How To Exploit Your Brain's Unlimited Power
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“The difference between intelligence and an education is this-that intelligence will make you a good living.” - Charles Franklin Kettering

Before you can understand how your I.Q. affects your brain and your life, you must understand what it is, how it works, and how to interpret the scores. Let me emphasize right off the bat that your I.Q. score has nothing to do with your value as a person. The tests should not necessarily be considered an absolute measure of intelligence. It should only give you an idea of your range of intelligence. It often happens that a person of above average intelligence scores low. It could be as simple as having an off day. The test scores should not be looked at as the be-all and end-all of measuring an individual’s intelligence.

The I.Q. tests are made up of a set of standardized tests developed to measure your cognitive abilities, in relation to your age group. The WISC-III test contains ten types of problems, rated by difficulty and skill type and is the most common I.Q. test administered. The online I.Q. test is very popular right now, easy to take and costs nothing. The disadvantages, however, are that the online versions have no experts to certify them; they have fewer questions and no time limit. But, they can measure a general capacity for solving verbal and mathematical problems.

The average I.Q. score is 100 and the standard deviation of the scores is 15. What this means is that:

• 50% of the people have scores somewhere between 90 and 110.

• 2.5% of the people are considered superior in intelligence and have scores over 130.

• 2.5% of the people are considered mentally deficient or impaired and have scores under 70.

• 0.5% of the people have near genius scores of over 140.

What does this all mean to you? If you score 100 on the I.Q. test, it means that half the population scored higher than you and half scored lower than you.

The tests themselves are made to evaluate your skill in several areas.

• Verbal - This measures your mastery of vocabulary and your ability to use language to express yourself, as well as to comprehend stories and understand other people.

• Mathematical - This measures your mastery of numerical skills, the ability to use numbers and calculate computations. This also shows your mastery of shapes and equations.

• Spatial - This measures your ability to deal with visualization and manipulating 3D objects by flipping and rotating them.

• Logic - This measures your ability to make deductions that will lead to rational conclusions, as well as your understanding of cause and effect.

• Pattern Recognition - This measures your ability to see order in a chaotic environment. Patterns are found throughout nature and in everyday symbols, words, and images.

• Visualization - This measures how well you perceive visual patterns and extract the information you need for problem solving.

• Classification - This measures your ability to find similarities and differences between selected items.

Studies have shown that those people who are careful about their health and safety have a higher I.Q. They also discovered that conditions such as post-traumatic disorder, severe depression, and schizophrenia show up less often in those with a higher I.Q. On the reverse side, there was a much higher incident of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) in those with a higher I.Q. score.

There is a controversy surrounding the administering of the I.Q. tests. Some insist that the Symbolic Logic, which is used as a means of scoring on these tests, does not necessarily denote intelligence. There are some too, who wonder exactly what is being measured with these tests. It’s felt that some could show an amazing amount of emotional intelligence and yet not be able to comprehend the information necessary to do well on the tests. Many feel that other tests should be added to the existing I.Q. standardized tests. There are still those who debate whether income level, nutrition, race and gender have a definite impact on these tests, and thereby question their validity.

There is also the question of whether nature or nurture actually influences the development of the human brain, and can be argued on both sides.

Scientists are also reeling over the data gathered that shows a large jump in the average I.Q. score, presenting the question of whether this new generation is really smarter than all the previous ones. In a study done in 1998, it showed that it was indeed an increase of three I.Q. points per decade in the United States.

Part of the answer was in the early neurological development of the children; they are being stimulated at an earlier age than ever before. They also credit better education, better nutrition, more money, the fact that families are smaller these days than before, as well as television and video games. As a side note, it was determined that because they taught the children to manipulate objects through a 3-dimensional space, certain video games actually increased their I.Q.

Many of the scientists agreed that we must become smarter if we hope to survive. The world has become more complex and our intelligence must keep pace.

Despite whether or not the I.Q. tests are valuable, or a waste of time, they will continue to be administered, in the hopes of determining where a person’s skills are strongest and weakest. Yet another reason to continue to learn and grow, and keep our brains honed and sharp.

“Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.” - Henry Ford