So, funny thing, this Chris Langan guy, who you might remember if you’re keeping up with my “Outlier” blog, is the smartest man in the world based on IQ. However, though he has great book smarts, he lacks social intelligence that may have actually put his brain to work outside of his Missouri farm, actually using the brain he was born with.
French psychologists, Binet and Simon created a test for elementary student placement, hypothesizing that those who tested well, were labeled as higher mental processers. Francis Galton, Charles Darwin’s cousin, had a different idea. He thought that those who tested highly on a sensory capacity test, meaning those who could see, smell, and hear things that others could not set them apart cognitively. Simon and Binet were definitely on to something. Psychologist, Charles Spearman theorized that general intelligence, g, “accounted for the overall differences in intellect among people”(Lilienfeld, 320) .Spearman literally thought that intelligence was hit or miss, either you were smart, or not at all. Let’s look at it from a world perspective. Yes, in America, in western culture, sure we look fondly on our student for scoring an A on a whatever quiz. But does that A account for the entirety of their intelligence? Do we not possess other traits to our character that, could in fact, label us as intelligent in other aspects? Howard Gardner hit the mark when he identified the existence of multiple intelligences. This allows us to explain popular musicians, athletes, Chris Langan, politicians, and so on. Gardner’s frames of mind totaled to 8 individual intelligences: Linguistic, logico-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic. Though this seems thorough, let’s dig deeper. Clearly, this can’t be the complete list. What about humor, or memory? Robert Sternberg simplified Gardner’s concept into a triarchic model, 3 intelligences- analytical (book smarts), practical (street smarts), and creativity. Containing all 3 intelligences would surely result in success rather than all 8 of Gardner’s. Why? Because it’s simple, it’s vague. Langan would have had analytical checked off and a debatable creativity complex, but practicality? Nah-uh.
Completing the IQ test, intelligence quotient, was required by incoming immigrants during the early 1900’s. This was the version of the test that consisted of many language-specific questions, and for poor immigrants would barely knew how to speak English, this proved very difficult to pass. The strong majority failed the test, and 40% were labeled as mentally retarded, an unjust title for non-English speakers. Finally, the test was reconfigured with many questions relating to pictures, as well as translated into hundreds of language, but not before the Eugenics movement kicked in. 33 US states voted to sterilize those who scored poorly on the IQ test in hopes of slowing the spread of hereditary stupidity. The majority of those sterilized was lower-class America, the Hispanics and Blacks. Even the name, Eugene, sprang from this movement. Parents in the 20’s and 30’s instilled high hopes of positive genes into their baby Eugene, in fact, my dad’s dad is proof of this, Eugene Riley. Cowinkydink? I think not.
Before I go, I should probably tell you how the IQ test works. Honestly, there’s not a whole lot to it. The test will measure something called Mental Age, and whatever that is; it’s divided by actual age and then multiplied by 100 to rid the decimal. What this means is that the IQ test is based on those with similar ages to the test taker. However, you’re probably already seeing something funky with this test. If we continue to get older, wouldn’t our IQ gradually slip? Well, yes, you’d be absolutely right if you said that. After age 16, the tests’ validity starts to whither, and yet we still use the test, mainly because it’s still popular. Thankfully, the IQ test is not required for college placement; we have other tests for that now. I’d prefer not to be gypped out of college for a lousy equation error.
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