The New Intelligence: Iq Is a Myth

By Duncan Ewing

The reality is that IQ is not the way to go to measure intelligence, it is about the notion that we have not measured intelligence well.

We have focused on bad tests to access mental functioning of a person where that we have put labels on a person.

We need to stop putting labels on a person and focus on the real measure of what it means to be smart, we all are intelligent.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Feb 5, 2014
• ISBN: 9781491718438

Duncan Ewing

I am from terrace BC, grew up in Duncan BC where I went to Cow high to get my grade 12. I got my BA diploma in Arts and Sciences in 2011 from Vancouver Island University. Goal: Get BA psychology degree in 5-7 years and become a counsellor.

Book preview

THE NEW INTELLIGENCE

IQ IS A MYTH

Copyright © 2013 Duncan Ewing.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

The information, ideas, and suggestions in this book are not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. Before following any suggestions contained in this book, you should consult your personal physician. Neither the author nor the publisher shall be liable or responsible for any loss or damage allegedly arising as a consequence of your use or application of any information or suggestions in this book.

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ISBN: 978-1-4917-1842-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-1843-8 (e)

iUniverse rev. date: 12/09/2013

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Conclusion

Introduction

This topic of intelligence possess with it very interesting connotations that one must be aware of in order to better understand something that each one of us has inside. According to the theory of intelligence, it seems we don’t really know why some people are smarter than others and some are dumber than others. Yet with all the media news, and psychologists who demand that we test something that in reality cannot be tested, but the purpose of putting people into groups is based upon how they perform on mental tasks.

If the person is a bit slow, we automatically assume something is wrong with them, that they are not capable of doing things and label them as retarded. The word retard is a negative connotation of someone who doesn’t have the capacity to learn at a normal rate compared to same age peers their own age. This creates confusion among the person since according to a test, they are not smart and won’t be able to make it through life without major help.

Society has this idea that if one is smart then they can do anything and if one is stupid, they pretty much are useless according to one test that tests what exactly. So people that bully others usually rely on a low IQ to tear apart someone who in their mind is slow. How can we be sure that the person is slow when in fact they could be intelligent but we as a society rely on this failed method to test their potential. No wonder why so many people are dropping out of high school, since the supports are not there to help those that don’t learn in a typical way. Stories like those who cannot function in society are based on the fact that we are using an imperfect measure to access human functioning. Things need to change and this book will bust myths and challenge the current method of measuring intelligence, thus a new way of intelligence will be discovered.

The current meaning of intelligence basically puts the empathizes on how smart one is, whether that has any logical meaning is another thing altogether. So to provide an example, the person who has an IQ of 145 and complete a masters degree but yet cannot even do the simplest task such as cook a meal. If the person has a high IQ and low adaptive functioning then the reality is there are smart and stupid at the same time. In this book, the topic of intelligence in regards to social and daily functioning should not be measured by the standard means that have been around for 100 years. The purpose of intelligence is not to put people in groups, nor should it be tested, we are intelligent in nature.

On the other side of the coin, there are those that have low IQ’s but high adaptive functioning, which I will talk about in this book, adaptive functioning is part of the new equation, but there is much more. This reality of how smart one is does not mean it is okay to conclude smart people do better than those that are dumb. IQ being measured based on grade level is bogus, it has no scientific means for an educator to test ones abilities that likely change over time. One year you could score low, but 10 years down the road the IQ could be high, once you learn and acquire new knowledge.

In a nutshell you are probably wondering what will be covered in this book, well mostly a new meaning of intelligence that will hopefully guide people away from IQ tests. IQ tests have been around for way too long, they are starting to become invalid means of measuring intelligence. Why would we focus on a number to measure something or success in life, who would come up with some crazy idea like that, history will be covered in this book.

My hope in writing this book is that others will see that just because a psychologist tested your IQ and labelled you does not mean it is true for your life. There is much more to realize than what the expert said, he or she does not know about motivation, or talents. The only thing they know is that the number is valid for school performance but in reality how can we predict how one will do in school based on the IQ. If you look at the gifted education such as challenge programs, they need more than just a number, it is a whole profile. So in reality one can have a IQ above 130 but not qualify for the gifted program since they don’t meet the other criteria of the label gifted. I had an IQ above 130 but did not qualify for the challenge program so go figure right, i was just a brilliant student with some talents.

Some of the topics in this book are based on what we have thought as to be correct for all these years when in reality they are not entirely true. Science basically has assume intelligence can be measured this way, and the saying is smart history of a failed idea note the word failed idea here. The notion that intelligence or IQ is a failed idea means that it cannot be measured this way, and there is actually a book out in the library with this title, I would grab a hold of it. It really hurts hearing of stories of those who scored high failing in their life. They have so much potential but in reality, applying for all jobs, but no yes signals, it causes the person doubt seeing someone with such low intelligence doing so well.

I encourage all reading this book, even those scientists to note carefully the new type of intelligence, this is what it is really about. It is not about what you have assumed all these years, it is not about a number, it is not about labels, it is about a broader definition. So in reality this book I believe will change this worlds views of intelligence, no longer will we rely on bad tests to measure it, there will be a brand new method. Coming up with idea of writing this as my second book was not easy, I had to pray lots about it, but the idea of this came up into my head, that change in attitudes is the best way to change peoples perspectives of what they have assumed to be true.

Chapter 1

What is intelligence according to our limited understanding of human brain and its ability to solve problems. Do we really know the meaning of intelligence and if so, then why do we get it so wrong, and mixed up with the initial definition. For starters if we did an experiment and sampled 10,000 people asking them similar questions about various topics, then we should be aware that each person will have a different answer and not all will get the questions right. So in this case, we should note that the correct sequence of events is to assume that each person was able to answer means they are smart right?

This would be easy enough to grasp if everyone was smart and no one was higher or lower than the other person. So in regards to the reality of our society, this is never the case and we need to label a person based on how many answers they got right. Intelligence should not be like this but we need to define it and two famous psychologists that lived in the 1900s will do the trick. Note the only purpose of Intelligence was to measure how a person would do in school, whether they needed extra help for learning problems.

To define back in 1910 a psychologist named Alfred Binet saw that some students were struggling with academic work thus others the work was too easy, so he thought of a way to determine the best course of action to assist those students in the extreme two groups. He knew there was a problem but he had no tests to access how to correct the issue, so his brain hatched a brilliant idea, I will create a test measuring verbal tasks to determine how the students do in both the extreme groups. Thus each task measured how well the student could think, reason and comprehend information and the results would conclude what special programs the students would qualify for.

This test became know as the Stanford binet scale of intelligence and thus currently has 4 revisions each with the same tasks. Thus the scales of scores ranged from very high to very low based upon a IQ being from 40-160. To define this further, any score below 70 was considered retarded or learning disabled. This label was those students that couldn’t learn in a regular class and needed extensive help in that they could only learn material up to the sixth grade. Then there were those that did not meet this criteria, but will still a bit slow, thus slow learner range from 70-85. In this range the student could still learn but needed some help with school, but did not qualify for support services because the IQ was too high, it was not in the normal range, and thus not in the retarded range.

At the other end of the scale were those that had an IQ above 130 and thus were labelled as gifted. This was the lowest baseline for entrance into a gifted program, back in these days, as these students needed extensive acceleration just to make it, since they were too advanced to learn the regular material as they knew it. Most of these students the sky was the limit they could do anything, no limitations and teachers hated these students the most since they questioned everything. Then there were bright students who had IQ between 115-130, these pupils did not qualify for the gifted program, but most had gifts and talents that could bring greatness, therefore labelled high achieving, most likely to excel with hard work and positive attitude.

The two extremes became the centrepiece of further stan ford binet revisions and thus intelligence was just a verbal side to it, or was it there must have been some other psychologist to disagree with Alfred. If you ever watched the movie Forrest gump, this is the test they used to determine his level of intelligence as scary as it may seem, this was the only test back in that time. This character had an IQ of 75 which was in the slow learner category, he was adhered to a special class for those with intellectual disabilities but his mother disapproved of it, and he was put in a normal school.

If you watched the whole movie, Forrest was bullied almost every day and thus no one would pay any attention to him, he was called idiot, retard, dummy, but that was what these people were called in the day. This was very sad movie since it depicted a seemingly simple man, mislabeled by an IQ test that only measured verbal ability, thus his other abilities were not included so people based on one test put this diagnosis on him, how could we base intelligence on just verbal tests when it is more. Therefore something had to be done, how are we going to access more abilities of a person that are not verbal.

Later on another psychologist disagreed with Alfred stating intelligence has non verbal parts as well, and he thought of a way to test the parts that did not include speaking. His name was David Weschler, and he developed a different definition of intelligence that has become modern. David Weschler thought that measuring just the verbal part of intelligence did not give an adequate description of a persons abilities. How could one know how smart one was just based solely on verbal tasks such as comprehension, vocabulary, and other reasoning tests.

He did not like the reality of Alfred Binets example since it only dealt with school performance, what David Weschler needed was a global functioning of a person after school ended, and Alfreds test did not explain that quite well in that it was based upon academic performance. How could you know how a person would do after school, based upon what

Reviews for The New Intelligence

[Cathy · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Highly insulting to people experiencing mental illness “ someone deranged in the head “ is the terrible phrase used in Chapter 9,.Underplays the challenges of those with learning difficulties.