Re: IQ tests
@DJO - there are such things as culture-free tests, y'know, and indeed, back when I took the MENSA test, one had to take a battery of tests, and the one you rated highest on was the one they counted as your IQ. I'm pretty sure my IQ result was based on the culture-free test (they don;t actually tell you that), which is based on pattern-recognition, as I very much doubt my IQ would have rated so highly on the other ones. (If you're wondering, I broke the bank on the MENSA test, and so was rated 161 (1 point higher than their test can 'accurately' measure) though some less formal tests I took another time indicated my IQ may be in the 170-175 range, Cattel-3 scale or about 150 Weschler).
I was also the only person a certain borough council had that ever achieved a perfect score on their job entrance test (I was told folk aren't supposed to be able to complete it in time, let alone get all the answers right. Bizarrely, I didn't get the job because they thought I'd be bored. They didn't accept my argument that I'd rather be bored than starving).
That said, I've always thought that what IQ tests are doing is measuring processing power rather than what one might generally think of as 'intelligence'. Certainly, I am NOT as intelligent in the everyday sense as the above would seem to indicate, as anyone that knows me could tell you, and I find it amusing that some (not all) folk with high IQ's put on airs and graces about it. I just seem to be decent at processing data, but garbage in, garbage out and all that... (shrugs) :-}
Biting the hand that feeds IT
