Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Intelligence Quiz by Konnie Enos

While online yesterday I found an infographic that presented the conclusions from several different studies about intelligence. Each of these studies evaluated different things to see how they indicated a person’s IQ. Two of them were based on genetics, two on family dynamics and the remaining four on things that can change throughout life.
The two based on genetics are being tall, and being left-handed. I guess one of the two isn’t bad.
The family dynamics were being the first born, and having music lessons, which cuts out a whole lot of kids who come from poor families. My own son, has never been able to have them, because they weren’t offered in school and we couldn’t afford them, yet he’s extremely intelligent, even if he isn’t first born.
Three of the remaining four things involve your health. One was being thin. One study correlated healthy mind with a healthy body. According to that study the intelligent people took better care of their physical health, and one of the other studies agrees with it. They concluded that highly intelligent people were non-smokers. However, another study said highly intelligent people, at some time in their adult life, used, yes, I said used, illegal drugs. It seems contradictory for a person who intelligently takes care of their health by staying a healthy weight and not smoking to engage in risking behavior like drug use which is proven to destroy a person’s health. I’m intelligent enough not to engage in such risky behavior.
The last one was being a cat owner, well I’ll generalize it to cat person. Apparently cat people tend to be introverted and pursue more intellectual hobbies, you know, like reading and writing.
As I discussed this list with my daughter it occurred to me that she could prove them wrong. Okay, she is a thin, non-smoker and being ambidextrous can claim left-handed, plus she did have a little bit of music lessons in grade school. She is however, my middle child. She’s also intelligent enough not to use illegal drugs and although we consider her tall in my family I sincerely doubt those doing the study would consider her petite 5’4” frame as tall. Plus as she pointed out, she is a dog, not a cat, person. However, her hobbies are more intellectual ones. Namely the reading and writing.
Recently, to enroll in college, because she hadn’t been able to take the ACT, she took some entrance exams. When her counselor saw her scores she commented that she had never seen such a high grade in language arts before, it was off the charts, and my daughter did it fresh out of high school. And though her math scores were lower, they were still high enough she didn’t have to enroll in remedial math classes but could start with college level classes.
So she gets four out of eight. Then again so do I. Seems to me we’re doing pretty good in the intelligence department.
Anyway, the whole thing got me thinking about how we have this tendency to judge people, trying to put everyone in neat little categories, and I find myself repeating my favorite saying.
No two people are exactly alike.
Think about it.
Putting people into neat little categories says we’re all alike in some ways. That it’s impossible for a cat lover to be an extrovert or a dog lover to be an introvert, or an intelligent person to be fat or a smoker, or the middle child.
Be intelligent.
Think outside the box.
Smile. Make the day a brighter day.

4 comments:

  1. As you well know I am an extroverted cat person, who also likes to read. Where do I fit in this mold? Besides I've taken an IQ exam and I came out as I recall around 120.

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  2. I did say think outside the box. I already knew we didn't fit into these categories, at least not all of them.

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  3. I was just pointing out, you didn't mention you knew an extroverted cat person with a known high IQ.

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  4. Categories are created by people who like to organize lives, including things that may not be categorized accurately. Intelligence or IQ arrives in all shapes, sizes, backgrounds and variations. Being tall is most helpful when looking over a crowd; it hardly verifies intelligence. Education and reading, taken seriously, can inspire improvements. BTW: My youngest daughter is brilliant, and she is among a young group of above-average intelligence non-students (some quit school due to boredom). They are from primarily from upper-income families, but several of these brilliant teens are not. The only common quality they all share is each of them is a former drug addict now in full recovery and improving their lives. Imagine that.

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