Is IQ real or pseudoscience? www.clearerthinking.org ran one of the largest experiments ever conducted on intelligence outside of academia to find out.
Here’s a summary:
(00:00–01:06) IQ and the «Positive Manifold»:
The study explored whether IQ is a real, meaningful measure of intelligence. Thousands of participants took a random subset of 62 diverse cognitive tasks. The data confirmed the «positive manifold» — people who performed well on one mental task tended to perform well on others.
(01:40–02:43) IQ’s Predictive Power:
A single IQ score was calculated per participant, explaining ~45% of the variance in performance across tasks — aligning with academic findings. However, 55% remained unexplained, showing IQ is significant but far from the whole story.
(03:15–03:48) What IQ Misses:
The unexplained variance stems from random noise, skills gained through practice, and non-IQ aptitudes (e.g., personal strengths in math or language).
(04:18–04:50) Real-World Predictive Outcomes:
IQ slightly predicted income (r = 0.15), strongly predicted job performance for those with below-average IQ (r = 0.48), and correlated with open-mindedness and political tolerance.
(04:50–05:25) Surprising Correlations:
Lower IQ correlated with:
- Greater belief in celebrity worship (r = –0.42)
- Higher susceptibility to nonsense phrases being rated as «profound»
(05:25–05:58) IQ ≠ Happiness:
IQ had no significant link to happiness or life satisfaction. People also aren’t great at estimating their own IQ (self-estimate vs actual IQ r = 0.23).
(06:30–06:58) Personality vs IQ:
Personality traits like conscientiousness and extraversion outperformed IQ at predicting most real-life outcomes, including success indicators.
(06:58–07:30) Final Takeaways:
- IQ is statistically meaningful and robust.
- It explains a lot — but not everything.
- Personality may matter more in many life contexts.
(07:30–07:58) Cognitive Assessment Tool:
The creators developed a new cognitive assessment based on their data, analyzing 7 dimensions of cognitive ability. A link is provided for those interested.
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