<p>Hey im looking for opinions on a topic a friend and i were discussing. It started by me stating(and this is just my opinion) that a persons IQ limits the professions that one is able to consider. I said that people with average or above average IQs can attain "normal professions" but not things like a doctor or math professor or surgeon because they just dont have the required intelligence. he claimed, on the other hand, that so long as a persons IQ is decently above average, they have the ability to learn to become anything, even something like a theoretical physicist. i disagree but i figured i'd ask the ever-so smart CC population........so, basically, am I right or is he????</p>
<p>This question is stupid.</p>
<p>lol call it stupid, but we actually argued this until the cows came home last night. dont respond if you dont like the topic, or at least give your opinion.</p>
<p>I agree with your friend, but I do not think an average person will be a doctor. They have to be a little above average. I can see a B student becoming a doctor or lawyer, but not a C student.</p>
<p>thanks early college, but keep in mind that we’re not really talking about grades, but rather pure IQ. the two are strongly correlated but they are different.</p>
<p>My mom won’t tell me my IQ, but, judging from the bits she lets out, I’m pretty sure it ain’t high =(</p>
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<p>This .</p>
<p>It’s a very interesting question and I’ve debated it with people, too. I’ve actually looked up stuff about IQ and how it relates to professions. Engineering is a field that I would think people need relatively high IQs and they say the typical engineer has between 120-130. I would also agree with you about drs and surgeons, but from what I’ve seen, a lot of drs seem pretty stupid! They may have been motivated enough in med school, but I think there are a lot who lack the intelligence to be truly good physicians. Theoretical physicists, on the other hand, I think definitely have to possess way above average intelligence, at least in certain areas. I can’t imagine someone with “average” intelligence being able to grasp and expand on certain concepts.</p>
<p>I should state that my school only accepts people who test to have an above average (even slightly above average, not like a full standard deviation above average) IQ, so I don’t know many average or below average people.</p>
<p>I think an average IQ person could become a doctor but probably not a mathematician or physicist or anything like that. IQ does limit your choice in professions to some extent, but not all that much.</p>
<p>IQ is the limiting factor that constrains every person when he or she is born. It’s like ethnicity, height, or even eye color. As an inherited trait, a person doesn’t choose his or her IQ and instead, based completely on luck-- a smart person is someone who equivalently wins the jackpot in the lottery, while someone not as fortunate equivalenty wins nothing.</p>
<p>Because of the basis of luck which determines someone’s IQ, it is unimportant and a waste of time to worry about. There should be very little focus academically on it. Instead, a better priority like hard-work should be focused on. Advocates of intellect over hardwork are the people sitting on their couches at home eating potato chip and mocking everyone else because they somehow got luckier. These people need to be removed from society so the hard-workers can re-establish a society based on academic merit and value instead of a society based on lazy people who dwell on their IQs thinking they’re so good. Yes, thank the SAT for that. These worthless individuals are rewarded for eating and sleeping, and living vivaciously by watching everyone else suffer around them. The ones who laugh at others because they know they will always be better because of the currect education system which favors people who don’t do anything to those who do. It’s really sad, but part of life I suppose. People who appear beautiful are favored in the mainstream society which is about the same as someone with a higher IQ who is favored by colleges under the use of the SAT.</p>
<p>IQ = mainstream media, on an opposite spectrum.</p>
<p>Yes and no.</p>
<p>I really don’t agree with the use of an individual’s IQ for job placement except for broad differences. If your IQ is 120<x<130, you can pretty much do any profession, you just probably won’t be incredibly good at it. Above that level IQ isn’t going to be helpful for what you can and can’t do. It comes down to how hard you will work… and in any case IQ tests aren’t great after 130 because IQ test-makers don’t have a lot of people to deal with. </p>
<p>Oh, and I don’t think any average person can be a doctor… I remember reading you need an IQ of around 120 to be a doctor or a lawyer. You need about an IQ of 110 to 115 to be a police officer so that you’re smarter than most of the criminals you’re hunting down or people you’re pulling over. </p>
<p>What I’m saying is that we shouldn’t give IQ tests to become like China, but more so to give people direction. A person with an IQ of 110 is probably not going to be a good physicist no matter how hard he or she tries.</p>
<p>Other interesting things I’ve heard:</p>
<p>The average IQ for blacks is 85, the average for whites is 100, the average for Asians is 115
The Flynn effect says that smarter people are getting even smarter a lot faster than less intelligent peers</p>
<p>What is that other kind of measurement ummm EQ? something like that which measures emotional or mental maturity? Idk I just heard about it not too long ago (I think somewhere on these boards). But I have been told that a perfect balance between the two is better than being a straight out genius…</p>
<p>hmmmm it seems most people are saying yes and no. I just feel like if its true( that IQ essientially determines your learning and professional capabilities, which i do believe) then the consequences are huge. It would mean that we are better off telling people what they can and cannot achieve before the age of 10. My friend and I are both african americans and this was of particular interest to us because of the well known fact that AAs have on the average relatively low IQs compared to other ethnicities. my friend said it was sad how comparatively few blacks have and or attain big goals, such as becoming a doctor or getting a PHd. I said what I have argued here, that alot of the black population, (among other disadvantages) arent as mentally capable as other races, as proven by IQ, which can explain why kids in the general black community tend to not have or reach these kinds of aspirations. So yeah it got sorta heated.</p>
<p>People seem to over estimate IQ. To say that you need an IQ of 120 (only about 9% of people have an IQ of 120 or above) to be an engineer is absurd.</p>
<p>From what I understand, there are different components to IQ (what specificly it consists of I don’t quite know). Someone with a more logical mind but a poor literary mind might have a lower IQ than someone else, but their mind may be better equipt for doing a particular task because the other person may have a more balanced mind. </p>
<p>Aigiqinf, your numbers are wrong. Depending on the region, in America the average IQ for Whites is about 101, Blacks is 80-85, Asians is about 106. In Asia (being Oriental Asia) the average IQ is about 101-102. In Sub-Saharan Africa the average IQ is usaually between 76-59 (depends on the country, seems to be mainly dependent on prosparity of the country). The differences between race are based on a number of things though. Intelligence is more correlated with prosperity in Asia than it is in America/Europe and that more than in Africa. And I assume there’s other things I don’t know about. </p>
<p>Here’s 2 articles…</p>
<p>[Race</a> Differences in Intelligence - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_Differences_in_Intelligence]Race”>Race Differences in Intelligence (book) - Wikipedia)
[IQ</a> and the Wealth of Nations - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IQ_by_country]IQ”>Nations and IQ - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>ostonziii, you have a point. Still, I think that attempting to “learn” how to take an IQ test compromises the test and makes it pointless. So if someone was to improve their performance on an IQ test by preparing for it somehow, I dont think it would really tell us anything. also, most people learn their IQs at a young age, so it wouldnt matter if they grew in IQ as they advanced in their careers. we still know that most engineers or physicians or whatever have higher IQs at a young age before they learn anything related to their future careers.</p>
<p>No. I don’t think it does.</p>
<p>Environment definitely plays a role in IQ. You can have a genetic predisposition for a high IQ, but if your environment sucks, you will most likely not reach your full potential. There have been extensive studies that prove it. But, I also believe that no matter how enriching your environment may be, if you don’t have the genes, your IQ will only go so high.</p>
<p>I think the idea of being able to “study” for IQ tests is ridiculous. Some components of the tests can definitely be worked on, but most cannot be “learned”. That’s why it’s stupid to look at the SATs as an aptitude test because they can be coached and drastically improved upon.</p>
<p>IQs are not supposed to be considered very reliable at a very early age. The best time to test is around 9 yrs. After that, no matter what you learn or study, they do not change much. As an adult, the scores decline as cognitive abilities deteriorate.</p>
<p>As for the disparity between races, I do not think it’s solely genetic. I think it has much more to do with environment and societal influences. I think white people are mostly to blame for that. I’m white so I can say that! African Americans have had a distinct disadvantage in our messed up society and when you look at many African nations, it’s obvious that there are also many disadvantages there…poverty, disease, and inequality. I think that if African Americans were given the same opportunities as whites, we’d see those IQ averages change real quick. There’s no reason to believe that AAs do not have the same genetic potential.</p>
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<p>LOL, no.</p>
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<p>Probably true, though I doubt many people that aren’t in the top 30% intelligence-wise aspire to be physicists.</p>
<p>One thing nobody’s brought up (explicitly) is that the general IQ of society is increasing at a rather rapid pace. The IQ tests children are given today are much more difficult than the ones given 50+ years ago. The number of IQ is meaningless unless you also know which IQ test you took.</p>
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<p>I brought up the Flynn effect… and actually IQ isn’t increasing, intelligence is. IQ tests are recentered…</p>
<p>Re-centered because … otherwise they’d be increasing. semantics</p>