What is the average aikyu level of a person. What is IQ

Many of us have heard of the IQ test, which measures a person's level of intelligence. However, most people know almost nothing about it. Before you start taking the test, you must definitely find out what IQ should be normal person.

general information

The abbreviation IQ stands for what can be translated as "amount of intelligence." In the Russian-speaking language environment, the well-established expression "intelligence quotient" is more often used. However, it is believed that in order for the results to be as truthful as possible, and they can really be trusted, it is worth taking into account not only the results of the test itself. Factors such as age and gender also need to be taken into account.

Many also believe that the results of this test indicate a person's aptitude for a particular type of task rather than actual intellectual ability. Therefore, you can prepare for it by solving puzzles that resemble those presented in the tasks.

Story

Attempts to study the IQ of a normal person began in the 30s of the last century. Researchers have made a number of attempts to determine the IQ through various experiments. Scientists tried to find a pattern that would link the processes of the central nervous system, reaction characteristics and mental abilities, even took into account the size and weight of the brain. In addition, they studied the relationship between the IQ of parents and children, its relation to social origin, age, and so on.

IQ test today

It is now generally accepted that the coefficient of mental intelligence depends on many factors, for the most part on heredity. However, the IQ level of a normal person can be increased by solving various problems and tests. Besides, in modern world it is not so much intelligence that is the source of success as motivation and perseverance. Individuality, determination and ambition also play an important role. However, exactly high level intelligence is able to help in solving difficult life circumstances and contribute to more advantageous conditions.

Despite the fact that the first tests were created exclusively with lexical exercises, today they use a wide variety of tasks. Among which are counting exercises, logical series, the ability to find the missing geometric figure, the ability to recognize a fragment, remember facts, technical drawings and determine the missing letter.

How much IQ does a normal person have

The average level of human intelligence ranges from 100 to 120 units, which is about half of correctly solved problems. The person who completes all the tasks receives 200 points. In addition to the level of intelligence, the test determines other indicators, it helps to identify the way of thinking of the person who passes it. By identifying the category in which the subject has the lowest level of ability, you can help him identify gaps in his ability, train with different types tasks and raise the coefficient of intelligence.

First tests

For the first time, V. Stern spoke about the IQ, who considered the definition of the level of skills on the Binet scale to be incorrect, since he had a serious drawback regarding age. The scientist proposed to determine dividing mental age by chronological age. The IQ test of a normal person demonstrates a quantitative assessment of the ability of an individual in relation to the average representative of the same age.

Averages

It is rightfully considered that an IQ test does not show the level of a person's erudition, but only an assessment of general indicators. They are designed specifically to get a distribution of results with an average score. The IQ of a normal person can vary, but there are common indicators. So, about half of the people who passed the test show a result equal to 90 to 100 points, a quarter - below 90, and the other quarter - above 110 units. The average score for graduates from American universities is 115 points, for honors students - from 135 to 140. An IQ level that is less than 70 points is usually considered a sign of mental retardation.

Conclusion

IQ tests show a person, but should not be considered that they in any way show the level of erudition. They only help to understand in what area and in what direction a person needs to develop.

It is believed that the IQ level of a normal person varies from 90 to 120 conventional units. Most often, the Eysenck test is used to determine the IQ. However, do not forget that the most correct results will be obtained during the very first passing of the test, and all subsequent attempts will only distort them.

However, it didn’t occur to you that you need to make some kind of gradation, so to speak, from separating the wheat from the chaff, Einstein from Beavis and Butthead. Therefore, a smart Pindos named Lewis Theremin back in 1916 (not to be confused with 2016 ... gyg), came up with the name of the test to measure intelligence. Today we will talk about the word that denotes this procedure, it is Aikyu which means you can read a little below. Our site site tries to explain complex concepts plain language so don't forget to add us to your bookmarks. Indeed, in the future we will have a lot of useful and interesting information.
However, before I continue, I would like to recommend that you check out a couple of my other new articles on science and education. For example, what does Paradigm mean, what is Overton's Window, what does Oxymoron mean, how to understand the word Taboo, etc.
So let's continue what does aikyu mean? This term was borrowed from English IQ", which can be deciphered as "intelligence quotient"(intelligence quotient).

Aikyu- this is the name of the intelligence test developed at the beginning of the century in France by the psychologist Alfred Binet

This test turned out to be extremely successful, and it began to be used in many countries of the world. And its name IQ", he received in the USA, which we have already mentioned above. In addition, it was the Pindos who first began to use these tests to classify soldiers in 1917. About 2 million people passed this exam all the time. Then Universities became interested in this innovation, which tested future applicants with it.

Australian has the highest intelligence Terence Tao who came up with the Green-Tao theorem. His result is 200 points, while most people are unlikely to be able to score more than 100 points. I will not list people with high intelligence, because there are no Russians on this list.
In my opinion, such artificial tests are quite far from reality, because the Russians create the world's best submarines, combat aircraft, spaceships and much more. And among the Nobel laureates there are always either Jews or Anglo-Saxons. Karoch, this is understandable, the information war and all that, the Pindos are good at this like no other.
It should be added that people with high IQ have mental disabilities, because nature does not give something beyond measure. If it arrived somewhere, then it left somewhere else. The law of conservation of energy works here too.

Also, I wouldn't trust Bill Gates and Stephen Hawking's test results ( both have about 140 points each). A person with billions can easily bribe anything and everything, and Stephen, this is a common element of American propaganda, a crippled genius, a publicized person. If he was normal and healthy, without this veil of mystery that surrounded him thanks to the media, who the hell would be interested in him?

what does an IQ test mean?

For all the time of research, scientists have made several conclusions:

0.5% of people have an IQ over 140 points;

3% - over 130 - 140 points;

7% - about 120 - 130 points;

14.5% - have aikyu more than 110 - 120 points;

50% - have aikyu 90 - 110 points.

It is worth adding that 25% of people have aikyu above 110 points, while the other 25% have aikyu below 90 points. The most common result is 100 points.
If aikyu is below 70 points, then a similar result indicates mental retardation.

Actually the level aikyu only shows the speed of thinking, because all tasks are completed in a strictly limited time. However, there are many people who are able to solve the most complex problems, for enough long term especially when time is not so critical. Therefore, in our time, this test has lost its former popularity, although the Pindos actively use it.

To successfully pass IQ tests, you must have the following features:

possession of logical operations;

Imagination and ability to quickly manipulate objects in space;

Practical knowledge of the native language;

Lexicon;

Good memory;

The ability to focus and isolate the main thing, separating from the secondary.

As you probably noticed, in this case there is nothing that would bind IQ with the definition of intelligence. Therefore, we can conclude that aikyu is not actually determined by intelligence, as such. Today, many people use a special term - "psychometric intelligence", which refers to the results of the test.

Although " IQ", will not determine your mind, but you can use it to draw a conclusion about your own children. After all, there are several levels of complexity with one technique.
Despite the fact that the IQ test consists of a huge number of various tests, in order to get 100 - 120 points, it is not necessary to complete them all.

Russian psychologists say that an IQ test designed for the West is not entirely correct for Russia. After all, the intelligence of people from different countries differs drastically. The majority of Russians are dominated by a figurative style of thinking, which in better side distinguishes them from Western biorobots". By the West, I mean Pindostan, because in the EU, things are much better, they have not yet fully turned into consumer, although actively seeking to do so.

By reading this article, you have learned what does aikyu mean, and now you will generally understand what these tests are, and why they are needed or not needed.

IQ tests do not lose their relevance, therefore, they continue to be widely used in a wide variety of circles. Often such tests are carried out in schools and universities. educational institutions, to identify the student rate. Also, an IQ test may well be carried out during a job interview, especially if it concerns some leading company or organization that needs people with a sharp mind and the ability to make the right decisions quickly. And in order to be ready for this, it is necessary to understand what kind of aikyu a person should have.

What is the norm of aikyu in a person?

The first thing to understand is that during the test, not only the results of passing the test should be taken into account, but also the age of the subject, since different indicators can be considered the norm at different ages. The result, which will be quite normal for a child of ten years old, at twenty years old will already become a rather significant deviation from the norm, not for the best. Therefore, the indicators of the average aikyu of a person are very relative and depend on the age factor.

Speaking approximately, it is possible to derive very generalized values ​​of what a person's aikyu level should be. In general, the scale of results starts from 70 and ends at 180. If the scores are less than 70, then this is considered mental retardation. Approximately 25% of the population has results from 70 to 90 and these are school graduates without senior classes, workers with low qualifications. The average is considered to be a result from 90 to 110, it is possessed by about half of the population - these are high school students, office workers, and so on. Indicators above 110 are already gifted, smart people, able to quickly make extraordinary decisions. Usually there are indicators within 150, and above - this is still quite a rare occurrence.

People have different skills and levels of intelligence: verbal, typical, spatial, conceptual, mathematical

IQ–

The concept of "intelligence quotient" was introduced by the German psychologist William Stern.. He used IQ as an acronym for Intelligenz-Quotient – intelligence quotient. IQ was a score obtained from a series of standardized tests administered by a psychologist to determine the level of intelligence.

Mind Research Pioneers

At first, psychologists doubted that the human mind could be measured, much less accurately. While interest in measuring intelligence goes back thousands of years, the first IQ test has only recently appeared.

In 1904, the French government asked the psychologist Alfred Binet to help determine which students were most likely to have difficulty in school. The need to establish the intelligence of schoolchildren arose so that they could all receive compulsory primary education.

Binet asked his colleague Theodore Simon to help him design a test that would focus on practical issues like memory, attention and problem solving, things kids don't learn in school. Some answered more difficult questions than their age group, and so, based on observational data, the now classic concept of mental age has emerged. The result of the work of psychologists - the Binet-Simon scale - became the first standardized IQ test.

By 1916, Stanford University psychologist Lewis Terman had adapted the Binet-Simon scale for use in the United States. The modified test was called the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale and became the standard intelligence test in the United States for several decades. Stanford - Bean uses a number known as IQ - intelligence quotient to represent an individual's score.

The intelligence quotient was originally determined by dividing the mental age of the person taking the test by their chronological age and multiplying the quotient by 100. It goes without saying that this only works (or is best suited) for children. For example, a child with a mental age of 13.2 years and a chronological age of 10 years has an IQ of 132 and is eligible to enter Mensa (13.2 ÷ 10 x 100 = 132).

During World War I, the United States Army developed several tests to select recruits for specific jobs. The Army's "Alpha" test was a written test, while the "Beta" test was given to illiterate recruits.

This and other IQ tests have also been used to test new immigrants coming to the US from Ellis Island. Their results were used to fabricate false generalizations about the "surprisingly low intelligence" of Southern European immigrants and Jews. These results in 1920 led to proposals by the "racially motivated" psychologist Goddard and others to Congress to impose restrictions on immigration. Although tests have only been carried out on English language, and the vast majority of immigrants did not understand it, the United States government deported many thousands worthy people that have been flagged as "unsuitable" or "undesirable". And this happened a decade before Nazi Germany started talking about eugenics.

Psychologist David Wexler was dissatisfied, in his opinion, with the limited Stanford-Binet tests. The main reason for this was the single score, its emphasis on time limits, and the fact that the test was designed specifically for children and therefore not suitable for adults.

As a result, during the 1930s, Wexler developed a new test that was known as the Wexler Bellevue Intelligence Scale. The test was subsequently revised and became known as the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, or WAIS. Instead of one overall score, the test created an overall picture of strengths and weaknesses subject. One advantage of this approach is that it also provides useful information. For example, high scores in some areas and low scores in others are indicative of a specific learning disability.

WAIS was psychologist Robert Wechsler's first test, while the WISC (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children) and the Wechsler Preschool Intelligence Scale (WPPSI) were developed later. The adult version has since been revised three times: WAIS-R (1981), WAIS III (1997) and in 2008 WAIS-IV.

Unlike tests based on chronological and mental age scales and standards, as in the case of Stanford-Binet, all versions of WAIS are calculated by comparing the test person's score with that of other test subjects of the same age group.

The average IQ score (worldwide) is 100, with 2/3 of the results in the "normal" range of 85 to 115. WAIS norms have become the standard in IQ testing and are therefore used by the Eysenck and Stanford-Binet test, except that the standard deviation is not 15, but 16. In the Cattell test, the deviation is 23.8 - it often gives very flattering IQs, which can introduce ignorance lazy people astray.

High IQ - high intelligence?

IQ for the gifted is determined using special tests which provide psychologists with many useful information. Many of them the average score is fixed at the level of 145-150, and the full range is between 120 and 190. Scores below 120 are not designed for the test, and scores above 190 are very difficult to interpolate, although it is possible.

Paul Kooijmans from the Netherlands is considered the founder of upper range IQ tests, and he is the creator of most of the original, and now classic, tests of this type. He also founded and administers the super-high IQ societies Glia, Giga, and Grail. Among the most famous and popular Kooijmans tests are the Genius Test, the Nemesis Test, and the Kooijmans Multiple Choice Test. The presence, influence and participation of Paula are mandatory conditions, it is an integral part of the spirit of ultra-high IQ tests and its communities in general. Other classic IQ test gurus are Ron Hoeflin, Robert Lato, Laurent Dubois, Mislav Predavec, and Jonathon Wye.

Exist Various types thinking that manifests itself differently at different levels. People have different skills and intelligence levels: verbal, typical, spatial, conceptual, mathematical. But there are also various ways their manifestations are logical, lateral, convergent, linear, divergent, and even inspired and brilliant.

Standard and Elevated IQ Tests Reveal General Intelligence Factor; but in high-level tests it is defined in different ways.

There is a lot of talk about high IQ scores being called genius IQs, but what do these numbers really mean and how do they add up? What IQ score is a sign of genius?

High IQ is any score above 140.

Genius IQ- more than 160.

great genius– the score is equal to or greater than 200 points.

High IQ is directly related to academic success, but does it have an impact on success in life in general? How much luckier are geniuses than people with lower IQs? Some experts believe that compared to other factors, including emotional intelligence, IQ is of lesser importance.

Breakdown of IQ scores

So how exactly are IQ scores interpreted? Average IQ test score is 100. 68% of IQ test results fall within the standard deviation of the mean. This means that most people have an IQ between 85 and 115.

Up to 24 points: profound dementia.

25–39 points: severe mental disability.

40–54 points: moderate dementia.

55–69 points: mild mental disability.

70–84 points: borderline mental disorder.

85–114 points: average intelligence.

115–129 points: Above average level.

130–144 points: moderate giftedness.

145–159 points: high endowment.

160–179 points c: exceptional talent.

over 179 points: deep endowment.

What does IQ mean?

When talking about intelligence tests, IQ is called "giftedness scores". What do they represent in assessing IQ? To understand this, it is important to first understand testing in general.

Today's IQ tests are mostly based on the original tests., developed in the early 1900s by a French psychologist Alfred Binet to identify students in need of additional assistance.

Based on his research, Binet developed the concept of mental age. Children in some age groups quickly answered questions that were usually answered by older children - their mental age exceeded chronological age. Binet's measurements of intelligence were based on the average abilities of children in a certain age group.

IQ tests are designed to measure a person's ability to solve problems and reason. The IQ score is a measure of fluid and crystallized intelligence. The scores indicate how well the test was done compared to other people in that age group.

Understanding IQ

The distribution of IQ scores follows the Bell curve– a bell-shaped curve, the peak of which corresponds to most test results. The bell is then lowered on each side, with scores below average on one side and above average on the other.

The mean value is equal to the average score and is calculated by adding all the results and then dividing them by the total number of points.

Standard deviation is a measure of variability in a population. A low standard deviation means that most of the data points are very close to the same value. A high standard deviation indicates that the data points tend to be farther from the mean. In IQ testing, the standard deviation is 15.

IQ increases

With each generation, IQ increases. This phenomenon is called the Flynn effect. named after explorer Jim Flynn. Since the 1930s, when standardized tests became widespread and researchers note a steady and significant increase in test scores in people around the world. Flynn suggested that this increase is due to an improvement in our ability to solve problems, think abstractly, and use logic.

According to Flynn, past generations have mostly dealt with the concrete and specific problems of their immediate environment, and modern people think more about abstract and hypothetical situations. Not only that, but approaches to learning have changed dramatically over the past 75 years, and more people are, as a rule, engaged in mental work.

What do the tests measure?

IQ tests evaluate logic, spatial imagination, verbal-logical thinking and visual abilities. They are not intended to measure knowledge in specific subject areas, since an intelligence test is not something that can be learned in order to improve one's score. Instead, these tests assess the ability to use logic to solve problems, recognize patterns, and quickly make connections between different information.

While it is common to hear that prominent figures such as Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking have IQs of 160 or higher, or that certain presidential candidates have specific IQs, these numbers are merely estimates. In most cases, there is no evidence that these well-known individuals have ever taken a standardized IQ test, let alone made the results public.

Why is the average score 100?

Psychometrists use a process known as standardization to compare and interpret IQ scores. This process is carried out by conducting a test on a representative sample and using its results to create standards or norms against which individual scores can be compared. Because average score is 100, experts can quickly compare individual scores to the average to see if they fall within a normal distribution.

Grading systems can vary from one publisher to another, although many tend to follow the same grading system. For example, on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale and on the Stanford-Binet test, scores in the range of 85-115 are considered "average".

What exactly do the tests measure?

IQ tests are designed to assess crystallized and fluid mental abilities.

crystallized includes knowledge and skills acquired throughout life, and mobile The ability to reason, solve problems, and make sense of abstract information.

Mobile intelligence is considered to be independent of learning and tends to decline in later life. crystallized is directly related to learning and experience and is constantly increasing over time.

The intelligence test is administered by licensed psychologists. Exist different kinds tests, many of which include a range of subtests designed to assess math ability, language skills, memory, reasoning skills, and processing speed. Their scores are then combined to form a total IQ score.

It is important to note that while average, low, and genius IQs are often spoken of, there is no single test for intelligence. Many different tests are used today, including the Stanford-Binet, the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, the Eysenck test, and the Woodcock-Johnson cognitive tests. Each of them differs in what exactly and how it is evaluated, and how the results are interpreted.

What is considered low IQ?

An IQ equal to or below 70 is considered low. In the past, this IQ was considered the standard for mental retardation, an intellectual disability characterized by significant cognitive impairment.

Today, however, IQ by itself is not used to diagnose intellectual disability. Instead, the criterion for this diagnosis is low IQ, with evidence that these cognitive limitations existed before the age of 18 and involved two or more adaptive areas such as communication and self-help.

About 2.2% of all people have an IQ score below 70.

So what does it mean to have an average IQ?

IQ level can be a good general indicator of reasoning and problem solving ability, but many psychologists suggest that the tests do not reveal the whole truth.

Among the few things they fail to measure are practical skills and talents. A person with an average IQ may be a great musician, artist, singer, or mechanic. Psychologist Howard Gardner developed the theory of multiple intelligences to address this shortcoming.

In addition, the researchers found that IQ can change over time. A study of the intelligence of adolescents with a gap of 4 years gave results, the values ​​of which varied by 20 points.

IQ tests also do not measure curiosity and how well a person understands and owns emotions. Some experts, including writer Daniel Goleman, suggest that emotional intelligence (EQ) may be even more important than IQ. The researchers found that high IQ can really help people in many areas of life, but it does not guarantee success in life.

So there is no need to worry about the lack of genius, since the vast majority of people are not geniuses. Just as a high IQ does not guarantee success, an average or low IQ does not guarantee failure or mediocrity. Other factors such as hard work, resilience, perseverance and general attitude are important pieces of the puzzle. published

Text: Ilya Yanovich

The idea of ​​measuring human intelligence with a relatively simple test appeared more than a hundred years ago and has since fallen into different hands. There is no single and universal test for IQ, but a similar technique is still used by some employers in interviews, and supporters of the far right, who are trying to scientifically prove the theory of racial superiority.

However, some time ago, scientists noticed that the average IQ in developed countries from the UK and Denmark to Australia began to fall, although it has been growing steadily for the past 80 years. We figure out whether the IQ indicator is important at all and what it really says about a person.

What affects our
mental development

New Zealand political scientist James Flynn was the first to notice the relationship between standard of living and IQ. The development of science and education, new inventions, improvement of living conditions, health care, nutrition, reduction of crime - these are some of the factors that affect intellectual development.

The so-called Flynn effect is confirmed by almost all local studies. For example, in Denmark, all people preparing to become military men must pass an IQ test - and this has been the case for more than 60 years, and the test, adapted in the middle of the last century, was updated only a few years ago. At the same time, the average result grew every year: with those scores that were considered the norm in the 1950s, today you may not be accepted into the service. Growth continued until the end of the 1990s, in the 2000s the numbers froze, fluctuating slightly in one direction or the other, and now they have gone down. And not only in Denmark: many universities and research centers around the world report similar results.

At first glance, there is no logical explanation for this: according to the Flynn effect, growth should only gain momentum. Moreover, scientists from the University of Otago - the one where Flynn conducted his research - add information flow to growth factors. The number of newspapers and magazines in the middle of the 20th century increased many times over, at the same time television appeared, and people, constantly passing through their heads large volumes data, have learned to more easily absorb any new information. The drop in numbers coincided with the massive spread of the Internet, which is even more confusing.

Flynn himself has two explanations for this phenomenon. The first version - according to statistics in developed countries, wealthy and relatively successful couples are increasingly having one child, while many large families live near the poverty line. Parents there have not received a proper education and cannot afford to pay for college or university for their children, and poor living conditions, according to the same Flynn effect, lead to a drop in intelligence. This hypothesis, firstly, requires additional research, and secondly, is consistent only if the genes really affect the level of IQ.

Genes do influence IQ levels, and significantly, according to the results of a study by American psychologist Robert Plomin. But this assumption has many opponents: allegedly Plomin and his colleagues did not provide convincing evidence in favor of the fact that from good families smart children come out because of genetic connections, and not because of the comfortable environment around them.

Flynn's second version: a high standard of living has long become the norm for most developed countries, this level is growing slightly or not at all today, which is why the average IQ is no longer rising.

What IQ Tests Really Measure and Why They're Not Universal

A test very close to what we now understand as an IQ test was developed in 1912 by the German psychologist William Lewis Stern. He took various problems and puzzles of the 19th century as a basis and tied them to his system of studying child psychology - the result partly resembled the psychological test developed by Alfred Binet in parallel. In essence, Stern wanted to create a methodology for assessing developmental potential in children, but all subsequent IQ tests (including tests by the controversial British psychologist Hans Jurgen Eysenck, which popularized the very idea of ​​​​measuring IQ) suggested variations for adults.

The test, during which you need to answer 40 questions in 30 minutes, is too outdated and inaccurate. But he got so deep into the universities research institutes, and now on the Internet, that they still cannot weather it. If you took an IQ test at school, it must have been one of the many variations of the Eysenck test. At the same time, a standardized test has not appeared for more than 100 years: there are several dozen main options (Kettel, Wexler and other psychologists), as well as several hundred modifications of them - and this is if we take into account only the tests used by major scientists, and do not take into account adapted versions for different ages.

Most likely, each of us passed the IQ test, at least out of interest, but many find it difficult to answer what exactly it measures. The most popular answer is some kind of conditional "mind". In fact, an average IQ test measures your ability to analyze new information (both using and not using old information) relative to your age. At the same time, tests are specially designed in such a way that the average value is equal to 100 points. It is believed that a result below 70 points indicates problems in mental development, but the so-called threshold of genius varies greatly from version to version: somewhere it starts from 140 points, somewhere from 160.

The man with the highest IQ in history is considered to be the American William Sidis, who was born in 1898. A writer, asexual, political activist, he read the Iliad in the original at the age of three, knew several dozen languages ​​by the age of majority and invented one of his own, was incredibly capable in mathematics, published several fantastic books and monographs on various topics. Accurate data on his IQ was not preserved, but, according to unconfirmed reports, reached a corridor of 250-300 points. Nevertheless, his only pragmatic invention, the “perpetual calendar”, is not used by anyone today.

A smart and successful person in all visible respects with an ordinary
or even low IQ is far from an exception

Taking the same test with short breaks can give you different results because your concentration is significantly affected by your physical and mental state. But even under potentially sterile conditions, IQ tests are far from being highly accurate. For example, a variant of the Eysenck test, long used in the United States to test preschoolers between the ages of 3 and 5, asked what color an apple was. The correct answer is to say that there are many colors and name some of them, but it is highly likely that a three-year-old child could see only red or only green apples, and this does not affect his mental abilities in any way.

Some versions of the Rudolf Amthauer test even ask erudition questions (“what is measured in joules?”) - the answer can be found in a second on the Internet or in a directory, which is why you will not become more capable. Psychologist W. Joel Schneider, in an interview with Scientific American, also recalls that the average IQ test gives not only a very approximate, but also a very average value, because it consists of several subtests, each of which checks different types thinking. Thus, a person with outstanding abstract thinking and weak verbal thinking is more likely to get an average result.

Research centers use more advanced systems that produce not only an average score, but also very detailed statistics. Schneider himself developed one such program called the Compositator, although he admits that it is far from the required accuracy, and a smart and successful person in all visible parameters with an ordinary or even low IQ is far from an exception. In his blog, largely dedicated to measuring IQ, Schneider notes that public interest in IQ tests and their results is declining: they are no longer taken too seriously. This is especially noticeable in American employers: in the 50s, when IQ measurement became popular, large companies they wanted to hire only people with high scores and even arranged tests right at the interview, but by the 2000s, this practice was almost completely abandoned.

Finally, another important problem with IQ tests is strict timing. It is known, for example, that Albert Einstein thought extremely slowly and did not fit into the allotted time for exams, but hardly anyone would doubt the level of his intellectual abilities.

Is high IQ important?

There are several organizations that bring together people with extremely high IQs. Mensa International will accept those whose score is higher than 98% of the population (that is, two out of a hundred people). Although you still need to pass not a standard IQ test, but a specially revised one. The Prometheus Society is much stricter: their tests are designed in such a way that only one person in 30,000 can pass them. The organization is growing very slowly: in 2013 it had only about 130 members.

The Mensa site allows you to participate in an intellectual exercise - take a test of 30 questions per hour. This is not a traditional IQ test, nor is it an admissions test for Mensa. You are warned that the test was created for entertainment purposes only, but based on the same questions and methods for assessing intelligence as the real Mensa exam, which is not in the public domain. Many tasks resemble the Eysenck test, but at the end they will describe in detail the methods for solving questions and the most common mistakes you made.

There are no extraordinary achievements among the members of Mensa and Prometheus. 68-year-old American journalist Marilyn vos Savant, a member of Prometheus and the Guinness World Record holder for IQ scores from 1986 to 1989, writes a column for Parade magazine, solves logical paradoxes, published several books and wrote several plays. But you might not have heard of her at all, although according to the test results, she is the most prominent woman in history. The last Guinness Book record holder, Korean Kim Un-young, quickly mastered mathematics and foreign languages, solved speed problems in local television programs, but by his 51st year he also did not mark anything really significant. In 1990, the Guinness Book of Records stopped including IQ champions in their publications at all, explaining that there were too many tests, they all give different results, and it was impossible to determine the winner.

While the average IQ is indeed falling across the developed world, it hasn't really affected anything, says Thomas Tiedl, a professor at the University of Copenhagen and the same scientist who noticed the decline in the average IQ of the Danish military. Quantity scientific publications is growing, an increasing percentage of people receive higher education, the pace of technology development is increasing every year, and it is not very clear whether the average IQ value can even affect anything other than statistics. So don't give too much great importance some random numbers.