Can intelligence of human beings really be measured correctly by IQ tests? The debate goes on.
While a lot of experts the world over have laid a lot of emphasis on the importance of IQ tests in checking the overall capability and intelligence of a person, the fact remains that the actual measurement remains a fairly subjective matter.
True, there are tests that have been designed for testing the exact Intelligence Quotient of a person, whichever part of the world he or she hails from. These IQ tests can also be taken by people of varying educational backgrounds and race as they are pretty simple to understand. The fact remains, however, that the IQ tests can actually be different at different times for the same person. Why is this so?
It has been proven that a person who receives some kind of training in the expectations from an IQ test will definitely do better than a rookie attempt. So is it really a test of intelligence, or of the levels of preparation the person being tested has undergone?
Two people of arguably the same intelligence level when coming from different backgrounds would perform differently on these IQ tests. The tests themselves have been designed to check the levels of purely western requirements. The same person when brought up in a primarily developing country, say, Nigeria, would arguably score much lower in the same IQ test. This has been brought out by various scholars time and again, and there is fair amount of evidence to collaborate this.
It is no wonder then that eminent scholars like Dr James Watson have come up with strange sounding theories based on these IQ tests, that black people have less intelligence than their white counterparts. Of course being politically incorrect, more so in the present times of Barrack Obama, such statements have been met with the obvious result – social ostracism of the famous scientist. But is he really to blame?
Food for thought before you prescribe the next IQ test.