What's common with Albert Einstein, Learnado Da Vinci and Stephen W Hawking? High rate of Intelligence, of course. They were not known to be subjected to any IQ tests in their lifetime though.IQ stands for Intelligence Quotient as we all know. Intelligence of any individual is difficult to measure it is said. Yet this has not stopped us to get attracted by intelligence tests.
What's the score for an average IQ rating? What is the score the above gentlemen would have scored in such tests or to put it another way how much is given to them each by the scientific community? Which community or countrymen top the list with highest IQ rating in the world? Being an Indian, I was curious to know, where does an average Indian stand in the scale?
The biggest irony is that the first IQ test ever invented by two professional psychologists of France in 1905 was not to find out the brightest among students but on the contrary the weakest who may require support in their studies!!Read about IQ, the most sought after 'commodity' in the world, which most of us are not aware of!
It was in 1905 that two French Psychologists named Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon designed a professional IQ test for children. It was never known as IQ test then because the abbreviation IQ was coined by German Psychologist named William Stern only in 1912.The intention of Binet and Simon in formulating the test was for school children to find out those who are struggling in studies so that they can be supported! But it so happened that this test became the basis of all modern IQ tests which came thereafter to this day!
Salient ratings of IQ tests
Most of the people when tested fall between 85-115, while 100 is considered as the average. It is found that career wise IQ ratings of Managers and Administrators are lower than professional doctors and technocrats. Sales people stand still lower!
What about sex difference in intelligence? Test results show that in certain test batteries males are better while in others females. In overall performance there is zero difference. Also it is found that among races it varies is a myth! It is also proved that the new generation fares over the old because of better education, better nutrition and better environments.
Dark history of Tests..
All countries have imperfect history and US or others are no exemptions. While Adolf Hitler is notoriously projected as champion of racisms practiced at its extreme in the world, do you know that Virginia Sterilization Act of 1924 which allowed Sterilization of the feebleminded in US? So also in Nordic countries like Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden in 1930s.
A poster in US by those believed in Eugenics!
Based on Eugenics- practice of selective breeding of human population based on IQ tests- definitely there was a dark past in history of mankind in conducting such tests. It was as late as 2001 that Virginia General Assembly passed a joint resolution expressing regret over such incidents and offered compensations to the victims expected to be not less than 7000! During WWI, US Army used to conduct two type of tests for the new recruits, named as Alpha and Beta tests it is recorded. The first was a written test while the second was for those who couldn't read.
However thankfully intentions and practices of IQ tests improved all around the world over the years which are based on verbal reasoning, working memory and visual-spatial skills.
Which countries top the list in IQ rating..
The best 10 countries in the world in IQ rankings are as below:
1.Japan 106.48
2.Taiwan 106.47
3.Singapore 105.89
4.Hong Kong (China) 105.37
5.China 104.10
6.South Korea 102.35
7.Belarus 101.60
8.Finland 101.20
9.Liechtenstein 101.70
10.Germany &Netherlands 100.74
One can notice that there is hardly any difference in scores between the first and second which are Japan and Taiwan! Also one can notice that the first six countries are from Asia and from one region more or less. In spite of this fact the Europeans made Asia their colonies and stole all our resources. Still they do in one way or the other!! I have noticed that some surveys vary in results of the rankings but only in minor nature. Surprisingly- at least for me- India stands in a position of 143 only out of 199 countries!!India unfortunately get lower rankings in almost all the international ranking scales such as Hunger Index, Cleanliness, Pollution etc in spite that we are one of the richest countries in the world currently. The main reason could be the huge disparity in everything among the people but in anther ten years I think India will do much better.
Mensa International and TNS
There are few international clubs/societies where the membership is restricted to those having very high IQ ratings. Mensa International is such an organization having 134000 members in 100 countries world wide. Their requirement for membership is a score over 98th percentile on certain standard IQ tests! Another similar organization is Triple Nine Society or TNS. Their requirement for membership is 99.9th percentile as indicated in the name!
Tail Piece
While reading and writing a lot about these blessed people with a lot of intelligence, I find myself solace with words of Socrates and Samuel Goldwyn. Socrates we all know about. Samuel Goldwyn was a poor Polish Jew migrated to US who eventually became a leading business person apart from a film producer and director there.
Socrates who lived between 470-399BC philosophically had told " I know that I am intelligent because I know nothing! ". Samuel Goldwyn 1879-1974 was more practical when he concluded that " Give me a smart idiot over a stupid genius any day"! Albert Einstein himself has commented that "I can' is 100 times more important than "I.Q"!
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