Intelligence quotient (IQ) is a misunderstood number in many ways. People assume that IQ equates with success or ambition. However, IQ is a number derived from the combination of a person's verbal and nonverbal skills as well as his processing speed. Robert Sternberg, one of the original thinkers behind the concept of intelligence, has said, "Intelligent behavior involves adapting to your environment, changing your environment or selecting a better environment." As such, IQ can be applied so that people become more successful at work, at school and in their daily lives.
History
Though the concept of intelligence was researched by Sternberg and others at a university level, the evaluation of IQ began in the armed services. Military officials needed a way to quickly assess a person's characteristics and intelligence to place them properly. During World War I, a team of psychologists headed by Robert Yerkes developed individual IQ testing for army personnel. On the academic front, in 1916, Alfred Binet in France in 1916 created one of the earliest IQ tests. Binet, an educational planner in the French school system, hoped his test would place children in the correct class based on intellectual aptitude. His test eventually became the commonly used Stanford-Binet IQ test. However, the Stanford-Binet test is cumbersome. The gold standard of IQ testing is the Wechsler series, developed by David Wechsler in 1939.
Types of IQ Tests
The most widely used IQ test is the Wechsler series, which tests adults and children. The Wechsler IQ test breaks down a person's individual functioning into four distinct indexes: verbal IQ, performance IQ, processing speed and working memory. Additionally, the test provides a full-scale IQ score. The standard scale used follows a normal curve distribution with an average of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. Thus, most people will have an IQ somewhere between 85 and 115.
IQ at Work
Knowing your IQ score across all four indexes can be very helpful in determining a career path. In his work on intellectual testing, Otfried Spreen writes that the Wechsler IQ test "can be used to generate initial hypotheses about an individual's strengths and weaknesses." For example, if a person's verbal skills are far superior to performance, or nonverbal abilities, this can certainly lead to greater career success and fulfillment.
IQ at School
For children, one of the most difficult issues in school lies in timing. Given the limits of the school day, students are expected to complete assignments and tests in a specific time frame. As noted, IQ testing provides information about students' cognitive strengths and weaknesses, but also about their processing speed. Understanding a child's ability in terms of processing of information, and allowing for extra time as needed, can lead to increased educational success.
Potential
Although knowing your IQ may seem daunting or even limiting, once the true nature and complexity of an IQ score is understood, the information from an IQ test can be applied to a variety of situations. According to Spreen, IQ tests can show you how you "negotiate a wide variety of tasks." Such knowledge about yourself, when applied, leads to wiser choices in school, career and life.
References
- "Beyond IQ: A Triarchic Theory of Human Intelligence"; Robert Sternberg, 1984
- "A Compendium of Neuropsychological Tests (2nd edition)"; O. Spreen and E. Strauss; 1998
- "WISC-IV Administration and Scoring"; David Wechsler; 2003
