Question for the sake of understanding

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asked 5 years ago

Hello, Your Honor,

I don’t know if you’re knowledgeable on the subject, but I’ll ask anyway, because I really trust you.

I want to know whether IQ tests really are an indication of a person’s intelligence quotient.
Will a person who is estimated after a test to have an IQ of 160 necessarily outperform another person who is estimated after a test to have an IQ of 140?
Will that person with high intelligence necessarily succeed in studying Torah or in learning mathematics and physics, in general and in particular, beyond a person with a 140 IQ?
I personally experience moments throughout the day and in general, in which I have certain sparks of understanding and high reasoning and vice versa.
Is it possible for a certain person to estimate a score of 120, and at certain times of their life, which can be called ‘highlights’, to achieve high achievements that are not embarrassing for a person with a score estimated at around 150?

Thanks in advance!

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מיכי Staff answered 5 years ago

I’m really not an expert and there are big debates around the matter. But I think it’s clear to everyone that intelligence tests do measure something related to intelligence (certain types of it), but the connection between this something and abilities in a specific field is far from unambiguous. The prediction of a psychometric test for success in academic studies is far from complete. Therefore, you don’t even need special moments of abnormality to say that the test is not an unambiguous measure.

dvirlevi311 replied 5 years ago

Read the book “The Inconvenient Truth About Intelligence” by Dr. Roy Yozvitz. There are interesting things there regarding your question. Also watch his YouTube channel recently a conversation on the subject (in English, with subtitles)