Online IQ tests

no reason in theory why an IQ test delivered on paper couldn't also be delivered online - though the result couldn't likely be used for anything other than just information for the person taking the test. A site purporting to offer you a certificate(mentioned earlier) etc.. is inherently dubious/pointless as that poster pointed out.

then again even 'official' IQ tests are of fairly limited use anyway and joining something like mensa is pretty pointless too... they mostly tell you how good you are at IQ tests (a skill that you can improve on with practice) - they have some relation to your analytical ability, abstract reasoning etc.. but they're not necessarily a measure of 'intelligence' - which varies in definition anyway and generally isn't going to be useful to summarise in a single parameter
 
Orionaut said:
IQ tests do NOT test for "intelligence"!

The question is, what DO they test!? ;)
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As has already been pointed out, they test that ability to do IQ tests. That's all.

Dowie's response a few posts above this is the best: we don't know what intelligence is, and thus have no real way to measure it. There are all sorts of biases built into any test as well, from the selection of questions to the language used to administer it. At best you can do a test which gives you a pointer. An "IQ of 121" is spurious accuracy; any such test can merely say you are clever, very clever, not so clever etc.
 
Meridian said:
As has already been pointed out, they test that ability to do IQ tests. That's all.

Dowie's response a few posts above this is the best: we don't know what intelligence is, and thus have no real way to measure it. There are all sorts of biases built into any test as well, from the selection of questions to the language used to administer it. At best you can do a test which gives you a pointer. An "IQ of 121" is spurious accuracy; any such test can merely say you are clever, very clever, not so clever etc.
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The way I see it.

"IQ" tests are a test that aims to predict how well an individual is likely to perform in a structured, hierarchical and technically sophisticated society.

They were never specifically designed to do this as such (In so far as the people devising them did not set out to design a test to fulfil this specific purpose), but nevertheless, by a process of evolution, this is what they actually end up testing.

They test a range of abilities, some undoubtedly affected by education and training (Such as the Arithmetic and linguistic aspects), some others which are almost certainly going to be genetic/inherited traits (Which are rather more intangible, but we all know they exist even if we cant put a finger on them).

Within a SD or so of the mean they represent a pretty good predictor of an individuals capability to perform in our type of society and how successful an individual is likely to be.

Whilst it seems obvious that somebody with a low score outside this range will perform poorly, it is somewhat less obvious that frequently people outside this range on the high side often perform poorly too!

(There are other issues too, but I might expand on those later, I have to go to work now)
 
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