Despite it was discovered arguably lately (compared to physics, mathematics, engineering, and so on) it is one of the most statistically significant concepts in humanities. And as we know humanities not only know significantly less compared to exact sciences but their ways of proving are very limited.
This article covers likely something that you already know, but you may be wrong on something so this will take you right.
No matter what the g factor (IQ) is it’s so important that it strongly correlates with formal education achievement, job prestige, morbidity and mortality.
However, people’s perception of it and lack of explanation from professionals leads to wrong conclusions.
All of Hitler’s men had an IQ of 130 and everybody with an IQ of 130 could have been Hitler’s man. Totally wrong. While Hitler’s men IQ’s were most likely really high your high IQ cannot qualify you to be a good politician, manager, economist, scientist, banker and so on.
It is something extremely important but it is actually something very statistical – from the start to the end. Factor analysis (factor analysis is a statistical method used to describe variability among observed, correlated variables in terms of a potentially lower number of unobserved variables called factors) is something statistical to its core.
And then the whole statistical concept correlates with the above-mentioned variables. But it is still a statistic.
The g factor is something measurable but people with the same IQ (let’s say 130) differ in their skills and abilities. One can say there is something as talent (which is connected to IQ). But the desirable skills (being a good politician, scientist, economist) should be an inseparable part of the g factor concept (IQ). But they are not.
Pick up a random Mensa member and have him undergo batteries statistically related to the g factor but not causal to it. He may fail miserably.
Cloning an average man with an IQ of 130 and letting him make the whole population. While the population IQ would be so high, the skills would be specific to the cloned man. So IQ is something statistically distributed with skills different and various talents (which correlate with IQ) in the population. By the way, with IQ so “low”, there wouldn’t be anyone able to operate a nuclear power station or make an atomic bomb.
Not everyone with an IQ of 150+ discovered something but everybody who discovered something had an IQ of 150+.
No doubt people with enormously high IQs unable to make it in prestigious occupations are cognitively super-fit but they are still unable to make it. You can be smarter in every possible manner than someone with IQ 20 points higher.
So having a statistical population of IQs of 60, 85, 100, 125, or 150 definitely predicts the particular individual’s outcome but it is still something very statistical.
Some people may say that sheer IQ is the key; it doesn’t matter whether the actual individual has little vocabulary, isn’t smart in a broader sense, or isn’t educated (even though these are parts of IQ). You don’t need this to be a great physicist, programmer, or mathematician.
But even people with “just” sheer IQ (let’s say 150) don’t need to be smart enough to be fit for the aforementioned professions. Some Mensa members have nothing but IQs.
Everything is distributed around the g factor. A nuclear scientist (an IQ of 155) is extremely bright but have at least an average vocabulary. In my case, I have a huge difference between performance and verbal IQs, but my global IQ still correlates with my abilities that less fortunate individuals don’t possess or individuals’ abilities I don’t possess.
What the g factor is about:
Talent (it is connected with IQ)
Creativity (ditto)
Mastering some crafts (manual crafts, stock trading, piano playing)
What the g factor is not about:
Having some concrete knowledge (you already have that knowledge, but your smarter counterparts (on average) would have understood it quickly and have been able to develop it better than you)
We have naturally a specific personality (for example, the overachievers) that destine us to a specific socioeconomically place. But your IQ plays a decisive role.
One unnamed Czech economic university accepts its applicants just by sheer IQ (basically). And guess what? Some of them make it in business or prestigious occupations, and some of them don’t (similar IQ scores, different abilities). So really good schools should take into consideration other things such as talent or personality traits.
Some people – and sadly psychologists – believe we have multiple intelligences. This is not just a lie, but it is completely illogical. Intelligence is a general ability and it (the g factor) also arises among the proposed different intelligences. It should be noted the theory of multiple intelligences has no support from mainstream psychology.
It should be also noted that standard IQ test batteries have their tasks that are “g loaded” (how much the task correlates with plain “g factor”). The reason is that the test is designed to detect mental illnesses or other psychopathological phenomena.
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