In the study, individuals watched short video clips of black and white bars moving across a computer screen. Some clips were small and filled only the centre of the screen, while others filled the whole screen.The participants sole task was to identify in which direction the bars were drifting – to the right or to the left.Participants also…
Being Smart in the 21st Century
Boredom and stupidity are linked because curiosity cures both. I just don’t know many dumb inquisitive people. I think many are confused about what it means to be smart today. I hear people speaking often about others being “way smarter than them” based on this or that accomplishment, and I wonder what they mean by that. I also…
10 Interesting Data Points on IQ and Demographics
Gene Expression recently put up a brilliant post showing data on the GSS‘s WORDSUM scores correlated to various demographic data points, such as educational attainment, political ideology, religious preferences, etc. From the post: A few years ago I put up a post, WORDSUM & IQ & the correlation, as a “reference” post. Basically if anyone objected to using…
Smart People Drink Alcohol | Discover Magazine
Image from Discover Magazine This is the chart of the day — easily. Notes 1Source article.
Add Women to Groups to Make Them Smarter
There’s some fascinating new research showing that adding women to a group of problem solvers makes them more effective. The reason is clear and unsurprising to me: smart men tend to dominate and restrict the flow of ideas, while smart women focus more on sharing and nurturing ideas, which assists the overall progress. :: (thanks to @laurenroth for…
Racism Scopecreep in the Liberal Media
Image from edweek.org I like the New York Times; I think they produce an overall strong product. But sometimes the PC-bend is simply overwhelming. This piece on the New York Firefighters test is a case in point. They argue that the firefighter’s test is racist in hidden, sneaky ways–like in requiring people to be good at reading comprehension.…
Grit: The Missing Link Between IQ, Talent, and Success
This is a fascinating article about something I’ve been writing about for a long time now. Psychologists are calling it “grit”. I’ve been calling it the ability to “grind”, which is similar enough to be interesting by itself. Anyway, the point of the article is that grit seems to be just as important, and in many cases more…
25 Facts About IQ You Probably Don’t Accept
One of the things that irks me is really smart people who still deny that the concept of IQ, the fact that it can be quite accurately tested, or it’s usefulness as a predictor of success. As this article lays out pretty nicely, the basic moving parts of IQ and the testing of it have been decently understood…
More Variation in State IQ Scores = A More Democratic State
The wider a state’s intelligence distribution is, the bluer that state tends to be. In addition to inequalities in educational attainment and wealth, inequalities in IQ are also good for the Democratic party. So the party putatively determined to reduce inequality benefits from doing just the opposite, while the party putatively more tolerant of cutthroat competition and the…
I.Q. Can Be Improved Significantly by Training Short-Term “Fluid” Memory
An interesting study has come out of the National Science Foundation (NSF) that found that fluid memory (a type of short-term memory) is key to I.Q., and that training this type of memory can significantly improve I.Q. scores. Chalk one up for nurture. Links [ Fluid Memory Training Improves I.Q. | nsf.gov ]