What intelligence tests miss
by Keith E. Stanovich · first published 2009
86% recommend14% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Argues that rationality is distinct from IQ, showing how smart people can still reason poorly; readers value its clear case for the value and limits of intelligence tests. Suited to cognitive science fans.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Stanovich shows that IQ tests (or their proxies, such as the SAT) are radically incomplete as measures of cognitive functioning. They fail to assess traits that most people associate with "good thinking," skills such as judgment and decision making. Such cognitive skills are crucial to real-world behavior, affecting the way we plan, evaluate critical evidence, judge risks and probabilities, and make effective decisions. IQ tests fail to assess these skills of rational thought, even though they are measurable cognitive processes. Rational thought is just as important as intelligence, Stanovich
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…Adler. Envisioning Information by Edward Tufte. Fooled By Randomness by Nassim Taleb. E. W. Bovill's English Country Life 1780-1830 was recommended by pg a while ago. My favorite so far this year is What Intelligence Tests Miss by Keith Stanovich (2009). http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=9780300123852 http://www.amazon.com/What-Intelligence-Tests-Miss-Psychology/dp/030012385X/ My favorite book I read in 2007…
on “Ask HN: Books That Gratify One's Intellectual Curiosity?” ↗…distinguishes "intelligence" (essentially, IQ) from "rationality" (making correct decisions that overcome human cognitive biases) as distinct aspects of human cognition. He has a whole book on the subject, What Intelligence Tests Miss, that is quite thought-provoking and informative. http://www.amazon.com/What-Intelligence-Tests-Miss-Psycholog... (Disclosure: I enjoy this kind of research discussion partly because I am acquainted…
on “SAT: Getting the lowest score possible” ↗…http://learninfreedom.org/iqbooks.html indeed newer and better books than shown on the link I have just shared. One I particularly like, from a mainstream psychologist of considerable experience, is What Intelligence Tests Miss by Keith R. Stanovich. http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=97803001238... http://www.amazon.com/What-Intelligence-Tests-Miss-Psycholog... Stanovich includes a huge number of citations…
on “What Is Intelligence, Anyway?” ↗…http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/stanovich1 The author of the article I have just linked has gathered numerous examples in a very readable and impeccably referenced book http://www.amazon.com/What-Intelligence-Tests-Miss-Psycholog... that I have had occasion to recommend here on HN before. Read the book at your earliest opportunity if you would like to understand all the barriers to human understanding and rationality…
on “Ask HN: Would forcing everyone to know their IQ reduce overall ignorance?” ↗…Keith Simonton, http://www.amazon.com/Dean-Keith-Simonton/e/B001ITRL1I/ the world's leading researcher on genius and its development. Readers curious about what IQ tests miss may enjoy reading the book What Intelligence Tests Miss: The Psychology of Rational Thought http://www.amazon.com/What-Intelligence-Tests-Miss-Psycholog... by Keith R. Stanovich and some of Stanovich's other recent books. Readers who would like to read…
on “My IQ” ↗…which is about to come out in a new, expanded edition. http://www.amazon.com/What-Intelligence-Expanded-PB-Beyond/d... Also very good for reconsidering the importance of IQ tests is Keith Stanovich's What Intelligence Tests Miss. http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=97803001238... http://www.amazon.com/What-Intelligence-Tests-Miss-Psycholog...
on “Children of older fathers have lower IQs” ↗…and digit span is not related to important cognitive functions that sum up to "rationality" as distinct from IQ. http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=97803001238... http://www.amazon.com/What-Intelligence-Tests-Miss-Psycholog... But in general about articles in the popular press posted to Hacker News about IQ, what I say is that the obligatory link for any discussion of a report on a research result like that is…
on “Indian Americans: The New Model Minority” ↗…hereditary - I don't think anybody doubts this - and makes it easy to go further and say some groups of people are smarter. This is most likely true, but still not so important. I just finished reading What Intelligence Tests Miss, by Keith Stanovich. Summary: critical reasoning skills are much much better predictor of academic and social success then IQ, and (that's the shocker) largely _not_ correlated with IQ. And this is just…
on “Rich, Black, Flunking” ↗A book that helped change the way I think is What Intelligence Tests Miss: The Psychology of Rational Thought http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=97803001646... http://www.amazon.com/What-Intelligence-Tests-Miss-Psycholog... by Keith R. Stanovich. I'll quote…
on “Ask HN: What are some books that changed how you think?” ↗Keith Stanovich (mentioned in the submitted post) has a new book _What Intelligence Tests Miss_ out http://www.amazon.com/What-Intelligence-Tests-Miss-Psycholog... that I am reading right now. The book is an excellent discussion of the distinction between intelligence and rationality. One can…
on “"What IQ is good for" (not for avoiding most biases, it turns out)” ↗…http://www.amazon.com/What-Intelligence-Beyond-Flynn-Effect/... and the best third book on IQ testing to read, after the other two books have given you a conceptual foundation, is Keith Stanovich's latest. http://www.amazon.com/What-Intelligence-Tests-Miss-Psycholog... A more complete annotated bibliography http://learninfreedom.org/iqbooks.html lists other books, not all from the same point of view.
on “Should scientists study race and IQ?” ↗Ai. Once more a journalistic report that confuses having a high IQ with being smart. This is not the current thinking among the best researchers on human intelligence. http://www.amazon.com/What-Intelligence-Tests-Miss-Psycholog... As the current researchers put it, you can be "intelligent" (= score high on IQ tests) without being "rational" (above reference) or wise (below reference). http://www.amazon.com/What-Intelligence-Beyond-Flynn-Effect/...…
on “Smart People Really Do Think Faster.” ↗…good book. The author, Nisbett, is very meticulous about citing primary research sources in his book, even though it is written for a popular readership. Another good book on closely related topics is What Intelligence Tests Miss by Keith Stanovich. http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=97803001238... http://www.amazon.com/What-Intelligence-Tests-Miss-Psycholog...
on “Book Review - 'Intelligence and How to Get It,' by Richard E. Nisbett” ↗No, valid, currently normed IQ test yields a credible score of 175. Anyway, IQ is orthogonal to rationality, http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=97803001238... http://www.amazon.com/What-Intelligence-Tests-Miss-Psycholog... and sufficient rationality might explore the implications of the submitted article without any reference to IQ tests.
on “Chinese Bias for Baby Boys Creates a Gap of 32 Million ” ↗IQ is not the same as rationality http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=97803001238... http://www.amazon.com/What-Intelligence-Tests-Miss-Psycholog... nor is it the same thing as wisdom, as James R. Flynn himself says. http://www.amazon.com/What-Intelligence-Beyond-Flynn-Effect/...
on “Apollo Astronauts Didn't Need Heavy Boots” ↗