There is still a lot of mystery surrounding intelligence and proper ways to measure it. This is a very popular topic in psychology and you can all sorts of researches related to it. Scientists started creating the advanced method in the early years of the 20th century. However, there is still an ongoing debate over which method is the most accurate.
You can find all sorts of tests online where you can check your score. However, you will also hear that many of them are not accurate at all. Also, it is important to understand that intelligence is not a simple term, and it can be measured in different ways. If you are interested in doing a professional test, check out iq-global-test.com.
The founders of tests in a form that is still used today were Theodore Simon and Alfred Binet. These two scientists were working on the identification of various factors that can be related to intelligence. In the years and decades after their discoveries, we can see a lot more related to this topic. Here are some of the best methods of measurement that are being used today.
1. Wechsler Scale
This type of test represents a combination of tasks related to performances in verbal communication, ability to catch details, and memorizing phrases and pictures. There are several parts of this test. The first one is related to general knowledge and will have to answer all kinds of questions that will become harder over time.
Moreover, you will have to memorize letters and numbers, solve puzzles and equations, combine symbols, and more. There are different models for children and adults. Even though it is not proven that it can accurately measure the exact level of intelligence, this is one of the most common models today.
2. Individual and Group Tests
When it comes to individual tests, they are much more complex than most other models. Therefore, they can be provided only by experts in this field. The most common use is for people with certain mental disabilities since it can help the therapist to determine their level of them. This method is crucial for providing people with mental disabilities with proper assistance.
Also, it can help them to see if these people can be a threat to themselves and society and is there a chance for them to develop new skills, find a job, play sports, and more. On the other side, they are using the same test for people with extraordinary mental abilities.
When it comes to group tests, they are the same as a standard scale and IQ, and it is mostly used as part of exams in colleges, while some versions are used in the military as well.
3. Speed of Processing
Besides the ability to memorize things, many scientists think that the time needed for that is also an important factor. That is the main reason why so many tests have certain limits related to time. They will measure the intelligence by using short questions where the person can score more points if it manages to provide correct answers in a shorter time. You will notice that most of these tests include short questions and a set of symbols where the point is to be successful at the rate of at least 80% and finish it as fast as you can.
4. Neural Activities
Some tests are including neural activities as one of the factors. they are measuring the activity of the brain during challenging tasks. the score will get higher if the activity remains calmer even after being provided with complex tasks. This model is excellent to check whether someone is capable of working in stressful conditions and remain able to resolve the challenges along the way.
5. Standard IQ Test
The most common form of testing is well-known and you can find it in various forms. There are various factors included, where age plays a big role. That is important for providing different levels of testing for different ages and groups of people. A score of 100 is determined to be an average, and everything above that is considered high intelligence. Moreover, the scale between 110 and 120 is related to people with extraordinary intelligence.
Furthermore, a scale up to 140 is for even higher intelligence, while everything above that is considered as genius. While there are many debates related to the accuracy of common tests, we can see that many scientists and famous people can be found in the list of smartest people. Some of them are Edith Stern, Marie Curie, Nikola Tesla. Leonardo Da Vinci, Albert Einstein, and more.
While we are not sure about the accuracy when it comes to adults, and how it can predict whether someone is intelligent or not by using these assignments and checking the activity of the people, there are many indicators that they can be accurate for kids. It is proven that children with higher scores find it less challenging to finish school with higher grades and attend college after that.
The Bottom Line
The most common misconception is that people are born with fixed scores and that there is nothing to do about that. On the other side, there are some proven methods that you can try to increase your score. The focus should be on keeping your mind sharp all the time. In that matter, you should try to learn new things more often, play instruments, read a lot of books, but also to be more physically active, improve your sleeping patterns, have a proper diet, and much more.
On the other side, it doesn’t mean that people with higher intelligence are predestined to be more successful. On the contrary, it is proven that there is a higher chance for these people to find some obstacles more challenging. Also, they have a higher chance of developing mental disorders like depression, obsessive-compulsive behaviors, dementia, and many other issues. We can notice that many famous scientists had similar problems in their lives.