have been identified. A number of studies have found a connection between a country's average IQ and its economic development, GDP, democracy, crime, birth rate and atheism. Within countries, environmental factors such as poor nutrition and disease are likely to lower the average national IQ.

Health and IQ

Adequate nutrition during childhood is critical for mental development; poor nutrition can reduce IQ. For example, iodine deficiency leads to a decrease in IQ by an average of 12 points. People with high IQs generally have lower mortality rates and are less likely to suffer from disease.

Age and IQ

Although IQ itself signifies the rarity of intellectual ability in one's age group, mental ability generally peaks at age 26, after which there is a slow decline.

The IQ of adults is determined to a much greater extent by genetics, compared to the environment, than the IQ of children. Some children are initially ahead of their peers in IQ, but then their IQ levels out with their peers.

School performance

The American Psychological Association, in its report Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns (1995), notes that across all studies, children with high scores on IQ tests tend to learn more school material than their peers with lower scores. The correlation between IQ scores and grades is about 0.5. IQ tests are one way to select gifted children and create individual (accelerated) educational plans for them.

Success in scientific activities

Several studies have shown that dedication and originality play a major role in achieving success in science. However, Dr. Eysenck provides a review of IQ measurements (Roe, 1953) of eminent scientists, a level below Nobel laureates. Their average IQ was 166, although some scored 177, the maximum test score. Their average spatial IQ was 137, although it might have been higher at younger ages. Their average math IQ was 154 (range 128 to 194).

Labor productivity

According to Franco Schmidt and John Hunter, when hiring applicants without relevant experience, the most successful predictor of future performance is general intellectual ability. In predicting job performance, IQ has some effectiveness for all jobs studied to date, but this effectiveness varies depending on the type of job. Although IQ is more closely related to mental ability rather than motor skills, scores on IQ tests predict performance in all occupations. Given this, for the most skilled occupations (research, management), low IQ is more likely to be a barrier to sufficient performance, while for the least skilled occupations, athletic strength (arm strength, speed, endurance and coordination) is more likely to predict performance . Predominantly, the ability to predict performance using IQ is associated with faster acquisition of relevant knowledge and skills in the workplace.

The American Psychological Association, in its report "Intelligence: Known and Unknown," notes that since IQ explains only 29% of the variance in job performance, other personality characteristics such as interpersonal skills, personality traits, and the like likely do as well. or greater importance, but there are currently no tools as reliable to measure them as IQ tests.

Profit

Some studies have shown that intellectual ability and job performance are linearly related, such that more IQ leads to more job performance. Charles Murray discovered that IQ has a significant impact on a person's income, regardless of the family and social class in which the person grew up.

The American Psychological Association, in its report Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns (1995), notes that IQ scores explain about one-quarter of the differences in social status and one-sixth of the differences in income.

IQ and crime

The American Psychological Association, in its report “Intelligence: Known and Unknown,” notes that the correlation between IQ and crime is -0.2 (inverse relationship). A correlation of 0.20 means that less than 4% of the variance in crime is explained. It is important to understand that the causal relationships between IQ test scores and social outcomes may be indirect. Children with poor school performance may feel alienated and are therefore more likely to commit delinquency compared to children who perform well.

In his book The g Factor (Arthur Jensen, 1998), Arthur Jensen cites data showing that people with IQs between 70 and 90, regardless of race, are more likely to commit crimes than people with IQs below or above this range, and Crime peaks between 80 and 90.

IQ Formula

In various tests to determine the level of intelligence, different formulas are used for calculation, one of them looks like this: IQ = PO / MIN × 100,

where RW is mental age, and HW is chronological age. For example, a 20-year-old person whose mental age is 22 years old has an IQ of 22/20 × 100 = 110.

Criticism of IQ

IQ tests have been repeatedly criticized by scientists. 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 subject can only guess the answer - it makes no sense to rely on logic.”

Based on this, it can be noted that IQ test tasks assess not only the abilities of logical, deductive thinking, but also inductive thinking. The rules for performing some IQ tests warn in advance that in some tasks the answers do not follow clearly from the task, and you need to choose the most reasonable or simple answer. This corresponds to many real life situations in which there is no clear answer.

“If a person answered the same way as Eysenck, then she is only demonstrating the standardization of her thinking, a quick and predictable reaction to a simple stimulus. A slightly less flat person will think a hundred times before answering... There are countless possible solutions to each such problem. The smarter you are, the more likely it is that your solution does not coincide with the author's. The practical meaning here is only one: for someone who gives the “correct” answer to tests, it will be easier to fit into the average education system and communicate with people who think the same way as him. In short, Eysenck tests ideal mediocrity."

Soviet psychologist Lev Semenovich Vygotsky showed in his works that a child’s current IQ says little about the prospects for further learning and mental development. In this regard, he introduced the concept of “zone of proximal development.” A similar joke says that IQ tests actually test a person's ability to solve these tests. This is not far from the truth. Essentially, the subject is required to solve certain problems in a certain way. The smarter a person really is, the more alternative solutions to those proposed by the creators of the test she will be able to offer.

Mental activity distinguishes man from other living beings. Intelligence is one of these types of activity that has levels and a coefficient of its manifestation. It is necessary to develop intelligence so that it is at a sufficiently high level.

What is intelligence?

Intelligence is understood as cognitive activity, which allows you to accept, comprehend and solve any problems.

Thanks to intelligence, a person can acquire new experience, knowledge, and adapt to new circumstances. Human intellectual activity includes:

• Feeling.
• Perception.
• Memory.
• Performance.

Psychology of intelligence

At all times, people have been studying intelligence. However, the main teaching was the theory of Piaget, who divided the first directions in the child’s adaptation to the environment in the form of assimilation (explaining the situation using existing knowledge) and accommodation (learning new information). In psychology, according to Piaget’s theory, the following stages of intelligence development are distinguished:

1. Sensorimotor. It appears in the first years of life, while the child is exploring the world around him. The scientist called the first intellectual activity the emergence of one’s own judgments.
2. Preceding operations. The world is gradually becoming diverse for the child, but he is still able to solve simple problems and operate with elementary concepts.
3. Specific operations. When a child begins to focus on his own judgments and take specific actions.
4. Formal transactions. A teenager already has certain ideas about the world that enrich his spiritual world.

However, not all people develop intelligence equally. There are tests developed by psychologists that show what level of development a person is at.

Intelligence level

To solve certain problems, a person resorts to such levels of intelligence as concrete and abstract.

1. Specific intelligence allows you to perform everyday tasks using existing knowledge.
2. Abstract intelligence allows you to operate with concepts and words.

The level of intelligence can be measured using a special IQ test developed by G. Eysenck. The test is presented in the form of a scale, which is divided into divisions from 0 to 160. Most people have an average level of intelligence - this is 90-110. If you constantly engage in your development, you can increase your level by 10 points. Only 25% have high intelligence (more than 110 points). Among them, only 0.5% of the population reaches more than 140 points. The remaining 25% have low intelligence - less than 90 points.

Low IQ is characteristic of oligophrenics. The average coefficient is observed among most of the population. A high coefficient is observed among geniuses.

Intelligence, according to psychologists, always remains at the level of its development to which a person has arrived. A. Lazursky identified 3 intellectual activities:

1. Low – absolute inability of the individual.
2. Medium – good adaptation to the environment.
3. High – desire to modify the environment.

IQ tests are very popular. However, their diversity is not always a good indicator. The more diverse the tasks in the test, the better, which allows you to test a person for the development of various types of intelligence.

IQ level is influenced by the following factors:

• Heredity and family. Family wealth, nutrition, education and quality communication between relatives play an important role here.
• Gender and race. It is noted that after the age of 5, boys and girls differ in their development. This is also influenced by race.
• Health.
• Country of Residence.
• Social factors.

Types of intelligence

Intelligence is the flexible part of an individual. It can be developed.

A person becomes harmonious if he develops all types of intelligence:

• Verbal – includes speaking, writing, communicating, reading. For its development it is necessary to study languages, read books, communicate, etc.
• Logical – logical thinking, reasoning, problem solving.
• Spatial – operating with visual images. Development occurs through drawing, modeling, and finding exits from labyrinths.
• Physical – coordination of movements. Develops through dancing, sports, yoga, etc.
• Musical – feeling rhythm, understanding music, writing, singing, dancing.
• Social – understanding the actions of other people, establishing relationships with them, adapting to society.
• Emotional – understanding one’s own and others’ emotions, the ability to manage and recognize them.
• Spiritual – self-improvement and self-motivation.
• Creative – creating something new, producing ideas.

Diagnosis of intelligence

The issue of intelligence worried many psychologists, which allowed them to develop various tests to identify the levels and quality of intelligence development. The following are often used to diagnose intelligence:

1. Raven's progressive matrices. It is necessary to establish a connection between the figures and select the missing one among those proposed.
2. Amthauer Intelligence Test.
3. Goodenough-Harris test. It is suggested to draw a person. After that, obscure elements are discussed.
4. Free Cattell test

Thinking and intelligence

One of the types of intellectual activity is thinking. Here a person operates with concepts and judgments. He thinks, which allows him to see the solution to the tasks in the future.

Thinking is a continuous process that constantly changes, depending on available knowledge. It is purposeful and expedient. A person learns something new through what he already knows. Thus, thinking is indirect.

Intelligence allows you to solve problems in your head, using existing knowledge and skills. The connection between these concepts is often merging. However, intelligence refers to a person’s mind, and thinking refers to his ability to think. If intelligence is often understood as a person’s possession of knowledge, then thinking is his ability to use this knowledge and come to certain conclusions and judgments.

How to develop intelligence?

Intelligence must be developed because it is a flexible part, its intellectual activity. Development is influenced by genetic and hereditary factors, as well as the conditions in which a person lives.

From birth, certain inclinations are given, which a person then uses. If certain diseases are passed on to the child during fetal development or at the genetic level, then a low level of intelligence may develop. However, the birth of a healthy child allows him to have an average or high level of intelligence in the future.

Without the environment, a person will not be able to develop effectively. Without the participation of society, intelligence will remain at a low level, no matter what intellectual inclinations a person is endowed with. The family plays an important role in this: its material wealth, social status, atmosphere, attitude towards the child, quality of food, home arrangement, etc. If parents do not work with the child, then he cannot develop high intellectual abilities.

Also, the formation of intelligence is influenced by the personality of the person himself, which determines the direction of his mental development.

Typically, various games for logic, memory, thinking, etc. are used to develop intelligence. These are backgammon, puzzles, puzzles, riddles, chess, etc. Computer games with these areas are becoming popular today.

At school, the child learns mathematics and exact sciences. This allows you to structure your thinking, make it consistent and orderly. Learning something new can be added to this process. When a person gains new knowledge, then his intellect expands, becomes richer and more multifaceted.

By maintaining curiosity and the desire to improve oneself, a person contributes to his constant development. Although, according to some scientists, intelligence always remains at the same level, no matter how you develop it.

What is emotional intelligence?

Today, emotional intelligence has become a popular concept, which, according to some psychologists, plays a larger role than IQ. What it is? This is a person’s ability to recognize and understand their own emotions, manage them and direct them in the right direction. This also includes a person’s ability to understand the feelings of others, manage them and influence people’s moods. Developed emotional intelligence allows you to eliminate.

Almost all people have some level of emotional intelligence. You can go through all stages of development, or you can get stuck at one of them:

1. Understanding and expressing emotions.
2. Using emotions as intellectual motivation.
3. Awareness of one's own and others' emotions.
4. Managing emotions.

What is social intelligence?

Social intelligence refers to an individual’s ability to understand and manage other people’s emotions, feel their state and influence it. The development of this skill depends on a person’s social adaptation.

J. Guilford identified 6 factors that enable the development of social intelligence:

1. Perception of behavioral signals.
2. Isolating the main behavioral signals from the general flow.
3. Understanding relationships.
4. Understanding the motivation to engage in specific behavior.
5. Understanding how behavior changes depending on the situation.
6. Anticipating another person's behavior.

The formation of social intelligence involves a person’s life experience, cultural knowledge and learning, existing knowledge and erudition.

Child's intelligence

Even in the womb, the development of intelligence begins, which depends on the woman’s lifestyle and the information she perceives. A child’s intellectual activity depends on many factors: genes, nutrition, environment, family situation, and others.

The main emphasis is on how parents communicate with the child, what exercises they offer to develop their intelligence, how often they explain certain phenomena, how often they visit various places, etc. Intelligence itself does not develop. At first, a lot depends on what and how the parents do with the child.

Bottom line

Intelligence allows a person to become educated and socially adjusted. Every year he begins to increasingly use his intellectual abilities, which affect memory, thinking, attention and even speech. Their development is influenced by their parents and environment. The result depends on how favorable circumstances the person was surrounded by from an early age.