Search the internet for \"intelligence test\" or \"IQ test\" and visit some of t

Question

Search the internet for "intelligence test" or "IQ test" and visit some of the sites that the search produces. Help generate a discussion about the prevalence of self-described intelligence tests available online. Your discussion may include issues of standardization; the reliability and validity (or lack thereof) of such tests; the definitions of intelligence implied by each test; and the benefits and drawbacks of the availability of these online tests of intelligence. Make sure your response is thorough and well thought-out and includes supporting information from your readings, modules, or other sources.

Explanation / Answer

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. You may elaborate the answer based on personal views or your classwork if necessary.

This response is based on the free versions of IQ tests from the following sites:

https://www.123test.com/iq-test/

http://www.free-iqtest.net/

https://iq-research.info/en/matrix/1

I will refer to them as link 1, link 2 and link 3.

(Answer) Firstly, upon taking all three tests, it seemed that these questions were based on tests of simple logic. The questions and options were designed with an aim to determine how the test-taker analysis a problem in order to come to a certain conclusion. Based on these critical thinking skills and logical thinking, the test-taker might pick a certain option. The option the test-taker would pick, determines what kind of logic was used. If the test-taker forms a certain pattern with the kind of logic they use, it becomes easy to determine the extent and variety of their critical thinking abilities. This forms the score which is commonly known as the “Intelligence quotient.”

In several tests, the site asks for questions that are quite irrelevant to critical thinking. In link 2, the test seems to be more of a personality test than an IQ test. It manages to ask the test-taker for their date of birth and gender. Such information should be left anonymous so that the computer can actually come up with the most objective results possible.

One’s intellect can be determined by their ability to logically decipher a solution from a given problem. We see intelligent individuals in labs, who come up with complex mathematical solutions. Also, we see intelligent people in our everyday lives, who find solutions to everyday problems by adapting to situations through a logical route. Based on this explanation, link 3 seems to be the test that is closest to a proper IQ test that helps determine one’s intellect.

However, intellect is a matter of quality mental applications to problems. This can be varied based on the person’s talent with particular problems, their experience with certain problems, their temperament and personality and other such variables. A fish might be a wonderful swimmer but might be terrible at climbing a tree. This means that a fish has its own area of intellect and is flawed in other areas. Intellect does not mean that one is invincible to any problem. It means that one has honed their logical reasoning to a great calibre for particular problems. An IQ test, on the other hand, contains a mixed bag of questions based on different elements of the “standard logic system.” There might be individuals who are good at problems dealing with propositional logic, while there might be others who are good at first-order logic. A penchant towards one type of logic surely does not make an individual of a lower IQ but rather one with a preference.

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