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IQ is rising in many parts of the world. What's behind the change and does it really mean people are cleverer than their grandparents?
It is not unusual for parents to comment that their children are brainier than they are. In doing so, they hide a boastful remark about their offspring behind a self-deprecating one about themselves. But a new study, published in the journal Intelligence, provides fresh evidence that in many cases this may actually be true.
The researchers - Peera Wongupparaj, Veena Kumari and Robin Morris at Kings College London - did not themselves ask anyone to sit an IQ test, but they analysed data from 405 previous studies. Altogether, they harvested IQ test data from more than 200,000 participants, captured over 64 years and from 48 countries.
(Score: 1) by brocksampson on Thursday March 05 2015, @10:11AM
What you are describing is the difference between declarative and procedural memory (or, probably more accurately, the ease of recall of declarative or procedural memories). If you read something once and remember it, you probably have a good declarative memory and are considered smart. If you do something once and remember it, you probably have a good procedural memory and are considered talented. (And if you can do both, then you're smart and talented!) Whereas many/most standard tests (aptitude, licensing, etc.) skew towards declarative memory, what IQ tests are supposed to get at is "reasoning" or "problem solving" or "thinking" or whatever you want to call it. But there are strange sub-populations of people who score very high or very low, yet seem cognitively normal otherwise, so to some extent and IQ test just measures how good you are at taking IQ tests.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 05 2015, @05:30PM
so to some extent and IQ test just measures how good you are at taking IQ tests.
Since we haven't been able to define intelligence concretely as of yet, I would say that's entirely what they do. IQ tests are arbitrary, and people who think they measure intelligence believe so without good scientific evidence.