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IQ: Continue the series: 1,2,3, ..

Which of the following statements reflect your opinion about that IQ question?

  • These kinds of tests just promote people to fool around.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    36

Katsuni

Priestess Of Syrinx
Joined
Aug 22, 2009
Messages
1,238
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ENTP
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3w4?
Hate IQ tests because of this... there's no truly accurate way to test intelligence in the scale they claim.

Every single question is going to assume that yeu understand certain basic concepts, such as a base 10 mathematical system, that yeu know how to spell something, or whot certain words mean, and some of them get really stupid with 'trick' questions.

I usually catch trick questions easily, I can work complex math problems in my head, I'm able to learn virtually any musical instrument with unnatural speed DESPITE BEING TONE DEAF (don't ask, I don't know either), and I can make the most delicious cooking dishes off the top of my head with ease, or even more than hold my own in debates on the big questions of life, and pose previously unasked ones.

Give me a simple anagram and I'm screwed.

I can't spell worth crap to begin with, and trying to rearrange meaningless letters into a word is beyond my capabilities. Yes, I can learn languages with excessive speed as long as they're latin based, and can read most latin based languages well enough to get a basic understanding of whot's being said despite never having seen the language before... but I can't spell and anagrams will defeat me every time if they're more than 5 letters long, and even below that it's 50/50 at best.

I've taken a fair number of IQ tests, and over this have gotten scores ranging from about 100, to over 170. It depends pretty much solely upon which kind of questions are asked, and that certain determinations are assummed... actually the only one I've gotten less than 140 on was the official brittish survey, of which it kept referancing "x is to y, as n is to ?" but half the time it referanced words I didn't know.

The ones with time limits are even more pathetic... seriously yeu can have someone who's slow, but that's only because their mind is so analytical that they go through every single possibility one at a time to weigh each of them, they may get every single answer correct because they're brilliant, but their methodology may be very slow... and as such they'll score lower. Because they're dumb? No, because they were carefully evaluating all angles to make sure there weren't any trick questions. That's not stupid, that's being cautious.

The problem is that 'intelligence' is basically the ability for the mind to comprehend and process new information, and compare it against previous information acquired.

If yeu have a poor memory, or don't have any ease with memorizing arbitrary abstract information, then it's harder to compare the new information against the old. If yeu didn't have the old information in the first place then yeu can't make a measurement at all in the first place.

The speed of being able to make connections is ONE aspect of intelligence, but not always. There's far more than enough cases of the two being completely independant, such as the example I used above of the guy who went through every possibility's nuances. And then there's idiot savants, who can often process bizzare amounts of information with inhuman speed... but they don't know whot to do with it. Yeu could ask them to multiply togeather two 18 digit numbers, and they could do so faster than yeu could type them into a calculator with ease... ask them to spell their own name and they get baffled.

There's so many aspects to intelligence it's hard to keep track of it all, yeu can be "a culinary genius" when it comes to food... yet fail yeur math course, and still be heralded as a brillant cook. How many brilliant musical composers existed, yet didn't do so well in things that were not in the arts?

Einstein FAILED MATH.

True it was because he didn't understand the language one of the tests was in, though I'm not sure how that came about... but the fact stands, that supposedly the smartest person in our lifetime in PHYSICS, a maths heavy subject... failed math... is just further proof that it's not as directly related as we may think.

Keep in mind there's other aspects as well, for example, a male mind is far more likely to be capable of grasping objects in a 3d plane, and understanding their rotations about multiple axis at the same time. There's females who can do the same thing (I passed perfectly on a test of this type myself as proof) but it's exceedingly rare. Does this make women stupid? Uhm... no. It does mean that the brain may not neccesarily process information in the same way however for the genders, and then there's the individual basis which can make things even more complex.

So is there a 'true' way to measure intelligence reliably? No. Not even close. If yeu asked me a large number of mathematical questions, i'd get most of them correct, such as the 1,2,3 sequence made me think of several possibilities which may fit. N*2-(N/2.1) rounded would also come out to the same thing, as a 1,2,3,5. As we have no way of knowing how the previous numbers had been considered, we can't truly evaluate the ending value, because there could be multiple options. A famous example being "2+2 is 10... IN BASE 4!" from Portal. As such, the best yeu can do is try to guess whot the most likely situation is, or whot the creator "wants" yeu to think, in which case it becomes less a test of formal logic, and more informal intuition.

Since noone is truly able to think in all manners with equal skill, we're left with the bigger problem of how does this even matter? I mean yeu can test someone, but if yeu put all yeur effort into making only a single type of intelligence to be measured, then if yeu don't display those particular traits, yeu'll fail miserably, even if yeu're very adept in other ways. If however, yeu try to do the standard 'a little bit of everything', people who may excel in certain areas will look far less adept than they really are, while those who are kind of alright in alot of areas but not really great at anything may end up appearing far higher on the list than they really should be for any of the topics given.

Is scoring a 50% on 5 topics really mean yeu're as smart as someone who scored 25,25,50,50,100? Technically they average out to the same amount, but it's more than a little bit of a difference in terms of actual capability... it's blatantly obvious one of these individuals is "kind of alright" on a few topics, whereas the other one is brillant in their chosen field, but kind of not so great in fields that may be completely unrelated, and require a completely different mindset.

In any case... IQ tests suck, and they mean nothing.

As an aside, the common belief that 'good spelling means yeu're smart' is a LIE, since it revolves solely around memorization of arbitrary rules, and exceptions to rules, and the exceptions to the exceptions (english at least sucks). Learning an inuit language is even more ridiculous as it's pure 100% blind memorization, as none of the inuit languages are synthetic in origin... meaning they run into the neccesity for a new word? They just make one up on the spot, it has zero correlation to anything else, and doesn't mean anything. Latin based languages at least have a degree of synthesis to them so that each new word is carefully constructed to make sense to those surrounding them in meaning. In any case, it basically means that yeah, I know I can't spell well, but it doesn't make me an idiot. It just means I can't spell worth crap XD
 

BlueScreen

Fail 2.0
Joined
Nov 8, 2008
Messages
2,668
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YMCA
4.

I think it is the Te in me. This one doesn't really provoke much tangential thinking. And it is a waste of brain power that can be used for other things to do so.

On the other hand, if the question is one of the "which is the odd one out..." ones, there almost always seems to be multiple solutions. And how you answer is totally dependent on whether you want to conform to the most common one, or choose the most logically flawless one. Often the most common one wins out, because the test maker didn't even think of the other one. Though, I have got one right before by going on the fact that four of them had two A's in the word, and the other didn't.
 

pippi

New member
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Sep 6, 2008
Messages
735
MBTI Type
xxxx
If 5 had been in the poll I'd have chosen that since the sequence could represent Prime numbers. I was disappointed that only 4 was offered, how boring and predictable. :D
 

pippi

New member
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xxxx
Well it's the product of itself and 1, but it's technically defined as not a Prime number. Technically.
 

BlueScreen

Fail 2.0
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Nov 8, 2008
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YMCA
Yeah, I don't follow rules much.

hehe, I read your correction after I posted. Primes was a good suggestion though.

I think I'd be so definite on this one because any more obscure answer wouldn't trump 4. Unless it had "not enough information" or something on the multiple choice, because that would get me thinking.
 

Katsuni

Priestess Of Syrinx
Joined
Aug 22, 2009
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3w4?
Yeu know it could even be 1.15 per step, an easy 1.15, 2.30, 3.45, 4.60 would also lead to 1,2,3,5. >.>

I've got to stop looking at this thread, I keep comming up with more each time.

Or 1+50% incrementally rounded up is also 1,2,3,5...


1+2^0, 0+2^1, -1+2^2, -2+2^3, -3+2^4 would actually be 1,2,3,6,13...
 

CrystalViolet

lab rat extraordinaire
Joined
Oct 24, 2008
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2,152
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XNFP
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5w4
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
I pick out the answer that seems most correct within that situation.
In this case four, then I reason backwards as a check to see if the answer is sound.
1. I chose four because everybody knows 4 comes after three.
2. There is no other information provided, no formula etc, no multichoice etc
3. It's the simpilist, most common answer, therefore the most likely.
 

wildcat

New member
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Jun 8, 2007
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3,622
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INTP
Continue the number series: 1, 2, 3, ..

No, don't answer the question, check in the poll which of the statements apply to you.

It's multiple choice!
Only odd numbers reach a buck.
Discard the irrelevant.
 

Ghost of the dead horse

filling some space
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^^ Wise and well thought-after post, Katsuni.

I agree the most with this line in your writing:
As such, the best yeu can do is try to guess whot the most likely situation is, or whot the creator "wants" yeu to think, in which case it becomes less a test of formal logic, and more informal intuition.

These tests *DO*require intuition to figure out, why some system or "logic" behind some question is better than another. I'm seeing that many people are disappointed with it. It's extremely, utterly clear to me that it is their opinion.

I believe it is clear for many others, as well: many different theories, systems, abstractions - or by whatever name you want to call them - would produce any and all the answers provided for in the IQ tests.

Infinite explanations, finite responses.

Hold a pause and think for a while. I've had.

..


..


IQ tests require some logic to verify that a given "system", like an arithmetic progression of numbers, rounded down, will produce some answer X that is being sought.

Intuition is needed to sort out what kind of system of logic would be useful for most situation, given the context of IQ test and extrapolated in the real world. There are several factors which influence the kind of system wanted, and it's a part of intelligence as well.

A good logic by which to answer a question has following qualities:

-Simple.
No more complex system should be needed for an answer than seems required. This requires understanding of what differentiates complex and simple. If a complex and simple explanation have an equal power to explain or predict, simple one is preferred for most stuff humans do.

A simple explanation is accessible to more people than a complex one, making it superior, provided that the test taker has the intelligence of wanting to be able to communicate with a larger population.

All of this is intelligence.

-Explanatory.
A good logic explains flawlessly what it is set out to explain. If we assume a logic of a series of natural numbers, ordered, for one question - it must match the information already in the question, namely, the numbers present.

If we assume a logic that the question, "find items of a same kind or class" describes four-legged mammals, we must see that all the items we would include in an answer are indeed four-legged mammals, and no four-legged mammals are left out, lest we should change our assumption of the background logic.

-Usable.
IQ tests attempt to measure intelligence in relation to aspects of the real world, which is why the logic of choice for a particular question should be usable. The logic should have an application to life.

IQ and IQ distributions in a population are planned, crafted, engineered and designed to indicate those who have the mental capacity to do well in the population in a specific, mental way. This does not include good work habits, being a hard worker or knowing the specifics of some obscure profession. It does include the ability to collect information, verify it, explain it, and the ability to investigate and inspect one's own ideas.

Concept of IQ was born out of the idea to pick apart those who needed more than a standard amount of education to pass through school tests, which prepare one for life. It's expanded to find out those individuals who can do well, too, in the context of academia, schoolwork and society. IQ is an attempt to find out people who can do well. In part, it does find, so it works somewhat. It doesn't work absolutely (what could), but success is an aspect of IQ.

Hence, usable logic, "logic worth of something" is saught in IQ tests. Not logic that wouldn't get one very far.

This is situational, and the world is huge, so this one needs the insight from a person who's much alienated from the world, or from someone who can't see how the people have set out the "correct" answers in any real life task in any of the various fields: they're set out to be rather regular, when possible. Consistent.

IQ tests can't address the fact that a huge flow of irrelevant information comes our way. IQ tests mostly measure only the more "regular" part of our information processing in the world.

-Conclusion
IQ test is tied with the world, as there's a specific role designed for IQ testing. It's designed to find those who have specific mental capacity to do well in the world. It doesn't address qualities outside it's scope. The scope is fuzzy, and we can't know exactly what it is.

IQ test caters to regular parts of the information systems formed by real people in the world. We form regular systems of information to handle many tasks that come ahead. As an attempt to control the flow of information, people prefer rather regular and simple systems, as simple as possible. People in general prefer systems that are understandible, too. IQ tests measure the ability to understand this, too.

And yes, faster is better than slow, and it's not efficient use of one's time to spend too much on an answer. If the test's setup is to finish in time, an intelligent person will adjust and answer the questions in time in order to finish with a high score. A timed system suits better for the purposes of competition, as finishing tasks slowly is trivial compared to doing them fast. This is why the ability to produce more correct answers per time is more valuable than the ability to produce them at a slower pace.
 

Ghost of the dead horse

filling some space
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P.s. The ability of finding the right answer is superior to that which gets the funny, irregular or illogical answer, because he who can get it right, can get it in any other way, too. One who finds illogical answers as well as correct answers, doesn't have the ability to choose from answers of specific purpose.
 

Katsuni

Priestess Of Syrinx
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Aug 22, 2009
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1,238
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3w4?
A good logic by which to answer a question has following qualities:

-Simple.
No more complex system should be needed for an answer than seems required. This requires understanding of what differentiates complex and simple. If a complex and simple explanation have an equal power to explain or predict, simple one is preferred for most stuff humans do.

A simple explanation is accessible to more people than a complex one, making it superior, provided that the test taker has the intelligence of wanting to be able to communicate with a larger population.

P.s. The ability of finding the right answer is superior to that which gets the funny, irregular or illogical answer, because he who can get it right, can get it in any other way, too. One who finds illogical answers as well as correct answers, doesn't have the ability to choose from answers of specific purpose.

Thank yeu thank yeu thank yeu thank yeu thank yeu ayieeeeeeeee! *Runs around in circles screaming and throwing fish all over the place*

That may not have been relevant, so yeu should probably ignore that last bit.

Anyways!

I've been TRYING for ages to get people to just accept the fact that someone who can break a complex system down into a simplified easier to understand yet still accurate one is an example of intelligence for aaaaaaages ;_;

Seriously I LOATHE those pseudo-intellectuals who use big words and crap just as an excuse to try to make themselves look smarter. Oh yay, so yeu read a dictionary. How... fun. It doesn't mean yeu're actually any smarter, and most of these people misuse the majority of the words they use anyway -_-;

The fact that they fail to use standard terminology to describe stuff shows they don't truly grasp the concepts involved. If yeu can ONLY describe things using complex terminology, yeu probably don't truly understand the processes taking effect well enough to create simplified analogies.


As for the next part though, the "PS" part, I find I must disagree. One who can find multiple answers therefore has proven multiple methods of being able to perform the same task, such as being able to understand the same situation from multiple angles. The whole "put yeurself in my shoes" ideal is actually very difficult for most people to do so. One who CAN do so has a massive advantage over many others. The one who can only see things from the single, rigid viewpoint, will almost invariably fail when faced with a trick question, or in most practical situations as they rarely coincide with the simple mathematical concepts. One who has only one answer to work with, can't accept alternative possibilities, or integrate several theories togeather into something more coherant. The whole concept of intelligence is the ability for the mind to take information and correlate it. If yeu lack the ability to gain additional information, and make use of it, then really, yeu have not shown any additional intelligence at all. The one who's able to factor in a greater number of supplimentary pieces of information, and actually make practical use of them, is many steps ahead of the game.

Assumming they don't get overwhelmed by the wealth of information and loose track of whot they're doing. Which... may... or may not describe myself >.>;
 

Haphazard

Don't Judge Me!
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Oh those poor little numbers! Why are they forced into this death-camp to be digested by IQ tests, never to be seen again, when they should be making beautiful patterns that explain the universe?

What is wrong with you people? Can't you see that numbers are meant to be free, and not penned up like this?!

...

I would have picked 6.
 

Katsuni

Priestess Of Syrinx
Joined
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ENTP
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3w4?
Oh those poor little numbers! Why are they forced into this death-camp to be digested by IQ tests, never to be seen again, when they should be making beautiful patterns that explain the universe?

What is wrong with you people? Can't you see that numbers are meant to be free, and not penned up like this?!

...

I would have picked 6.

FREE THE NUMBERS! FREEEEEEEEDOOOOOOOM!

Except for 8, it's got too much surface area, we're going to keep it back here to make coats out of. Figure 8's are always the best ^.~


(Yes, that was a bad pun, I know, I'm going to be pun ished by having to pay pun ance for this.)

Also, 1,2,3,10 is viable in base 4 as well.
 

Athenian200

Protocol Droid
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4w5
Oh those poor little numbers! Why are they forced into this death-camp to be digested by IQ tests, never to be seen again, when they should be making beautiful patterns that explain the universe?

What is wrong with you people? Can't you see that numbers are meant to be free, and not penned up like this?!

...

I would have picked 6.

FREE THE NUMBERS! FREEEEEEEEDOOOOOOOM!

Except for 8, it's got too much surface area, we're going to keep it back here to make coats out of. Figure 8's are always the best ^.~


(Yes, that was a bad pun, I know, I'm going to be pun ished by having to pay pun ance for this.)

Also, 1,2,3,10 is viable in base 4 as well.

LOL @ emo NTPs. :rofl1:
 
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