What Does IQ Stand For & How To Measure it
Are you wondering what is IQ and how to measure it? Suppose we are considering you a ten-year-old child who lives in a village in India during the turn of the century, around the year 1904.
We are also considering that you’re having big trouble in school, learning how to spell all those French words and you are worried that how to read books like Candide.
But the question is why are you struggling?
Is the answer to this question because you are low in intelligence? Or is it simply because you belong to a poor family who doesn’t have the same resources and privileges as a rich family has?
Maybe you are a very intelligent guy, but your problems in your school are due to genuine pragmatic issues such as the lack of books at your home.
There was a man, his name was Alfred Binet. He lived in France during this period and noticed that many children in the school were struggling. He didn’t think that it was due to the lack of intelligence.
So Binet had made a very important distinction between two different things that could lead to poor school performance. He said that some children will do worse because they aren’t intelligent, simple.
Therefore, there’s not much that could be done to help them directly to improve their grades. Nevertheless, he also added that other children have plenty of learning abilities and the essential potential to do well. So, now we are little close to knowing what does IQ stand for.
So What Really is IQ?
But they will struggle simply because of their life circumstances. He said that these students, who have higher learning ability, should be distinguished from the other children who do worse in their school because of the low level of intelligence.
This is odd, which paved the way for Binet’s new idea. Later he called that “Intelligence Quotient or IQ (in short)”.
Everyone in this enormous world has an individual intelligence quotient, which is a number that indicates anyone’s inherent ability to learn instead of simply the knowledge that person already has.
If you have a high IQ, then it means that you have the essential intelligence, which is required to do well in school because you have the ability or potential to succeed.
How Does IQ is Calculated?
Now this IQ is a total score, which is derived from a set of standardized tests or subtests designed to assess human intelligence.
IQ tests that will measure the intelligence include:
- Raven’s Progressive Matrices
- Cattell Culture Fair III
- Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scales
- Thurstone’s Primary Mental Abilities
- Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test
- Multidimensional Aptitude Battery II
- Das–Naglieri cognitive assessment system
- Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test
IQ Test scores are determined by taking “the age” at which a human being operates and dividing that by his/her “actual age” and then by multiplying that by 100.
For example, we can say if a person can do a work of someone who is aged 25, but their chronological age is 20, then their IQ would be 125 (25/20 X 100 = 125).
Now, the IQ score leads to a descriptive classification. If someone has an IQ score of 130+, then that person is considered as very superior.
If the score lies between 120 to 129, then he/she is superior. While if it is 110 to 119, then he/she is considered as High average.
And if the score is 90 to 109, then he/she is considered as average. If the score lies between 80 to 90, then that person falls under the low average list. That the proper guide on what does IQ stand for.
Also If the score comes as below 69, then that person falls under the “Intellectually disable” category.