Are IQ tests biased?

[jeffrey_X]

Does anyone have some insight or thoughts on the following questions?

1.) Since there is a consensus in mainstream science that IQ tests are not biased, why is it that the popular press tends to consistently report otherwise?

2.)Do you know of any tests (beside mainstream IQ tests, e.g., the Wechsler Scales) that are based on nationally representative norms that are updated every 10-15 years? I don't.


Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks!

[asjr]

1. My cynical observation is

)1
Unbiased tests are not controversial enough to report. You know that liberal press. They are experts at making mountains of mole hills.

[LastKnight]

2. IQ tests are intended to determine potential...

... not current knoweledge, which all that ive so far have tested current knowelege and not potential. potential is determined by the analogies and shape pattern matching stuff. ect...

-LK

[AlienGirl]

12. "Potential" of what?

I blew the top off an IQ test administered by a psychologist when I was a kid...but at 31, I am working as a retail monkey and making under 20 grand a year.

Tucker

[Rabrrrrrr]

16. Potential ability to solve problems, process data, find patterns,

come up with correct conclusions, form sensible relations between data, etc.

Doesn't have anything to do with potential income, sadly. Income and intelligence do fluctuate together (nor does income and skill).

One of the smartest (in terms of actual knowledge) and most intelligent (in terms of being to process data and make intuitive and accurate leaps in thinking) human beings I've ever known was a high school classmate who failed out of college, was fired from his job working the deli at a supermarket, and now works as a mechanic.

[unblock]

17. iq doesn't have a lot to do with working for hire

so much goes into career/job pay and iq is a very, very small portion of it.

training, ambition, greed, negotiating skill, personal interest, opportunity, background, social class, physical talents/skills/limitations, social/interpersonal/professional skills/training, and good old dumb luck, all come in to play.

high iq can be a handicap in many ways, especially in the social/interpersonal business realm; whereas low iq can almost always be overcome through social skills and/or determination.


iq is correlated with academic success, not business success.

specifically, it's well-correlated with the likelihood to reach sophomore year in college. beyond that it's not of much use.

[stevebreeze]

3. Lets rewrite them all in Ebonics

Then lets see how well all the pampered suburbanites of wealthy families do.
:kick:

[cryofan]

7. I think that most IQ tests these days

....mainly rely on manipulation of graphical symbols, thus eliminating any possible language bias.

[murielm99]

13. Not all of them rely on that.

Those types of tests are used for very young children who do not yet read. There are several other types of tests that correlate to IQ that do require language and reading skills.

[unblock]

15. perhaps you should reconsider the word "language"

they get away somewhat from language in the sense that they avoid culture/class -specific vocabulary, which is transparantly biased.

however, the there are certain conventions, assumptions, and patterns in the graphical problems and i submit that the particular types of symbols, conventions, and standard manipulations constitute something of a language (if not a fully expressive one) with all the potential bias problems of english or any other spoken/written language.

familiarity with these conventions and symbols helps immensely in the tests, and there is a class/wealth correlation with such familiarity.

at a minimum, the test-takers should take the test at least twice, with only the second score counting. that would at least address a portion of my concern. but this doesn't happen because the test promoters pretend to be testing something native and don't like the idea that practice can improve the result; but of course, it does, at least up to the point that you are completely familiar with the nature of the test.

[Paranoid_Portlander]

21. Practice really does improve the result.

I remember going to three prospective employers and taking three IQ tests with the exact same questions. Employer #1 thought I wasn't very bright, so he didn't hire me, but by the time I got to #3, he said "Wow, that's the highest score I've ever seen, so of course we can't hire you." After the first test, I remembered most of the questions and figured out the answers, and the technique they were looking for, at home where I had plenty of time to do so.

[Interrobang]

19. And those tests are biased against those with motor disabilities.

I did the WISC-R (pattern-matching, timed manipulation tests, etc) when I was 5 years old, and tested out as "trainably retarded." Since I was already reading at approximately a Grade X level by that point, had a verbal vocabulary in the top 0.01% and had already independently figured out General Relativity at the age of 4, they decided to give me a different test.

The test I eventually took *did* have quite a bit of culture bias in it, as I recall (reconstructed Stamford-Binet, 1987), but because I'd done quite a lot of reading, I was able to knock it out of the park. :)

[gkdmaths]

4. there's a consensus?

and define mainstream science.

the majority of scientists, professors and other intelli-blessed folks whom I am daily exposed to actually take issue with the entire idea of the "IQ test" as a measure of intellect, potential or aptitude. These people would also shake their finger at me for even responding to this post.... :shrug:

Perhaps you have confused real scientists with mainstream scientists who are all too often sellout DuPont chemists and republican industrial whores who work as hard at redefining science as they do making an extra buck.

IQ tests are, in general, a defunct concept, IMHO.

On edit: I scored very high on several tests as a child - i even got to skip grades - but I am not a very intelligent person, except that I have realized the phrase: "the more i learn the less I know".

:)

I also think that the general IQ test is based on the concept of resoning in spatial format "which side goes to which, what is the next pattern in the sequence..". I had heard that in general, men score better on these tests than women becuase men are more spatially oriented (can 'visualize' easier), so in this sense they are biased.

[Rabrrrrrr]

18. The timed concept also bothers me

Thankfully, I've always made excellent time so this isn't sour grapes, but I know people who I would consider equally intelligent as I, or even more so, but who score lower becuase they are slower in their processing; but their processing is really, really good.

maybe IQ tests shuoldn't base the IQ number on the speed, but put the final score into two sections instead: like "Fast 132" or "Slow 145" or "Median 105" etc.

[Ladyhawk]

5. Hmmmm. I took an online IQ test about two weeks ago and wondered...

...the same thing. I got a score of 127 and the silly thing is, I've always thought I was smarter than that. :) How's that for intellectual snobbery?

/me fwaps herself.

[demconfive]

6. All tests are biased.

Obviously they are biased towards those who know the answers. The question should be: what are you testing? You have to define "intelligence" before you can test it. Since I have never seen a definitive definition to what "intelligence " is , I would have to say these tests are flawed .

The original IQ tests were devised by a french scientist to compare development in children. It was never meant as a test of true intelligence, but as a way to find kids who needed help. The politicians and social scientists seized on them to further their usually racist and sexist agendas . Take a look at Jay Goulding's book, "Mismeasure of Man".

[Yavin4]

8. I Hate All IQ and Aptitude Tests Because They DISCOURAGE...

learning. So what someone if someone has a lower IQ or learns at a slower rate? So what if they need more time to learn new concepts. Let them take more time. You don't have to be highly intelligent in order to learn. All that IQ tests do is discourage people from learning and discourage teachers from teaching people who learn at a slower rate.

[Guaranteed]

9. Biased...how?

Of course it's biased, since it's measuring a certain form of intelligence. The questions are specifically written to make use of that form of intelligence.

[dweller]

10. are you studying?

what level courses? Abnormal Psych?
just curious.

http://www1.umn.edu/mmpi/Reprints/Revising%20psychological%20tests.html
http://www.wooster.edu/library/guides/bibliographies/psychology/psy_tests.html


http://www.abacon.com/carson/ce.html#\***** FEATURES *****\Placebo Effect Debated <oops,lost my place..>

only one,
dp

[jeffrey_X]

11. Yes....

Currently doing undergrad work.

Thank you for the links. :thumbsup:

[DrWeird]

14. IQ tests are for children.

They were invented specifically to identify which school children need specific attention in class. They have no other use. The only thing it measures in adults is the ability to solve tricky little puzzles, and that makes it about as relevant as the cross-word puzzle or "spot the difference" games in newspapers.

It's basically just whackoff material for trekkie Mensa types and racists who think The Bell Curve was an interesting book.

[Nikia]

20. As part of my psych exam, I took a reasoning test

I am not sure which test it was. It has math word problems, series, opposite/same, fill in the blank all mixed up. It was timed and it was suppose to be difficult to get through all the questions. I was suprised how many questions involved sports or the military. I thought that a test like this gave an advantage to "macho men" who would be more familiar with the vocabulary of these activities. I was told that I scored the highest of the three finalists but I don't think that I did particuliarly well compared to many reasoning tests that I had in the past.
I am also reminded of a test that my sister and I took for a prep high school, their entrance/scholarship exam. I laughed when I got to the analogy:"Golf:Fore as..." We both scored very high but I decied to live with my dad instead of moving to the urban area where my mother and step father were moving. My sister went to that school for a term before transferring to public school after suffering from their snobbery.