Einstein’s Brain : What is IQ? Can it be measured?

We all know what IQ is, right? IQ or intelligence quotient is a score based on a set of standardised tests used to assess human intelligence. After e = mc2, it may be the best known equation that nobody really understands. This is the original IQ equation, applicable to children (sub-16 years of age):

IQ            =                      mental age               * 100

                                    chronological age

And how does one assess and declare ‘mental age’? Through standardised tests. Which ones? What kinds? There are many – Ravel, Malin, Wechsler, and several others. Wechsler, who put together tests for children as well as adults, defined intelligence as “the global capacity of a person to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with his environment”. I will let that bit of gendered writing pass, since Wechsler operated in the mid-twentieth century, after all.

But is intelligence measurable at all? Can it be assessed? All available data points to a clamorous, if reluctant, yes.

School education, since time immemorial, has allocated marks, grades, GPAs and ranks to students, ascribing a quantifiable value to competence and performance.

You might say, but what about EQ (emotional quotient), SQ (social quotient) and CQ (creativity quotient)? I hear you. They are tricky spaces.

But IQ and tests to measure IQ have survived all the criticism. We still call a genius an “Einstein” who famously had an IQ of 160.

And though the tests have undergone many iterations, one of the most consistent elements in an IQ test is a section on general knowledge, which, interestingly, is seen as a product of culture. General knowledge is inseparable from memory as a mental ability.

Welcome to quizzing.