Is IQ a load of BS?

[C C]

https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/iq-load-bs/

KEY POINTS: IQ tests are not useless, but they are limited. The main problem is that IQ is widely misunderstood. It is simply a measure of how a person performs on a narrow set of questions compared to other people.  Unfortunately, IQ has been weaponized by racists and eugenicists. It also has been used to write off children as young as three and to deny opportunities to large segments of the population. Society is made up of a variety of intelligences. IQ might have its place, but that place shouldn't be in the center of society. (MORE - details)

[stryder]

https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/iq-load-bs/

KEY POINTS: IQ tests are not useless, but they are limited. The main problem is that IQ is widely misunderstood. It is simply a measure of how a person performs on a narrow set of questions compared to other people.  Unfortunately, IQ has been weaponized by racists and eugenicists. It also has been used to write off children as young as three and to deny opportunities to large segments of the population. Society is made up of a variety of intelligences. IQ might have its place, but that place shouldn't be in the center of society. (MORE - details)

In the case of Ostro's "Titan Test" I thought the IQ test there was to see if you were dumb enough to waste money getting a result?!? I mean fine you do a puzzle, link some words together but what does it actually achieve in the long run?

It doesn't make you smarter.

It doesn't mean you can create a solution to a problem under pressure (to be honest tests usually are timed for that reason, in the case of that particular test it was probably suppose to be 10-30 minutes, any longer and the result would require balancing to reduce the IQ value as an outcome.)

Thats why IQ tests are themselves overrated and generally people are better off with Aptitude tests (To make sure they are capable of dealing with a particular job or skill) It doesn't matter if you are or are not a genius when it comes down to aptitude, it's just about being able to handle yourself.

[Yazata]

KEY POINTS: IQ tests are not useless, but they are limited.

Yes, I agree.

The main problem is that IQ is widely misunderstood. It is simply a measure of how a person performs on a narrow set of questions compared to other people.

Well yes, but not only that. That's like saying that ability to speak is just the ability to make sounds.

My point is that the questions on IQ tests are designed to capture and to measure various cognitive abilities.

Society is made up of a variety of intelligences.

Society or individuals?

I think that what we call "intelligence" is actually a combination of a whole variety of different cognitive abilities and skills. Some are innate and some can be learned. (The ability to learn them easily might be innate as well.) Each individual might have strengths in some of them and weaknesses in others.

For example, I score very highly in ability to imagine scenes rotating and folding in my mind's eye, like origami. I score very highly in linguistic skills like analogies and in conceptual reasoning in general. But I'm below average in the general population in mathematical talent and the sort of talent necessary in computer programming.

IQ scores seem to try to average across very imperfect measures of some of those abilities. Which means that two people with the same IQ score might have dramatically different talents. Resulting in IQ scores telling us something, but probably not what we need to know in individual cases, like is this particular student cognitively suitable for a career in math, physics or engineering? (I wasn't.) Knowing their IQ score isn't really going to tell you that.

We've all heard about idiot-savants who might have astronomical talents in a narrow area like mathematics, while they appear retarded in other areas. Knowing their average score isn't going to tell you very much about either extreme.

IQ might have its place, but that place shouldn't be in the center of society.

Sure. But is IQ "the center of society" now? Where? Are people agitating for it to become the center? Who?

Most people have never taken an IQ test. I've never been asked my IQ score (I don't know what the numerical number is) in either university or employment.