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AnglerJared t1_iubtjt1 wrote

I’m assuming you mean online tests. I would be curious to know if you’re including professionally administered tests like the ones I took in school growing up. There’s definitely a difference. That said, I can’t disagree entirely with your implication that, to an extent, IQ is primarily a measure of how good you are at IQ tests.

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nitestar95 t1_iufkvc1 wrote

Was given them in primary school, middle school, high school mainly because I kept doing well on the tests but kept just barely passing my classes (because I didn't like being there, basically, refused to do homework since I could pass the tests, so why do homework? But teachers don't like that, of course. The counselor couldn't understand why I didn't want to do well in school 'to make my parents happy'.). Also in college, when I was quite depressed and went to my psych professor to talk about my life, and during discussions the topic came up so she asked if I would take one with her. Same result, 164. As far as I can tell, I am good at problem solving, but simply don't care much to do anything with that. My problem, was that I was molested when young, over the developmental years became convinced by my abuser that I was supposed to be a girl, but as I got older found out that was incorrect but still had feelings and behaviors that leaned towards transgender. Not being gay, I couldn't find a girl who was interested in a not exactly masculine boy like me. So I was almost always alone. My conclusion was, well, if I'm so smart, how come I can't figure out my own life? I had studied everything I could about sexuality, gender, read everything I could get my hands on, but had no solution for my situation. So I figured I can't be that smart, if I can figure out anything else, except the problem that screws up my own life.

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AnglerJared t1_iuggnw5 wrote

Ah, I see. IQ can tell us a lot about a person, but all the raw intelligence in the world can’t solve the problems of self-realization, happiness, or getting along in a fundamentally shitty world, especially given childhood trauma and other psychological factors. In fact, high IQ often correlates with depression because individuals who have high ability to recognize and solve problems are often frustrated or disillusioned when they see how the world is and how little their intelligence really matters, etc. I’m sure everyone’s experience is different and thus they each have their own reasons for discontent, but for what it’s worth, your IQ results seem to have been fairly accurate, and being unable to figure it all out in what I’m guessing is your late twenties is certainly not evidence of stupidity; it’s evidence of humanity (Those two aren’t always synonyms.).

The conclusion I’ve come to regarding the value of IQ is that it increases the number of tools at our disposal when problems come up, but there’s only so much one person can do, even with all the tools in the world. We all need help, and sadly people with high IQs are often conditioned to believe they can do everything by themselves and group work only slows them down, so when the real problems show up, we are almost at a disadvantage. With the right friends and the right assistance, those bigger problems get more manageable, though. I expect they will for you, too.

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