8 - IQ and its "predictions" Flashcards
Do you think IQ can predict academic
achievement ?
Would ppl with higher IQ do better in school?
- Some will claim “ intelligence tests (and IQ scores)
have negligible ability to predict academic
achievement” (Murdoch, 2007) - IQ correlates moderately with
1- educational attainment
2- occupational attainment
(Sackett et al 2008 for review)
Score on an IQ test… Measures an aptitude - we called it “intelligence”
Correlation
Measures of “achievement”:
-Educational
achievement
-Occupational
status
-Income
-Efficiency at work /
occupational
performance
External criteria often used to assess validity of IQ measure :
Education achievement
Occupation (job status, income, efficiency at work)
A word on success ..
Success can be
*Extrinsic
-relatively objective and
observable, typically consists of
highly tangible outcomes
(Jaskolka, Beyer, & Trice, 1985).
*Intrinsic
-individuals’ subjective appraisal
of their success (Gattiker &
Larwood, 1988; Judge et al.,
1995)
Research confirms they are relatively independent outcomes
and only moderately correlated (Judge & Bretz, 1994).
Judge & Kammeyer-Mueller (2007)
« Personality and Career Success »
Many will say career success is a
frequent desirable form of success in
modern society
Commonly used criteria to index extrinsic career success :
1. salary or income
2. ascendancy or number of promotions
3. occupational status
“ can be viewed as a reflection of societal perceptions of the
power and authority afforded by the job (Blaikie, 1977; Schooler
& Schoenbach, 1994). “
(see full list)
Commonly used criteria to index intrinsic career success :
1. job satisfaction
2. career satisfaction
3. life satisfaction
IQ & Education achievement
Score on IQ test - Correlation - Educational achievement
-These are 2 distinct measures. Distinct concepts too
- Binet noticed children with higher scores on the IQ test were more
likely to be 1+ year ahead - Terman thought teacher’s assessment were not reliable
– They both wanted to better identify children who needed a
different approach to education
*Score on IQ test and Educational achievement
-correlation 0.40 to 0.70, most often around 0.50
-The test was designed to
predict this
*Score on IQ test and Scores on Reading tests and Math tests
-correlation 0.40 to 0.70
-Correlations are higher in younger
children then declines through school and
university
-(restricted range of IQ because lower IQ
tend to drop?)
*Score on IQ test and Number of years of education
-correlation 0.50 to 0.60
-In USA, there is an average
of 10-15 points difference
between those who
complete HS vs. not
Robertson et al 2010
SAT math scores at age 13 predict
adult outcomes of academic success.
(see graph)
Score on IQ test At age 10 and Number of years of education
-correlation 0.40 to 0.50
Why?
Maybe a child with higher IQ
* Has better skills to succeed
* Is more likely to enjoy school
* Teachers are more likely to enjoy teaching him/he
* Is more likely to make high IQ friends
* Friends are more likely to go to University
* Etc.
Reinforces predispositions
Partial conclusion
Q tests measure something that must have an impact on
success in school…. There are many options.. Think about it.
INFORMATION test from WAIS4: “can you give a few reasons why people brush their teeth?”
SIMILARITIES test from WAIS4: “how are a
calendar and an agenda the same?”
Raven matrices test, WASI4 visual puzzles test, WAIS4 cancellation tesst
What about family background?
* Genes
* Environment (good school, support for
homework, rich and stimulating environment,
better nutrition, etc.)
Herrnstein and Murray 1994 : SES is less of a good predictor for
Education than IQ
* when SES is controlled for, IQ is still strongly related to Education
* when IQ is controlled for, the relationship between SES and
Educational attainment is quite weak.
Based on their extensive literature review,
they suggested in “The Bell curve” that
Family background is not as important
now as it was before (e.g. Herrnstein and
Murray 1994 )
Aristocracy
Meritocracy
The Bell Curve book predicted an increasing meritocracy during the 20th century
* Strengthening of the IQ–success
correlation
Strenze (2007) disputed this argument : his meta-analysis did not confirm this.
Found no increase in strength of IQ – success correlation over the years
Also, Herrnstein and Murray did not evaluate the impact of Environment
Herrnstein and Murray “only” used 3 measures of social background
(parental education, family income, parental occupation), possibly
underestimating the importance of family background – lack of
operational precision.
Strenze (2007) reports : Family background has a significant impact on
educational achievement. However, on page 417 of his discussion, he says his
data mostly came the USA… could that have had an influence ?
IQ & occupation status
Some say :
* IQ measures only academic
intelligence.
* IQ missed out on practical
abilities – real life abilities.
Others will argue :
IQ scores correlate with
* Job status (occupational status)
* Income
* Efficiency at work (occupational
performance)
IQ and occupational status are correlated (Harrel and Harrell, 1945)
Show by many studies. See Mackintosh manual or Goldstein manual.
Example: IQ before 18 y.o. is correlated at .41 with occupational
status after 30y.o. (Meta analysis by Strenze, 2007)
Why are those 2 correlated ??
* Is a high IQ necessary for the job?
– Ex. You need good memory to be lawyer or a teacher?
– Ex. You need good Gf to be a manager?
– Ex. You need good Gv to be an engineer?
– Ex. You need good Gc to be a programmer?
* Or does IQ act as the “gate keeper” for training to get
these jobs? (i.e., if allowed to train would people with
low IQs be able to do these jobs?)
– Ex. SAT scores and admission to MIT
*or is this mediated by SES ??
-Need money to go to school, to get the
degree, to get the job
-There is some evidence that if SES and
other things are kept constant, IQ still
predicts job status.
SES:
Born in middle class - correlation of 0.30 to 0.35 - with Having a middle class job as an adult
IQ scores - correlation of 0.40 to 0.60 - with Job occupation
SES alone does
not explain it all!!
IQ is a better
predictor of job
occupation than
SES is!
If SES and other things are kept constant,
IQ still predicts job status. See course
manual page 199
Personality and personal characteristics
are important too!
See TED talks on grit
Score on IQ test, education and occupation status
Methodological concerns :
– We can’t factor out education in the professions.
– We need an experiment in which a random sample
of people are trained (same education) and allowed
to do the job regardless of their IQ scores.
* But this has (almost) never been done (for good reason)
Study:
Score on IQ test was either normal (above 85) or new standard (below 85)
Everyone get the same training… no “schooling effect.
Education
Complete basic and
advanced training
Occupation : 2 years in
the military forces.
* Performance at work
* Promotion
* Final ratings
Results : At all stages, the large
majority (over 80%) of New Standards
men passed (see manual) but more
failures than “controls”
High test scores were not a necessary
precondition for holding down these
particular jobs.
Concluded that IQ was not necessary
for holding on some jobs
IQ scores and Income
Score on IQ test - correlation ~ .23 - .45 - with Income
Strength varies with age
Stronger if over 35 years old : increases from .06 to .25
“It should be noted that other
predictors evaluated in this study are
not better predictor of outcome”
says Strenze
“it should also be noted that this correlation of .23 is
about the size of the average meta analytic results in
psychology (Hemphill, 2003) and cannot be treated as
significant” also says Strenze
Income ALSO correlates with
* Schooling
* Parental income
* Parental status
SES becomes a more important mediating
variable when IQ is low (Cecci 1996)
correlations IQ – income is
higher in less developed
countries (Psacharopoulos
and Patrinos, 2004 )
more developed countries withigher GDP, tend to exhibit
lower correlations IQ – income(Strenze 2007)
Partial conclusion : hypothesis on the history of the IQ–success relationship
- The society of our ancestors was presumably rather meritocratic
- As human society grew more complex, large inequalities between social
groups emerged (think of slaves and citizens in ancient Rome or peasants
and aristocrats in medieval Europe), and most people were destined to
live in the social class of their parents – intelligence probably had little
effect on people’s life in these societies. - These rigid class boundaries started to break down with the advent of
industrial society, as democratic values became prevalent and there was
increased demand for able workers – that created an opportunity for
intelligent people to move up in the social ladder. - This process apparently reached its apex in the middle of the 20th century
(in western societies) when the final push toward liberalization of
educational and occupational market took place. - Later, the relationship between intelligence and career success has
stayed the same or even declined, possibly due to the tendencies in
postindustrial welfare society to reduce inequality and competition.
IQ scores and Efficiency at work (occupational performance)
Correlation vary .20 to .80
for simple to hard jobs
correlation higher in
managers than typists
From Makintosh:
* Gv correlates with some work performance
* Global IQ can be a good predictor, even if imperfect
* May help you get through the training for the job
Critics:
* Restriction of range of IQ : not many doctors have IQs of 90 or less.
* Restriction of range of the jobs chosen: the simplest job chosen is typist.
* Sampling bias – some domain are harder to assess in research – so they get ignored
Critic : in most studies, measure of job performance has almost always
consisted of supervisors’ rating (Richardson and Norgate 2015)
turns out that there are a number of problems
with such ratings (Woerh, 2011) :
* Ratings are subjective
* Rating use inconsistent criteria in making
their judgments of performance
* Hard to define good or poor performance
‘‘halo’’ effects have been reported (e.g., Murphy & Balzer, 1986),
influencing the rater’s evaluation – possibly lowering its validity
* Subjects’ height (Judge & Cable, 2004)
* Facial attractiveness (Hosoda, StoneRomero, & Coats, 2003)
* Unconscious ethnic bias (Berry, Clark, & McClure, 2011; Jencks,
1998; Stauffer & Buckley, 2005)
* Will influence supervisor ratings of work performance.
Conclusion
Score on IQ test is correlated with educational achievement and occupation
Relationship with SES (??)
External validity of IQ
Other variables to consider :
* Study skills
* Determination / ambition / grit
* Self discipline / consciousness / personality
* Tolerance to frustration / tolerance to delayed gratification
* Tolerance to incertitude
