Can Intelligence Really be Measured by a Test?

One of my adult children is very intelligent. He was quite badly behaved at school as in the science lessons he tried to take everything to the Nth degree often with a dangerous result eg turning up the voltage on light bulbs to see the point of exploding it. Glass flying everywhere! At home putting cold oil in a pan and timing with a stop watch the amount of time it took to ignite. He has a very good job now in developing computer programming and manages a team. It's not always easy living with a very bright child.

ViceVersa

dragonfly46

ViceVersa

You can be highly intelligent and have common sense too!

Not in my experience.

You've obviously not met the right people then!
Yes, there are very intelligent people who have little or no common sense - and the opposite also applies too, but there are some who have both in abundance!

I completely agree with you.

dragonfly46

ViceVersa

You can be highly intelligent and have common sense too!

Not in my experience.

Dragonfly46,
What a strange and potentially hurtful comment. I am considered to be both intelligent and full of common sense. Many people have asked my advice just because of that.

ViceVersa is correct. You are wrong, and, I think, are showing your ignorance here.

foxie48

I find genetics absolutely fascinating. My sister and I have very different intellectual abilities although neither of us has suffered any medical reason for this disparity. It is just how we are. I think Mensa tests are a bit like beauty contests, as the people taking part are just demonstrating what they were born with rather than what they have worked for, bit like the size of their feet or the colour of their eyes.

This is very true foxie48

all
(not very good at checking before I post though) 😂

ViceVersa

IOMGran

B*gger, I am rubbish at tennis!

Me too, and I completely and utterly missed out in the beauty department!

I have of those things apart from beauty!
But I'm working on it.

😂😂😂

IOMGran

B*gger, I am rubbish at tennis!

Me too, and I completely and utterly missed out in the beauty department!

B*gger, I am rubbish at tennis!

dragonfly46

ViceVersa

You can be highly intelligent and have common sense too!

Not in my experience.

Some people seem to have everything intelligence, common sense, beauty, creativity, compassion, academic ability and they play a very good game of tennis.

I failed the 11+. However the head mistress called in my parents for a meeting including myself. I vaguely remember her telling them that I would find the whole thing stupid as it wasn’t my thing. I remember her telling them that I ticked all the wrong boxes as in her opinion I thought it was stupid. What a clever lady. She sent me to grammar school in the next county and I managed number one in over a thousand pupils. Lots of laughs. Nowadays I do get quite a few right on the 1% club but at 11 I did not understand at all. Eleven plus wasn’t important to me. I was already thinking how to start a business.

As a 10yr old found a book of tests in a sideboard cupboard. Seems my mother had seen it advertised in a newspaper and ordered it. When my father found out he told her she was not to give it to me and create anxiety. I passed the 11+ anyway.

dragonfly46

ViceVersa

You can be highly intelligent and have common sense too!

Not in my experience.

You've obviously not met the right people then!
Yes, there are very intelligent people who have little or no common sense - and the opposite also applies too, but there are some who have both in abundance!

ViceVersa

You can be highly intelligent and have common sense too!

Not in my experience.

ViceVersa

You can be highly intelligent and have common sense too!

Did you call?

Well Magenta, lots of answers that the Mensa club is quite like others, various functions and get-togethers. Nothing too sinister.

Of course different people are better at some tests than others, surely no surprise there? My partner is very clever, has held several high-powered jobs running IT projects, but struggles to get the hang of cryptic crossword clues, I have to explain them. On the other hand, I'm really good at mental arithmetic, but hate the 'Scrabble' type puzzles on Countdown!

I recall an old joke, about a Mensa weekend, at a country hotel. The bell rang for lunchtime, and a mass of people rushed down the corridor, but were found pushing frantically at a door marked 'PULL' . . . .

Crossstitchfan

I did a Mensa test for fun and, to my surprise, scored highly. I then sat the supervised ‘proper’ test and, as a result, was invited to join Mensa. I was tempted until I saw the hidden costs!
I’m not concerned that I didn’t become a Mensa member. I took the test for my own amusement, and it was enough for me that I could have joined if I had wanted to. It boosted my confidence to know I am quite bright, and I am happy with that.

I like you did the test at home but didn't go on to take the supervised test as my DD was a baby at the time. It was enough to know I probably could have joined if I'd wanted to. However I knew someone who was a member. He sometimes referred to it a bit too much! He wasn't particularly successful in his career and was out of work when I first knew him. The IQ measures a certain type of intelligence but having a high IQ is no guarantee of success in life. For most people other aspects of intelligence play a huge part as does hard work. I know I could have achieved more if I hadn't been so lazy at university. I did the bare minimum to get by!

Crossstitchfan

Retread

Crossstitchfan

It’s hard knowing you are getting old. For me, when I feel a bit age-worn, I think that knowing I could have joined Mensa has given me a boost. At 80, on days when I do something silly, and realise how ancient I am, I cheer myself up by thinking, ‘I could have joined Mensa! I am nobody’s fool!’ It does help me to feel like a somebody and not a nobody. Daft really, I suppose.

I think that's brilliant

And that approach works both ways - when my friend's husband (the MENSA man) asks her for help with the cryptic crossword, she is known to jokingly respond "You're the genius, work it out!"

Thank you, Retread.
Being Mensa material doesn’t mean one is brainy (well, it does in some cases, but not in mine). General knowledge is not my thing at all. I am quite thick regarding that! I suppose the only difference I see between me and friends (and previously, colleagues) is that I am pretty quick on the uptake and can quite often suggest solutions to problems where others can’t. I think the greatest advantage for me is that it boosts my confidence on ‘down’ days. At 80, it’s easy to feel stupid and forgotten, but I don’t feel that at all, and wonder if it is because of Mensa. In any event, I’m glad I took the test.

General knowledge is just memory. As Einstein said, I can look things up in a book, I don't need to remember everything. Paraphrasing a bit. Problem solving is where the pure and valuable intelligence comes in. Which you can do too. It's like a golden ticket.

theworriedwell

dogsmother

My eldest child joined after seeing an advert and doing a test when he was aged about 7.
No previous knowledge of experience of theses tests at all for any of us. When later it came to
Sitting 11+ I was made aware of how much effort when into coaching children to get through this. I simply refused.

My kids all went to grammar school. They had no coaching or tutoring.

As did ours, and when we were kids both my husband and I passed the 11+ and went to state grammars. I know roughly what our IQs are and they are pretty similar to the only MENSA member I know, and I like to think we have applied more common sense to our lives as well as our innate intelligence than he has. None of us has ever sat a MENSA test. Intelligence is like being good at art or music or sports. It's sad when people don't squeeze every last drop out of their gifts but I suppose that is up to them. Motivation is very important, as well as opportunity.

Slightly off the point, Magenta8, I remember at primary school being summoned out of lessons to answer questions - things like looking at coloured shapes on a tray then being asked how many blue stars were there. It happened several times during my time there, but nobody ever explained why, and I don't remember anyone ever asking my parents for permission to do it.
(I was never told if my answers were right or wrong, and with youthful confidence I always assumed I was right!)

MOnica my friends haven't got ADHD or dyspraxia.

Glad your son has such a good job he must have worked very hard .

I think common sense is far more important than intellect.

You can be highly intelligent and have common sense too!

I agree M0nica. We definitely need people with common sense and it is important but I don't think it matters more than having people with aptitude and training to carry out specific specialised jobs.

Jojo1950

Surely it’s Common Sense that matters more?

That will depend on the context. if I am seriously ill I would sooner have a doctor attend me than someone who has common sense but no medical training.

I would prefer power stations to be run by intelligent highly qualified engineers and have food safety standards monitored by trained food scientists.

Surely it’s Common Sense that matters more?