IQ is just a number that tells you how good you’re at doing specific kinds of tests. It’s associated with intelligence, but it’s still a proxy metric. It doesn’t actually measure the thing we’re really interested in. We don’t even know what intelligence, or how to measure it properly.
TheReanuKeeves@lemmy.world 6 hours ago
No it’s not extremely accurate and it becomes less accurate the more times someone takes one or knows about the tests. But it is the only scale we have to gauge intelligence. In the same sense that if I don’t have a measuring tape to tell you how long a stick is, I can give you a rough idea through many hand-widths long it is.
I don’t know about others, but I refer to intelligence as the broad dictionary definition of someones ability to learn, that pattern recognition and problem solving. Learning in itself is a skill, which is why there are courses in post secondary that are specifically focused on teaching you how to study and learn efficiently. If what you’re hung up on is whether or not intelligence can be increased through education or even at all through your life then I say with pretty good certainty, based on what we know so far, intelligence is absolutely something that requires work through your life to increase.
You need exposure to data, concepts, ideas, and even other people’s ways of thinking to reach your full potential. I’ll leave you with a scientific journal specifically analyzing the genetic and environmental factors (including education) that affect cognitive ability.
www.sciencedirect.com/…/S0160289621000635