hehe, yeah, i can almost relate to that…
in school i remember you had those girls who were EXCELLENT at languages but sucked at math… i’m not pointing fingers because i wasn’t more than avg at all subjects… 
another thing that’s quite funny is that individuals who aren’t school smart will always defend themselves saying that they have SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE instead of IQ. hhehe. insecurities.
I am living proof of what you guys are referring to. I have an Intellingence Quotient of over 160, but have done nothing with my life thus far. So being able to process information does not necessarily mean you are a genius.
Here’s a few random things that came to mind as I read this thread:
Marilyn Mach vos Savant has the highest recorded IQ at something around 220. At the age of 9, she got a perfect score on the Stanford-Binet IQ test three times in a row and demonstrated significant talent in many areas. The term “idiot savant” was coined for people that are similarly talented in only one small way. She’s one of the editors and columnists for Cosmopolitan magazine. Stephen Hawking is estimated to be somewhat higher, but no one knows how to test it.
IQ tends to increase with education and experience, and decrease with disuse. “Mental Muscle” is a pretty good analogy after all.
Einstein could keep complex problems in his head for ages, but did not know his own phone number. Asked for his number, he looked it up in a phone book. He then told the surprised recipient that phone books were readily available, so it made no sense to memorize the number when he might instead use that bit of memory for something more important.
Leonardo da Vinci is considered one of most intelligent people ever to live. This is based in part on his prolific works and the breadth of his application. He is also the only person known to have the ability to write separate documents at the same time, one with each hand, coherently and legibly.
In many cases, high intelligence is characterized by exceptional memory. The ability to retain details is critical for the efficient solving of problems. Brilliant inventor Nikola Tesla (father of AC current, fluid logic, radio, particle beams, microwave technology, energy-based weather modification, etc) was known to keep problems, notes, and processes in his head for years until he felt they were ready for construction and testing.
Many modern geniuses work for think tanks, the government, or large corporations. The products of their intelligence are usually incorporated into larger efforts, and are usually owned by their employers. This makes it quite unlikely that they will achieve significant notoriety outside the rarefied circles of their professions.
JasonE: I’ll disagree with you slightly, in that I don’t believe that “good memory,” in the general sense, is necessarily related to intelligence. I believe the psychological research tends to support that, as well. I DO think that good problem solvers/creative thinkers have an ability to work on a problem for a prolonged period. Einstein once said that he didn’t think he was that much SMARTER than everyone else, but he stuck with problems longer.
I’ll also point out that many exceptionally intelligent people apply themselves broadly, and thus make themselves marketable in many areas without enjoying “genius” status in any one particular area.
I gotta agree with Einstein on the phone number thing, but for the main reason of “I never call myself”.
I have taken I.Q. tests, and I have scored pretty high, and other times pretty low. It seems as though the people I associate with affect my intelligence greatly.
when I work construction or some other form of manual labour, the level of intelligent conversation drops dramatically. Which in turn directs my thoughts towards topics that don’t involve profound thought.
In one job that I worked at, the most intelligent conversation I partook in was with myself, it was an indepth conversation about double entendres. I tried to have the conversation with my co-workers, but even after I explained to them the premise of the conversation, they still looked at me like a baby seal that is about to be clubbed.
On the other hand, when I work a job with people smarter than me, I start thinking about things that had never occured to me before, and that spawns more and more thought, and before I know it, I am smart again. It’s a vicious cycle.
I know I didn’t break any new ground here, but its only my observations upon my own life.
-Dave
“He comes up with twenty bad ideas for every good one he has. But that good one is usually worth the wait.”
Of course, this all ignores the fact that Jessica Simpson is old and broke, whereas Ashley Simpson would be the new hotness.
Oh come on you can’t be serious…this girl is as dumb as dog shit!! The only one who is possibly a genius is her publicist/manager, who probabaly made all of the decisions and had the brilliance to exploit her stupidity into a money earner.
And I wouldn’t get all excited about the IQ tests that are about. They don’t account for any social confidence, athletic prowess, inter-personal skills, artistic abilities, street smarts and so on. That’s why you have seen so called smart people act like dicks - because although they might be able to remember facts they are about as cluey and social functional as a wet fish!
The stories of Marylyn Monroe are that she was extremely smart, had a great head for business, and the dumb blond shtick was just an act, which she later wanted to get away from.
You have to be careful of assuming what you see is real. Dean Martin was a famous drunk, but when somebody accidentally drank out of his glass, they were surprised to find out he was drinking water.
Marilyn vos Savant herself has stated she does not put too much stock in IQ tests. (Interestingly if you search for her online, you find a lot of people who just despise her. Interesting.)
Mensa has this statement on their web page:
“The term ‘IQ score’ is widely used but poorly defined. There are a large number of tests with different scales. The result on one test of 132 can be the same as a score 148 on another test. Some intelligence tests don’t use IQ scores at all. Mensa has set a percentile as cutoff to avoid this confusion. Candidates for membership in Mensa must achieve a score at or above the 98th percentile (a score that is greater than or equal to 98 percent of the general population taking the test) on a standard test of intelligence.”
And if you have noticed all of those intelligence tests online, I keep hearing of people scoring relatively high on those all the time. Be careful of estimating your IQ just from those.
Personally I find it to be an advancement that they are now looking at different forms of intelligence. Howard Gardner defined 7 types of intelligence:
1- Linguistic
2- Logical / Mathematical
3- Kinesthetic / Bodily
4- Spatial
5- Musical
6- Interpersonal
7- Intrapersonal
Then there is Emotional intelligence. (I am certain most of you have heard of the research where children were given the choice of a few M&M’s now, or more later, and the ones who could delay the gratification were found to be more successful later in life.)
There is not too much respect for intelligence out there. (Do you want an extra 10 points on your intelligence, or an extra inch on your bicep?) So I could easily see a person having no problem with being seen a dumb.
I’ve always thought of IQ test as the measure on how quick your brain works to solve problems. It doesn’t mean much for anything else. IQ doesn’t always translate to success in life. Everything has to fall in place for you. I’ve seen that happen quite often. Funny story… When I was 20 months old, I had meningtis and it was pretty bad. I had to be rescuciated and everything. They thought I was brain damaged and I lost 100% hearing loss so I was pretty much in my “world”. I wasn’t able to communicate or anything real well till probably around 8 years old when I took IQ. I scored 130 or whatever which shocked some people cuz they thought I was retarded. It was funny when you think about it. Anyway at one time I was like 5 years behind in education compared to my twin brother that got lucky and i got caught up with him in 8th grade (more or less, he’s smart too but had a huge head start) and graduated from HS with Honors and went on to college and graduated. That’s something most people never thought would happen. I didn’t think it was that hard to do.
First, on the subject of IQ tests – I’ve scored very high on several types, both online and paper. Do very well on them, in fact. Have tested out at the “borderline genius” level, whatever the heck that means.
But I know my strength – ability to regurgitate information on paper, spatial ability, math ability. Verbal is strong enough to get by, but then again, that’s on paper. But when it comes to real-world stuff, I suck. Communication intelligence just doesn’t get tested well enough in my book, and so I fell through the cracks, so to speak.
On the subject of Ms Simpson – She has a profession which she does very well. I seriously doubt that any one on this board knows her personally, and also tha tany one here who does, and is a friend, wouldn’t do anything to tarnish her schtick. She’s successful at what she does, and I respect that completely. Every one has their gift. What they do with it to me defines success.
And as far as Ms Savant – I have to laugh every time some one writes in to ask a moral question. As if intelligence has ANYTHING to do with moral judgement.