IQ tests accurately measure general human intelligence
the verdict
CONTESTED
contested - evenly split
refutedsupported
the weight of evidence
3 sources for · 2 against
The sources present a contested picture, with some indicating that IQ tests successfully measure general cognitive factors and predict life outcomes, while others question whether they provide an accurate summary index of the full scope of human intelligence.
Individual differences have been mostly ignored in cognitive/experimental psychology since the birth of the field, while the measurement of cognitive abilities has become a successful field of applied psychology. Because of its separation from mainstream research psychology, cognitive ability testing has focused on application, often without providing sound theoretical basis for the tests. More recently, the gap between cognitive/experimental psychology and differential/psychometric research has been closing. This stems from a rediscovery of variation in cognitive abilities in experimental psychology, owing largely to the concept of working memory. We present process overlap theory, a new theory of intelligence that is informed by cognitive psychology. The theory explains the positive correlations between diverse tests on the basis of overlapping cognitive processes and reinterprets the general factor of intelligence, g, as a formative construct. The consequences of this approach are discussed, including a focus on specific abilities rather than on global scores in cognitive test results.
about how intelligence should be conceptualized and measured. In psychometrics, human intelligence is assessed by intelligence quotient (IQ) tests. Several
Human intelligence is the intellectual capability of humans, which is marked by complex cognitive feats and high levels of motivation and self-awareness. Using their intelligence, humans are able to learn, form concepts, understand, and apply logic and reason. Human intelligence is also thought to encompass their capacities to recognize patterns, plan, innovate, solve problems, make decisions, ret
In psychology, human intelligence is commonly assessed by IQ scores that are determined by IQ tests. In general, higher IQ scores are associated with better outcomes in life. However, while IQ test scores show a high degree of inter-test reliability, and predict certain forms of achievement effectively, their construct validity as a holistic measure of human intelligence is considered dubious. While IQ tests are generally understood to measure some forms of intelligence, they may fail to serve as an accurate measure of broader definitions of human intelligence inclusive of creativity and social intelligence. According to psychologist Wayne Weiten, "IQ tests are valid measures of the kind of intelligence necessary to do well in academic work. But if the purpose is to assess intelligence in a broader sense, the validity of IQ tests is questionable."
There are many different kinds of IQ tests using a wide variety of test tasks. Some tests consist of a single type of task, others rely on a broad collection of tasks with different contents (visual-spatial, verbal, numerical) and asking for different cognitive processes (e.g., reasoning, memory, rapid decisions, visual comparisons, spatial imagery, reading, and retrieval of general knowledge). The psychologist Charles Spearman early in the 20th century carried out the first formal factor analysis of correlations between various test tasks. He found a trend for all such tests to correlate positively with each other, which is called a positive manifold. Spearman found that a single common factor explained the positive correlations among tests. Spearman named it g for "general intelligence factor". He interpreted it as the core of human intelligence that, to a larger or smaller degree, influences success in all cognitive tasks and thereby creates the positive manifold. This interpretation of g as a common cause of test performance is still dominant in psychometrics. (Although, an alternative interpretation was recently advanced by van der Maas and colleagues. Their mutualism model assumes that intelligence depends on several independent mechanisms, none of which influences performance on all cognitive tests. These…
Psychometric research on intelligence consistently identifies latent factors underlying performance correlations across cognitive tasks, with one general factor (g) explaining most variance and predicting general life outcomes. Their biological basis is yet unresolved, in particular with regard to the neural information processing mechanisms that may underlie intelligence. Here we test the hypothesis that interindividual differences in relational processing, supported by cognitive maps in the hippocampus, are related to fluid intelligence (gf), a statistical approximation of the general factor. Using standardized cognitive tests and fMRI of different mnemonic tasks, we demonstrate a positive correlation between gf and map-like encoding of object positions learned piecemeal. The behavioral and neural geometry of object representations in the lower gf range was less consistent with any two-dimensional representation, congruent with a lack of relational integration at encoding. The specificity of the link between cognitive maps and intelligence to relational processing was further supported by comparisons to non-relational mnemonic processing in the hippocampus during item recognition. These findings offer first empirical support for a link between neural mechanisms related to relational reasoning and general cognitive performance and probe the presumed relevance of hippocampal coding properties for cognition more broadly.
Abstract Herrnstein and Murray (1994, pp. 22–23) stated six propositions concerning a g factor of intelligence. Because these propositions had been widely criticized in public media as being false and pseudoscientific, they are examined here for support in the scientific literature. All are found to be reasonably well supported. Most experts agree that there is a general factor g on which human beings differ. It is measured to some degree by most tests of cognitive aptitude and achievement, but more accurately by tests designed to measure it. It corresponds to most people's concept of intelligence. It is quite stable over the life span, and properly constructed and administered IQ tests are not demonstrably biased against different social groups. It is substantially influenced by genetic factors, but also by environmental factors. Some psychometric findings about g have been poorly presented to the public or widely misunderstood. The public is urged to recognize that (1) psychometrics (literally, mental measurement) is a rigorous scientific discipline that has resolved many questions concerning cognitive abilities; (2) general ability scores should be taken not as direct measures of hereditary intelligence, but rather as measures of rate of progress over the life span in achieving full mental development; (3) there are many other cognitive abilities besides g; (4) important sources of variation in g or IQ are environmental; (5) the IQ is possibly more an indicator of how fast
do IQ tests measure? Some people naively believe they provide a summary index of a general human ability … scope of human intelligence has been in- tensively investigated. This is not to say that IQ tests are not … humanized.* We must construct new conceptions of human intelligence and devise instructional programs based on
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