Is the myth of IQ still alive?

When did the notion of IQ come about? In 1908, Binet and Simon of France established a method of measuring intellectual faculties. Their methods became widely known as an IQ test and was highly praised as one of the most important achievements of modern psychology.

The IQ or ‘Intelligence Quotient’ test was designed to evaluate, in a child of low intellectual faculties, the degree of delay in development. For a few years prior to the completion of this intelligence measurement method, Binet had been studying the value of intelligence tests. Binet first felt the need to improve the method of measuring intelligence in 1904 when he was appointed by the education minister of France as a member of a panel for identifying low intelligence children in the paris public schools. In 1905, he established the first edition of the “Binet – Simon intelligence measurement scale”. This test was welcomed quite enthusiastically since it could measure a child’s intelligence easily.

Nowadays, this IQ test is rather considered as a method for the measurement of genius. If a child’s score is higher than 140 in this test, he is called a genius. Are all children geniuses if they score higher than 140?
The IQ test certainly detects intelligence. A highly intelligent person may score high in an IQ test. But a person who scores high in this test is not necessarily intelligent. Similarly, a person who scores low in these tests is not necessarily low in intelligence.

If this is so, intelligence tests do not measure the test taker’s intelligence accurately. Now, what is an intelligence test anyway? What is intelligence? Can the intelligence of a genius be measured by a test on a piece of paper?

The dictionary defines intelligence as “the work of the brain to understand things and to think”. An “intelligence Quotient” means “an index to show the degree of intellectual development that will be calculated by the test takers mental ageon an IQ test by his chronological age and multiplying by 100. Note, that the index of an IQ test ranges from 49 to 152. 46% of the test takers score from 91 through 109. Hardly 1% score more than 140. In other words, a childs IQ merely shows this childs development stage compared to other children of the same age, and does not show whether or not he is a genius.

It seems that rue intelligence cannot be measured by an IQ test; true intelligence seems to be demonstrated as something else. We should not be satisfied with good results on an IQ test. Instead, we should understand what intelligence is and then think of the proper way to develop it.

See how to make your child more intelligent starting from pregnancy in ourbabysworld.com, http://www.ourbabysworld.com/intelligent-parenting.php.

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