Increasing IQ: Why Bother?

  

Would you agree that intelligence is a precious asset needed in many contexts, and highly valued in society?

In a several-hour conversation with Jared Taylor in 1992, reprinted in American Renaissance (10/29/2012), Arthur Jensen expressed that in his opinion intelligence is probably the most highly valued trait. When for instance people are asked what characteristics they want for their children they most often mention good health and high intelligence.

Let’s look at an example from folk psychology [1].  When asked about your IQ, being either above or below average, the majority would say that it is above average. This is of course impossible as average by definition means that half of the population is above and half below average. Hence, it does not surprise that statements such as “blacks are less intelligent than whites” (e.g. by Herrnstein and Murray, 1994; Jensen, 1969), or “males have a higher IQ than females” (Nyborg, 2005; 2015) spark passionate discussions in scientific and lay communities. Probably the most popular example is the severe reaction to Jensen’s article in the Harvard Educational Review (1969) with regular near-riotous demonstrations by students at colleges where he was invited to speak.  Students’ newspapers were for weeks filled with fierce statements against his research, suggesting that the university should get rid of him.

The general opinion that it is “smart to be smart” is also shared by nature in applying principles of selection to human evolution, thereby favoring intelligence and brain development more than other traits or organs. Why else would evolution invest in such an energy-wasting organ? The brain represents just 2% of the body weight yet it consumes 20% of the energy used by the body. Furthermore, this occurs irrespective of loss in other organs suggesting a preferential supply of nutrients to the brain (Bodoky et al., 1995).

Several correlational studies between intelligence and success in life defined as socioeconomic success (academic and job performance), have shown correlations around .50, with academic performance being the highest (.58), followed by educational attainment (.56),  job performance estimated by supervisory rating, (.53) and occupational attainment [2] (.43) (Strenze, 2007; Hunter and Hunter, 1984; Poropat, 2009).

Intelligent people also live longer (Deary, 2008). Lynn and Vanhanen (2012) analyzed 24 studies showing a negative correlation ranging between –.34 and –.84 for infant mortality and a positive for life expectancy ranging between .51 and .84.

But are more intelligent people happier than less intelligent people? The answer is not as straightforward as one would expect. An interesting finding was revealed in a meta-analysis by Veenhoven and Choi (2012) comparing the relation between intelligence and happiness at an individual level with the one at the level of nations. Studies on the individual level found almost no correlation between intelligence and happiness. In contrast, on the macro level a strong correlation between IQ and happiness in nations could be observed (data for 192 nations, r = .60). The authors concluded that intelligence adds to happiness only indirectly with its effects on society.

Intelligence has made us the dominant species on Earth. Yet, we still have not solved the problems of hunger and poverty and often our discussions lead to wars.  We have also created new problems like pollution, extinction of species, global warming, population growth and many experts believe that we are on the edge of a global economic collapse.

Can a higher IQ be of some help?

  

References

Bodoky, G., Meguid, M. M., Yang, Z. J., and Laviano, A. (1995). Effects of different types of isocaloric parenteral nutrients on food intake and metabolic concomitants. Physiology and Behavior, 58(1), 75–79.

Deary, I. (2008). Why do intelligent people live longer? Nature, 456(7219), 175–176. http://doi.org/10.1038/456175a

Herrnstein, R. J., and Murray, C. A. (1994). The bell curve: intelligence and class structure in American life. New York: Free Press.

Hunter, J. E., and Hunter, R. F. (1984). Validity and utility of alternative predictors of job performance. Psychological Bulletin, 96(1), 72–98. http://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.96.1.72

Jensen, A. (1969). How Much Can We Boost IQ and Scholastic Achievement. Harvard Educational Review, 39(1), 1–123. http://doi.org/10.17763/haer.39.1.l3u15956627424k7

Lynn, R., and Vanhanen, T. (2012). National IQs: A review of their educational, cognitive, economic, political, demographic, sociological, epidemiological, geographic and climatic correlates. Intelligence, 40(2), 226–234. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2011.11.004

Nyborg, H. (2005). Sex-related differences in general intelligence g, brain size, and social status. Personality and Individual Differences, 39(3), 497–509. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2004.12.011

Nyborg, H. (2015). Sex differences across different racial ability levels: Theories of origin and societal consequences. Intelligence, 52, 44–62. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2015.04.005

Poropat, A. E. (2009). A meta-analysis of the five-factor model of personality and academic performance. Psychological Bulletin, 135(2), 322–338. http://doi.org/10.1037/a0014996

Sternberg, R. J. (2000). The concept of intelligence. In Handbook of Intelligence (pp. 3–15). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Strenze, T. (2007). Intelligence and socioeconomic success: A meta-analytic review of longitudinal research. Intelligence, 35(5), 401–426. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2006.09.004

Veenhoven, R., & Choi, Y. (2012). Does intelligence boost happiness? Smartness of all pays more than being smarter than others. International Journal of Happiness and Development, 1(1), 5. http://doi.org/10.1504/IJHD.2012.050808

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[1] People’s conceptions also termed implicit theories (Sternberg, 2000).

[2] Occupational attainment measured in terms of the hourly wage rate associated with an individual’s occupation.