Runs With Scissors - Plays Well With Others

January 11th, 2009; 3:07 PM

Current mood:animated

"The average 29 year old's I.Q. is 103" -or so states the myspace ad that is flashing on my screen. I've seen people's pages that have their I.Q. posted on them. Last night I talked to a guy who kept going on and on about how big his was (his I.Q. that is). Why do we care? Really now. Why do people pin themselves against one another in competition for who can be *rated* as having the most potential for aqiring knowledge? They are standardized tests that have social biases built into them which give economically advantaged, white, males more points. It's not that they are actually the most intelligent people out there. It's just that they have had all of their lives grooming them to do well on these kinds of tests. 
One of the things that bothers me so much when people begin to discuss IQ is that intelligence is not a stagnant thing. So why pidgeonhole ourselves with a number that will end up defining our worth as we compare to others, even though that number merely represents a moment in time. We all learn new things every day. And even if we don't *all* learn new things everyday, we at least are all CAPABLE of it. I wonder what the results would show if we took a large group of people, spanning the globe, from all sorts of different cutural backgrounds, both male and female, who were committed to a life time of learning. (I don't mean in a vague way. Like...I learned all I could today from my experience at the coffee shop. Cinnamon Dolce Latte's are sweeter than Chai. Hmmm...) When I say commited to a life time of learning, I mean in a very serious and aggressive way. Where people really pushed themselves for their whole lives. To learn as much as they could. To be lifetime students and researchers. I wonder if you took a group like that, and tested them periodically throughout their journey, what the results would show? I suspect that it would appear as if their IQ's were growing through the decades. That is until cognitive impairment begins in old age. At least, that's what I think. 
The person I spoke with seemed to think that the higher a person's IQ, the more problems they had relating well with the world and it's inhabitants. He didn't phrase it that way, but it was the jist of what he was saying. I don't fully agree with that model. I know plenty of *average* people who have a lot of problems relating well with others. And some with *less than average* intelligence who are extremely difficult to talk to when they get upset, in large part to their lack of reasoning skills. I think that all people, regardless of how smart or dumb they are, have problems sometimes, with playing well with others