[valiumcheapll]

What about those high-IQ east asians? They aren't exactly bumping their heads on the ceilings.

[kennyguitar]

What about those high-IQ east asians? They aren't exactly bumping their heads on the ceilings.

I suppose higher East Asians do better.
I mean seriusly isn't this like saying that since IQ correlates with health Westerners should have on average higher IQ's than Chinese since they live longer?

[Avaindimik]

It seems to me this is just a way to say that men are taller than women...

JM

No, no the fascinating bit is that IQ tests, if I recall properly, where set up with the definition that both sexes average IQ's are identical. I don't know where the 3 to 5 point gap comes from. Yeah the article says height, but like they point out men are taller than women on average. Isn't this like designing a test that correlates with testosterone and for decades keeps saying that most testing shows women do equally well on average but then suddenly new recent r. establishes this not to be the case.

Sure...my comment wasn't serious.

This is apolyton everything is deadly serious and completley silly at the same time.

[Wsjltrhe]

I'm over 6 foot tall when I lay down, is that enough?

[st01en_lox]

IQ tests aren't a particularly good measure of anything other than the ability to do such tests. The more practice of the tests or questions asking similar questions, the better you're going to do. They aren't a test of raw ability.

[GenrieAB]

It is fair to say that if you practice and train for them you can learn the styles of questions and answers and improve your performance. And there is evidence of cultural bias. Almost all of them have some language component and unfairly score dyslexics.

I would go as far as to say that

IQ tests aren't a particularly good measure of anything other than the ability to do such tests. Is actually a reasonable statement, although it fails to give enough weight to the fact that to do an IQ test you have to be able to do lots of other things. So although it's "only" testing how good you are at IQ tests, that tells you quite a lot. And being able to learn to recognise patterns in questions to improve your performance is a skill in itself.

[pseusawbappem]

You really want to dissect it?

IQ tests aren't a particularly good measure of anything other than the ability to do such tests.

is obviously a subjective judgment (what counts as "particularly good"?), but given that IQ is one of the best available predictors of things like income, I'd say it's false.

The more practice of the tests or questions asking similar questions, the better you're going to do.

Is true, but not particularly relevant.

They aren't a test of raw ability.

This last bit is completely false - IQ scores are among the best predictors of all kinds of intellectual ability.

There's a world of difference between the claim "IQ scores are not a perfect predictor of intelligence" (true, but uninformative; nothing is) and "IQ scores are not a useful predictor of intelligence" (false, and what kittenOfChaos is claiming).

[Hinigyday]

[PVaQlNaP]

If taller people indeed are more intelligent, it could be simply via larger volume
of their heads (taller people probably have larger skulls and thus larger brains).

I'd contend, though, that the difference can be alternatively explained by purely
environmental factors. Taller kids grow up to be more confident and this can
allow them to reach more of their genetic potential.

[FelikTen]

an extrinsic correlation between height and intelligence produced by Mechanisms 1 and 2....Consistent with our suggestion, we show that men may have higher IQs than women because they are taller

Maybe I am riding the short bus, but if the basic mechanism is an extrinsic correlation, why then introduce causation? Surely the statement that men are taller because they are more intelligent would be equally valid based on the stated premise. (I assume it comes out of #4, but it's unclear due to lack of comment on the number of sons intelligent parents have)