"Average IQ" of the US estimated at 98 - tied for 17th place, right after Mongolia.

[old mark]

See this article on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IQ_and_the_Wealth_of_Nations


Hong Kong leads at 107, and they don't have a Sarah Palin.

mark

[ddeclue]

1. By DEFINITION shouldn't average IQ = 100?

:rofl:

[Posteritatis]

2. And the average IQ for the human race as a whole is

Doesn't mean it won't be higher or lower for some subsets of the population.

[Wickerman]

15. Except the IQ they use to estimate worldwide IQ is typically normed

on the US population. :shrug:

[ddeclue]

19. Damned Teabaggers dragging us down..

:rofl:

Yeah my point exactly..

My response to this OP is that it is silly, in any sufficiently large sample it should drive towards 100 and if not then sample size is too small.

[Posteritatis]

45. Which is a broken enough idea that it shouldn't be used anyway. *shrug* (nt)

[derby378]

3. I think I'm in the 130-135 range, but...

...we're gonna need all the help we can get.

One of these days I should get my IQ tested for real by Mensa or somebody.

[theoldman]

10. You can take an online IQ test.

Mine compared with previous tests taken on paper.

[itsrobert]

16. The two Online IQ test I have taken

have me in the lower genius category. I don't believe I'm anywhere near that. ;)

[FBaggins]

12. Lol

That's intended as humor, right?

"And I'm humble... I haven't measured exactly HOW humble, yet... but believe me when I tell you how humble I am!"

[SharonAnn]

22. I too am extremely humble. And I'm very proud of my humility!

[NYC_SKP]

25. My humility is boundless. Verily, the world has never seen the humility that I possess.

:P

[derby378]

30. LOL!

:rofl:

[conscious evolution]

52. LOL

You and Sharonanne sound like an AA seventh step meeting.

[mainer]

4. Interesting, but suspect on so many levels

[nsd]

5. What's your point?

Leaving aside the fraught question of what IQ actually measures, that Wikipedia link indicates the US is tied with Australia, Denmark, France, and Mongolia. I'm not sure why you singled out Mongolia. But, in any case, so what?

[BolivarianHero]

6. This study is BS...

How the fuck can a liberal state like Rhode Island elect a wacko douche bag like Dan Carcieri if the U.S. has a higher average IQ than Canada? How the fuck an a country with Free Republic, Sarah Palin, a strong fundamentalist cohort, and the happenings described in Top 10 Conservative Idiots have a higher average IQ than Canada?

Logically impossible.

[movonne]

24. I think our media is somewhat part of the lowering our IQ....

[phasma ex machina]

56. +1 nt

[Greyhound]

7. It's not your imagination. n/t

:kick: & R

[jobycom]

8. At least we kick Canada's ass.

Not that I believe you can measure a national IQ like that, anyway.

[Darth_Kitten]

11. It's Wikipedia.............

:(

[FBaggins]

14. Wikipedia isn't the problem

It's the "study" itself that is BS on so many levels.

There are enough adjustments in there for assumptions that the author makes that the book boils down to nothing more than "because I said so"

[jobycom]

18. yeah, that's it. Wiki's entry is about a book that made the calculations, not about IQ scores.

So the Wiki entry is just summing up what the book said.

[FBaggins]

21. Wiki also did an adequate job of outlining some of the "concerns" with the "research" - n/t

n/t

[elehhhhna]

36. uh, we totally don't, though

[theoldman]

9. Let's not confuse IQ with knowledge.

I would guess we are far down on the list when it comes to knowledge.

[JuniperLea]

39. Exactly...

IQ measures the mind's ability to figure things out, not what it knows. A nimble mind can also be empty.

[Junkdrawer]

13. He he he...Poland's a point higher....So, why don't they have coffee breaks in the US?

Retraining costs are too high...

[old mark]

40. Yes, Poland is higher - I wonder if they have US jokes there -

Oh, yeah - Germany is 102, and

we are also tied with France.

mark

[Name removed]

58. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[pipi_k]

59. Oh my goodness...

My Polish daughter-in-law is going to be very surprised to find out she's a different race.


:rofl:

[Cerridwen]

17. The amount of 19th Century and Victorian Era influenced "science" that is

accepted as unequivocally "objective," "scientific," and "factual" makes my teeth itch.

IQ would be one of the itchier inducing ones.

edit to add "influenced." It was in my head but didn't make it to the keyboard in time.

[Bozita]

20. They must not know about the Teabaggers.

[sinkingfeeling]

23. Personally, I think the average American IQ is less than 98.

[berni_mccoy]

26. WE BEAT CANADA!!!

[old mark]

41. I think you have to be a bit smarter to live down here

and dodge all the bullets.

mark

[Hannah Bell]

27. another bullshit study based on bullshit stats.

[a la izquierda]

48. from a bullshit, factually inaccurate website...

[Burma Jones]

50. The website is merely describing a book

Was the website's description of the book inaccurate?

[a la izquierda]

53. As a whole, Wikipedia is a junk source.

For instance, I couldn't remember the date for something, so I looked on Wiki. I figured they could get a date right. Well, incidentally, the date *was* correct. But the rest of the information contained in the entry was completely wrong.
Another time, I had a student cite Wikipedia as a source in a paper. The entire citation was so full of errors, it was ridiculous. So, moral of the story: take everything from Wiki with a large pinch of salt.

[immoderate]

28. Do they know about Lake Woebegone, where all the children are above average?

Seriously, what a nonsensical use of IQ numbers. The margin of error of the tests accounts for most of the differences.

--imm

[mmonk]

29. Sounds a little high.

[phasma ex machina]

55. +1 nt

[FarCenter]

31. Population size also matters

China at mean 100 and standard deviation of 15, would have 9.18% of its population above IQ=120 or 122,474,970 intelligent enough for intellectual work.

The US at mean 98 and standard deviation of 15, would have 8.85% of its population above IQ=120 or 27,252,955 intelligent enough for intellectual work.

India at mean 81 and standard deviation of 15, would have 0.47% of its population above IQ=120 or 5,511,361 intelligent enough for intellectual work.

[kestrel91316]

32. I was in Mensa, but don't know my IQ. Does that make me stupid?

[thelordofhell]

38. The fact that you USED to be in Mensa means you're not stupid

I used to be in Mensa too. Never have I met a more conceited bunch of people in my whole life. Rich people are less arrogant than Mensa members.

[kestrel91316]

43. They weren't ALL bad, but yeah, many were truly insufferable.

[thelordofhell]

44. That's the trouble with any club

The rotten %2 ruin it for the other 98.

:)

[old mark]

46. I thought about joining, but asked around and decided not to.

I really enjoyed having parties with PhD's, astronomers and other scientists, but to be in an organization seems to bring out the worst in people, including me.

mark

[DU GrovelBot]

33. ## PLEASE DONATE TO DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND! ##

This week is our fourth quarter 2009 fund drive. Democratic Underground is
a completely independent website. We depend on donations from our members
to cover our costs. Please take a moment to donate! Thank you!

[stiplic]

34. Dumb and pathetic - that's America

[sharp_stick]

35. All I needed to read

was that the author Richard Lynn recieved a grant from the Pioneer Fund. That pretty much tosses the entire thing in the bin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_fund

[inna]

37. Fascinating!

* Hong Kong 107
1 South Korea 106
2 Japan 105
3 Taiwan 104
4 Singapore 103
5 Austria 102
5 Germany 102
5 Italy 102
5 Netherlands 102
9 Sweden 101
9 Switzerland 101
11 Belgium 100
11 China 100
11 New Zealand 100
11 United Kingdom 100
15 Hungary 99
15 Poland 99
15 Spain 99
17 Australia 98
17 Denmark 98
17 France 98
17 Mongolia 98
17 United States 98
22 Canada 97

[hyphenate]

42. Unfortunately

measuring IQ is no longer reliable, as there is a major cultural bias in it.

Several articles:

http://wilderdom.com/personality/intelligenceCulturalBias.html

http://www.psychpage.com/learning/library/intell/biased.html

http://www.southernct.edu/organizations/hcr/2001/nonfiction/testbias.htm

It doesn't matter that other nations might not have a "Sarah Palin" but in many countries, there is a different perspective that might not work anywhere else, but one suitably designed for testing.

A score of between 100-110 is considered normal based on the tests used in American schools, and is perfectly acceptable by most. A score between 90-100 is still a good score, though a mite less spectacular. Incremental increases over 110 might look nice on paper, but all these tests are somewhat less than accurate the higher the noted IQ might go. They were originally used to determine whether someone in a category less rhan normal could benefit from additional classes or remedial courses.

I remember in my high school that they never told any of us what our scores were, though most of us found out much later. One of my teachers was talking about it saying we would be surprised by who had the higher scores, and he was looking right at me. But that was about 40 years ago, and lots of the tests were inaccurate in their assessments. So it is not without precedent that the IQ tests used elsewhere in the world are likely as slipshod as the American versions.

[Vinca]

47. After watching the teabagger rallies, 98 is a rosy figure.

[old mark]

57. Read Palin's book - it may be more like 89.......

Palin alone lowered the average by a few points.

mark

[Burma Jones]

49. That looks like "The Bell Curve"

So, to improve our national IQ, we merely need to add more Asians and remove some Africans, right?

Then the economy will soar


:sarcasm:

[Teaser]

51. Well, what do you think is wrong with their methodology

btw, the Bell Curve was arguing for intrinsic differences. Odds are most of these differences correlate well with cultural and economic factors.

[pipi_k]

54. Last online IQ test I took had me at 68 or so...

and it probably would have been lower if I hadn't guessed correctly on some of the math questions.

I hate math. I'm a mathematical moron. Any test which includes math will have me at the "Just over the line between chimps and humans" level.


Soooo...that having been said, it's probably all my fault the "average" IQ for the US is below 100


:7