1
00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,160
Speaker 1: Stuff happens, Just don't let it happen to your photos, music,

2
00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:06,600
Speaker 1: and documents. Protect your important files with Mosey by e

3
00:00:06,760 --> 00:00:09,840
Speaker 1: m C, the most trusted name in cloud backup. Save

4
00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:12,920
Speaker 1: ten percent today with promo code brain Stuff at mosey

5
00:00:13,039 --> 00:00:16,919
Speaker 1: dot com. That's m o z y dot com. Welcome

6
00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:19,840
Speaker 1: to brain Stuff from how stuff works dot com where

7
00:00:19,880 --> 00:00:31,120
Speaker 1: smart happens. Hi, I'm Marshall Brain with today's question. What

8
00:00:31,320 --> 00:00:36,120
Speaker 1: constitutes a person's i Q? The term i Q or

9
00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:40,599
Speaker 1: intelligent quotient generally describes a score on a test that

10
00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:45,320
Speaker 1: rates the subject's cognitive ability as compared to the general population.

11
00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:49,760
Speaker 1: I Q tests use a standardized scale with one hundred

12
00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:53,800
Speaker 1: as the median score on most tests. A score between

13
00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:56,920
Speaker 1: ninety and a hundred ten or the media and plus

14
00:00:56,960 --> 00:01:01,640
Speaker 1: or minus ten indicates average intelligence. A score above one

15
00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:06,600
Speaker 1: thirty indicates exceptional intelligence, and a score below seventy may

16
00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:11,560
Speaker 1: indicate mental retardation. Like their predecessors, modern tests do take

17
00:01:11,560 --> 00:01:14,720
Speaker 1: into account the age of the child when determining an

18
00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:19,160
Speaker 1: IQ score. Children are graded relative to the population at

19
00:01:19,240 --> 00:01:24,440
Speaker 1: their developmental level. What is this cognitive ability being measured?

20
00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:28,360
Speaker 1: Simply put, i Q tests are designed to measure your

21
00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:33,000
Speaker 1: general ability to solve problems and understand concepts. This includes

22
00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:39,080
Speaker 1: reasoning ability, problem solving ability, ability to perceive relationships between things,

23
00:01:39,319 --> 00:01:43,160
Speaker 1: and the ability to store and retrieve information. I Q

24
00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:47,280
Speaker 1: tests measure this general intellectual ability in a number of

25
00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:52,480
Speaker 1: different ways. They may test, for example, spatial ability the

26
00:01:52,520 --> 00:01:58,880
Speaker 1: ability to visualize manipulations of shapes, mathematical ability, the ability

27
00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:03,640
Speaker 1: to solve problems and use logic. Language ability. This could

28
00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:07,920
Speaker 1: include the ability to complete sentences or recognize words when

29
00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:12,320
Speaker 1: letters have been rearranged or removed, and memory ability, the

30
00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:17,800
Speaker 1: ability to recall things presented either visually or orally. Questions

31
00:02:17,800 --> 00:02:21,919
Speaker 1: in each of these categories test for a specific cognitive ability,

32
00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:27,720
Speaker 1: but many psychologists hold that they also indicate general intellectual ability.

33
00:02:28,160 --> 00:02:31,480
Speaker 1: Most people perform better on one type of question than

34
00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:35,080
Speaker 1: on others, but experts have determined that for the most part,

35
00:02:35,400 --> 00:02:39,280
Speaker 1: people who excel in one category do similarly well in

36
00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:42,600
Speaker 1: the other categories, and if someone does poorly in any

37
00:02:42,600 --> 00:02:46,400
Speaker 1: one category, he also does poorly in the others. Based

38
00:02:46,440 --> 00:02:51,040
Speaker 1: on this, these experts theorized there is one general element

39
00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:57,160
Speaker 1: of intellectual ability that determines other specific cognitive abilities. Ideally,

40
00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:01,560
Speaker 1: and i Q test measures this general factor of intelligence

41
00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:06,919
Speaker 1: abbreviated as G. The best tests therefore feature questions from

42
00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:10,840
Speaker 1: many different categories of intellectual ability, so that the test

43
00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:15,760
Speaker 1: isn't weighted toward one specific skill. Because i Q tests

44
00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:19,840
Speaker 1: measure your ability to understand ideas and not the quantity

45
00:03:19,919 --> 00:03:24,639
Speaker 1: of your knowledge, learning new information does not automatically increase

46
00:03:24,680 --> 00:03:29,040
Speaker 1: your i Q. Learning may exercise your mind, however, which

47
00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:33,320
Speaker 1: could help to develop greater cognitive skills, but scientists do

48
00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:37,800
Speaker 1: not fully understand this relationship yet. The connection between learning

49
00:03:37,880 --> 00:03:41,760
Speaker 1: and mental ability is still largely unknown, as are the

50
00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:45,240
Speaker 1: workings of the brain and the nature of intellectual ability.

51
00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:49,120
Speaker 1: In general, intellectual ability does seem to depend more on

52
00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:53,840
Speaker 1: genetic factors than on environmental factors, but most experts agree

53
00:03:54,160 --> 00:03:58,760
Speaker 1: that environment plays some significant role in its development. Still,

54
00:03:58,880 --> 00:04:02,840
Speaker 1: everyone wants to know can you increase your i Q score?

55
00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:07,200
Speaker 1: There is some evidence that children develop higher intellectual ability

56
00:04:07,320 --> 00:04:10,720
Speaker 1: if they receive better nurturing and diet as babies, and

57
00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:14,600
Speaker 1: a higher degree of intellectual stimulation in preschool tends to

58
00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:18,560
Speaker 1: boost children's IQ scores for a few years of elementary school,

59
00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:23,039
Speaker 1: but it doesn't permanently increase i Q scores for the

60
00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:28,120
Speaker 1: most part, adult i Q scores don't significantly increase over time.

61
00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:33,440
Speaker 1: There's evidence that maintaining an intellectually stimulating atmosphere, for example,

62
00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:38,560
Speaker 1: by learning new skills or solving puzzles, boost some cognitive ability,

63
00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:44,080
Speaker 1: similar to the way maintaining an exercise regimen boost physical ability.

64
00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:47,479
Speaker 1: But these changes aren't permanent and do not have much

65
00:04:47,480 --> 00:04:51,120
Speaker 1: effect on i Q scores, So your i Q score

66
00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:55,600
Speaker 1: is relatively stable no matter what education you acquire. This

67
00:04:55,680 --> 00:04:58,919
Speaker 1: does not mean that you can increase your intelligence. I

68
00:04:59,080 --> 00:05:03,040
Speaker 1: Q tests are only one imperfect method of measuring certain

69
00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:06,719
Speaker 1: aspects of intellectual ability. A lot of critics point out

70
00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:11,560
Speaker 1: that i Q tests don't measure creativity, social skills, wisdom,

71
00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:15,479
Speaker 1: acquired abilities, or a host of other things we consider

72
00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:18,760
Speaker 1: to be aspects of intelligence. The value of i Q

73
00:05:19,040 --> 00:05:23,200
Speaker 1: tests is that they measure general cognitive ability, which has

74
00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:26,599
Speaker 1: been proven to be fairly accurate as an indicator of

75
00:05:26,640 --> 00:05:31,320
Speaker 1: intellectual potential. There is a high positive correlation between i

76
00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:35,280
Speaker 1: Q and success in school and the workplace, but there

77
00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:38,920
Speaker 1: are many many cases where i Q and success do

78
00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:44,320
Speaker 1: not coincide. Be sure to check out our new video podcast,

79
00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:47,360
Speaker 1: Stuff from the Future. Join How Stuff Work staff as

80
00:05:47,480 --> 00:05:51,159
Speaker 1: we explore the most promising and perplexing possibilities of tomorrow.

81
00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:54,920
Speaker 1: The how Stuff Works I Find app has arrived down

82
00:05:55,040 --> 00:06:01,880
Speaker 1: at it today on iTunes. Protect your photos, music and

83
00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:04,920
Speaker 1: documents and access them anywhere with Mosey by E m C,

84
00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:07,960
Speaker 1: the most trusted name and cloud back up, and now

85
00:06:08,040 --> 00:06:11,040
Speaker 1: save ten percent with promo code brain Stuff at mosey

86
00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:13,719
Speaker 1: dot com. Get started today at m o z y

87
00:06:13,880 --> 00:06:14,760
Speaker 1: dot com.