h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A564563

Heres an article about IQ that I kocked up that I think every one will really enjoy.

Theres links to some on-line IQ tests which are very popular. Theres also links to the web-pages of a few of the (supposedly) smartest people on earth. V interesting stuff on these pages!

I liked this article, as it made me feel important. But I was told that the bloke who invented the IQ test fixed the results as he was trying to prove something about twins. I don't know how true that is, but maybe it's something that you could look into and work into the article?
It might also be worth explaining that a high IQ doesn't mean you know a lot, only how capable you are of learning. At least, that's the way I always interpreted my IQ score.

I've commented at the entry itself.
I will also say here, that's it's worth a mention about insane people.
They have a high IQ don't they?
At least I remember the old saying, that there's a fine line between genius and madness.
A good entry!

do you mean idiot savants?

I heard that in the early days of IQ tests, it was found that woman scored less than men. The designers of the tests assumed that women actually were equally as intelligent as men, so they decided the reason for the difference in the results was a cultural one. They adjusted the tests until women scored equally to men.

This means that the tests can't be used to show that men or women are superior, because they are designed based on the assumption that they are equal.

a few points about IQ.
firstly, there is no IQ test, only a set of differently biased ones.
iq tests started out as a measure of how far ahead/behind the other people in your school you were, so that they could tell who needed less or more help.
as education spread out from being the preserve of white, middle class males, it was found that the tests were quite blatantly culturally biased in favour of this group, so every couple of decades, the tests need recalibrating.
Recently, it was found that for people in this group, the iq score is directly proportional to a thing called "evoked potential" which can directly measure the spead at which a signal can pass down a neuron.
this gives hope that eventually, the tests can be callibrated to give correct results for all racial, cultrual and social groups.

a few points about IQ.
firstly, there is no IQ test, only a set of differently biased ones.
iq tests started out as a measure of how far ahead/behind the other people in your school you were, so that they could tell who needed less or more help.
as education spread out from being the preserve of white, middle class males, it was found that the tests were quite blatantly culturally biased in favour of this group, so every couple of decades, the tests need recalibrating.
Recently, it was found that for people in this group, the iq score is directly proportional to a thing called "evoked potential" which can directly measure the spead at which a signal can pass down a neuron.
this gives hope that eventually, the tests can be callibrated to give correct results for all racial, cultrual and social groups.

I suggest that the title to the entry is changed to something like IQ as the IQ does not measure intelligence (or at least not accurately). Just measures how well you can be expected to do in school: that is what it was made for.

Hmmm, ok I'm gonna try adding something about the history of the IQ tests and about how they're not neccessarily very accurate.

I think I'd vaguely heard about some of physical device being developed which is supposed to measure IQ from a persons brain waves. Any one know where I can get more info? If that works it would be far better than the tests.

I'll also add a mention of the link between genius and madness - hadn't thought of that.

And I'm still trying to see where you kocked up the article. I thought it was good.

Thanks Gnomon! I'm hoping that some people click through to the 'Queendom Culture Fair IQ Test' and post what scores it gives them cause I'm interested in seeing what sort of results it gives out.

I took the test and got 111. I thought I was smarter than that, but I'm glad I'm not. Time to go finish my symphony, book, and monumental marble sculpture. I know how to do that stuff. I have no idea about funny colored shapes... didn't study that at all. Oh, well. Eleventy-one!

The thing that can measure I.Q. directly from brain waves measures a thing called "evoked potential" (see post 7) and work by either flashing a light into the eyes, or making a click in the ears, and then timing how long it takes to show up in the brain waves. (hence evoked). this is directly proportional to the speed at which signals travel down the neurons. the longer it takes, the lower the iq.

i found a few spelling/grammatical/typing errors in this section:

"Theres controversy over general intelligence versus multiple intelligence. There are some phychologists who say that theres no such thing as general intelligence, and instead theres a whole lot of seperate skills that we all have. Another controversy is over nature versus nurture. Some say IQ is largely genetically determined, others say that the envirnoment plays an equally big role.

All this controversy has sometimes made a lot of people very angrey, especially when IQ and racism are talked about. "

firstly, "theres" should be "there's" or "there is"
"phychologists" should be "psychologists"
"seperate" should be "separate" (i think) (i'm not too sure about that one actually)
"envirnoment" should be "environment"
"angrey" should be "angry"

^. .^
= ' =

Hmm this is a tough one too comment on. Intelligence is such a widely contested area that to write an entry on it well is difficult. I thnk all you can do is given an idea of why this is, and what the issues behind it are.

Ultimately intelligence is only a construct (eg an intangible) and hard to define. As you say, is it a general underlying ability? or does is is specific to different subjects. Are there multiple intelligences (Gardner), does it include Goleman's emotional intelligence, or even spiritual intelligence.

If you can't define something accurately, you sure as heck can't measure it. Edwin Boring (1923)said "Intelligence is what the intelligence test measures" showing the circular nature of it.

Your article seems to have boiled over into IQ testing. There was similar discussion on this area when someone put up an entry for Mensa International, which is now residing in the Writing Workship. Its discussion thread is http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/F57153&thread=73351&skip=0&show=20

The first main issue with IQ test is whether they actually measure intelligence. They certainly measure something, but it may not be intelligence. Another issue is cultural-bias. All tests will be bias in some way, it is just a case of trying to minimise this.

Anyway I could rant on for hours, and I haven't really given you anything constructive, so I think maybe I should back out now. If you try putting Edwin Boring into a search engine, you may find some articles that give you more history and idea of the issues.

Hope this helps (but I doubt it)

BBS

Spelling - arrg my spelling is atrocious - there should be a better way of editing entries really - no spell checker.

Bright Shorts - hmm checked out the Mensa entry - people didnt like that one it seems. Its a touchy subject the old IQ tests - they've really come in for a bad rap recently. A lot of phychology is still really on shaky footing - not a lot of hard facts, too much like pseudo-science.

I wonder how much of it is just political correctness though. I read a bit about the history and I really cant see evidence of big cultural bias in the original IQ tests - actually when those IQ tests were given to Asians in remote villages who had had no contact with Western Civilizations the Asians routinely out scored the white middle class Americans!

I might add a bit about other types of intelligence like EQ and stuff. Never heard of Edwin Boring. What a name Edwin 'Boring'!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A564563

Updates:

*New intro
*Revised 'IQ' to include some history
*Revised 'IQ tests' to warn about bias and inaccuracies in IQ tests
*Added sections on 'Genius&Madness', 'Other measures of intelligence' and 'Non-human Intelligence'
*Tried to fix spelling

See if you like the picture of the man with the hole being drilled in his head

Do you have any references for the "documented connection between high IQ and mental illness"? I know that I remember seeing some studies that completely refuted this hypothesis....

Mikey

Reporter - always draft your entries onto your hard disk, preferably in a program which has a spelling check. This has two advantages - you can work on it off line. If H2G2 vanishes, which it has been known to do, particularly just as you are uploading a complicated piece of writing, you have it there.

After some sad experiences, I now have ALL my entries stored on my PC and every single alteration is carried out there, then pasted and copied into the edit window on H2G2. Even if I just changed one letter. Thus you always have the final version to hand. You can also check the GuideML tags are consistent and format and rearrange without having to "preview" continually.

HTH

Thanks for the warning Trillian's child - I could well have lost the lot!

Now, Mikey, genius & madness.. well my first referance is an academic book called 'Genius' by Hans Eysenck, who was the worlds leading expert on IQ. (But the guy just recently died apparently). The book should be floating around the shelves of most Uni libraries.

My other referance is some articles on the 'Megafoundation' website - dont think I can give the link here but I made the megafoundation a referanced site in my article so you can click through to them from there. If you go to the 'Articles' section you should be able to find the qouted studies (I think they were by Terman) which looked like pretty convincing evidence for the high IQ-mental illness link.