Sunday, November 13, 2011

Let's Just Stop, Drop Everything, Forget Each Other's Name's, And Just Walk Away


So for this IQ test I got a subscale IQ of 134 and a subscale percentile of 99. Don't ask me what the latter thing means... my best guess is that it means I got a 99 out of 100 on the test? To be honest, I'm actually disappointed with the score - I know I can score higher than that (I participated in my aunt's friends' twin study about deviations in twins' IQ's; apparently my sister's and my IQ's are closer than most identical twins' IQ's are). The part of me looking for a reason for why my score is lower than I feel it should be is because the two people to my left decided to take the test together and outloud. Their resulting score after having restarted the test several times? 120. SMH. I was pretty distracted by some of their answer choices... when I hear something wrong I think, "Wow... Really?"  I kept my thoughts to myself and continued to take my test. But anyway, apparently I have either a very superior intelligence or an above average intelligence.

The Cyril Burt Affair
So what I got from this was that Sir Cyril Burt was an educational psychologist who studied the heredity of intelligence. I laugh that I chose this study because, after reading this, I realized this might be part of the research my aunt's friends' had been studying. Anywho, Cyril Burt did tons of twin studies, but after his death, many scientists began to find problems with his data; they began to accuse him of forging his unnaturally perfect data. So all the "proof" he had proving intelligence to be hereditary was flushed down the figurative toilet, and his reputation with it. Fortunately for him, some researchers, Robert Joynson and Ronald Fletcher, have "raised doubts about the accusations of a fraud." His name may yet be saved. Yay.

I'm just going to say this, from my familial standpoint, I'd say intelligence is hereditary. Both my mom and dad are of high intelligence as are my sister, my brother, and I. We all like generally the same things, and we all excel at the same things. Our extended family are also in the same intelligence range. I'd say Cyril Burt had something going, though I do admit that some of his data did seem "unnaturally perfect."
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5 comments:

  1. Danielle TNovember 13, 2011 at 4:05 PM

    You're lucky to have high intelligence run through your family! Apparently it runs through mine too, but I don't think I inherited much of it.. haha. That's nice that you actually anticipated on a higher score. I'd be surprised to make above average intelligence. You're so smart :)

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  2. Rosemary O.November 13, 2011 at 7:39 PM

    i always knew you were a smart girl... but those IQ tests could use some work though. i agree that intelligence is hereditary cuz my family isn't necessarily book smart but we have a lot of other...smarts... uh... enjoy your special intellectual prowess!

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  3. Josh H.November 18, 2011 at 6:35 AM

    Intelligence is totally hereditary :D also, the percentile score says how well you did compared to others so you're in the top 1% of intelligence of test takers :P so congrats haha

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  4. Nikki O.November 20, 2011 at 8:40 PM

    I was kinda surprised at first that you were disappointed with your score, but then again I guess it's a good thing to have high standards for yourself. Intelligence hereditary? Yeah, I think I agree with that, in most cases anyway.

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  5. AnonymousNovember 27, 2011 at 4:03 PM

    I think its so cool that you have a twin and yall share similar scores. You're so smart and I'm impressed that you have such a high standard for yourself..good for you!! I also agree that intelligence is hereditary..for the most part

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