Measurable Intelligence?

The Visual Pattern Intelligence Test - very well worth trying.

This was an interesting mind-bender. The test creator posted some questions on the results page that are quite thought-provoking. I will get around to answering them later.

First, the results:

Sir Francis Galton, the cousin of Charles Darwin, first popularized the notion of measurable intelligence in the late 1800s. Charles Spearman later discovered that all mental abilities tend to correlate together when statistically analyzed. He called this G. Modern researchers tend to agree that there are two kinds of intelligence, crystallized intelligence (learned knowledge) and fluid intelligence (abstract processing ability). Most non-verbal intelligence tests measure the latter. Some research suggests that fluid intelligence may correlate best to G. Congratulations, you obtained a perfect score. I am researching intelligence and personality so I would greatly appreciate if you would use the comment form below to answer the following questions. What was your childhood IQ measured at? SAT score? GRE score? What is your career or what career do you plan on pursuing? How has your intelligence affected your life? Do you think intelligence correlates negatively with physical attractiveness? Did you have any problems with any of the questions on this test, was it challenging, easy? Include your email if you are open to possibly getting follow up questions. If you would rather think about the questions and answer later, submit your answers via the contact link. Your overall percentile is 99% which means you scored higher than 99% of the people who have taken this test. The internet population tends to be more intelligent so your percentile might be higher if the test taking sample was perfectly random. Keep in mind, taking this test more than once will render your percentile score inaccurate because the percentile score assumes these questions were fresh to the test taker. The point of this test is to challenge you and show you how you compare to other test takers on a set of novel questions. Consequently, I need to keep the answers secret to protect the integrity of the test.

Now, onto the questions.

What was your childhood IQ measured at? SAT score? GRE score?
I never had my IQ taken as a child, so I wouldn't know. I am not in the American education system, so haven't take the SATs or GRE. If online IQ test are reliable, my current IQ would be in the 130+ range, I suppose. It has tested to be as high as 150+, but that was probably not reliable.

What is your career or what career do you plan on pursuing?
I work in an academic institution, mainly doing research. Yes, I do believe that intelligence is part of the job requirement. And I do consider myself fully smart enough to do my job. I do wish I could do my job better, but that has less to do with wanting to be more intelligent and more a desire for having a better memory of things learnt long ago.

How has your intelligence affected your life?
The practical effect is easy to quantify: it got me an education and a job. More intangibly, it made me curious about things and drove me to seek out knowledge beyond my comfort zone. I like to think that I have developed a measure of open-mindedness and largesse of spirit because of that.

I have gone through most of my life knowing that I am of at least above-average intelligence. I did well at school, I quite liked Maths and I absolutely slaughtered the opposition at Scrabble. I won't deny that I am thankful for being intelligent. I am not a genius by any means, and in my line of work, I meet plenty of people who are much smarter and more mentally agile than I ever could be. But I am pretty happy with whatever mental faculties I have been given. It has definitely made life easier, and probably made life more interesting.

Do you think intelligence correlates negatively with physical attractiveness?
Since both physical attractiveness and intelligence are genetic, a negative correlation would imply some sort of embedded physiological encoding. I don't know, I still think that there is a lottery element to genetics, and luck has some part to play in the distribution of looks and brains.

Getting away from the genetics for a while, to some extent, intelligence correlates negatively with the desire to BE physically attractive. Not that intelligent people want to appear unattractive, just that they tend to be more indifferent.

Did you have any problems with any of the questions on this test, was it challenging, easy?
A few were quite complex to work out. But in all cases, once the correct answer had been reasoned out, there was no ambiguity or guessing between multiple choices.