Discussion on the implications of IQ testing (Part 3)

It into English. He transformed the way it was scored. And he started ranking people based on their IQ for how, you know, how they fell within the population. And he was really interested in the upper strata of the population. So he designed his studies of genius where he wanted to prove that people with high IQ were going to be the movers and shakers within society, that people who really would make a difference and help civilization to progress. That's why IQ is kind of controversial though, right? Because, I don't know, it kind of sets up this system of this is smart, this is who isn't. And also, there are a lot of assumptions about who has what iq. No, there really is. I mean, sir, Lewis Sturman, you know, he was a eugenicist, he was racist, you know, and he allowed those prejudices to influence his work. So actually, you know, reading some of his statements can be very shocking, represent the level of intelligence which is very common among Spanish, Indian and Mexican families of the southwest, and also among Negroes. There is no possibility at present of convincing society that they should not be allowed to reproduce, Although from a eugenic point of view, they constitute a grave problem because of their unusually prolific breeding. Lewis Terman, 1916. And you know, what I think him and a lot of his colleagues really ignored was the fact that, you know, people's backgrounds really made a big difference. Like, if you come from a very educated background as a kid, you're going to have a higher iq, especially at that stage of your life, just because you've had those advantages where you have a bigger vocabulary which would help you in the verbal parts of iq. For example, society has kind of tried to move on from that. I don't know whether it's done so ever so successfully. But, yeah, that is one of the reasons I think we still are and should be suspicious of IQ tests. Even if we do have this general intelligence, it actually doesn't capture everything that we need to make good decisions in life. Mm, that's so interesting. Like, yeah, you can be intelligent in this particular way, but that doesn't necessarily mean you're always going to do the right thing. I kind of compare it to the engine of a car. So you could have a great engine with, like, really high horsepower. That would be the equivalent of having a very high iq. But that doesn't mean that you're going to get to your destination safely if you don't have all of these checks and balances and, you know, good gps, good steering, you know, effective brakes, you know, all of these things.