Synopsis:

At the core of this article is that an official IQ test or Intelligence Quotient there is a range of 55 to 160. There is no such thing above an IQ of 180, 200, 250 etc. The reason for this is very simple less than 1% of people score above 145. This logically means its functionally, practically, and money-wise impossible to find a sample size of people scoring above 160!

As an initial disclaimer in regard to this post, please keep in mind that I am only referring to cognitive intelligence based on general societal terms. As in when someone hear/s the general term –IQ–- or spelt out as ‘intelligence quotient’. In no way, is this discussing anything about a reference to emotional intelligence, creative intelligence, or all of the different varieties of intelligence that people have heard about. This is merely a review that is referring to the ‘overall’ general-IQ-test. As in the IQ test that people commonly hear about most often. This first section is important to keep in mind with regard to this discussion about general IQ (i.e. intelligence quotient).

Currently, the most widely accepted adult intelligence test is the WAIS-IV test, which is known as the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale 4th Edition. The maximum score achievable is 160 end-of statement (full-stop or period). Now when looking at the bell curve below, note that the associated percentages are rounded out where someone can further see how this all effectively plays out. Verbally speaking there is an average score of one hundred base on a IQ-score. Plus fifty percent (>50%) and minus fifty percent (<50%) of a given IQ-score-of-100. With all that being said; close to sixty eight percent (+/- 68%) of folks will score between IQ scores of 85-to-115, which means that close to sixteen percent (almost 16%) of folks score above 115x. Moreover, when specifically looking at the given bell-curve diagram below, someone can see that ninety five percent of sampled people (95% of folks) score between 70 and 130. This means that two-point-five-percent (2.5% of a population) have scores in excess of 130 and up to 160. Professionally speaking as a psychologist, it is more than aggravating and readily annoying to hear that someone has a cognitive IQ score of above +160. When someone hears/reads of Prof. Albert Einstein having had an IQ of whatever, say, “a variation of +180, +200, or even at 250”, this is by defined terms as completely impossible (e.g. there is no credence or it is not at all valid). For those readers that have an interest in this particular topic and whom ‘aptly’ understand statistics in general; well pause for a moment and answer this question, say, “Why do we have a ceiling score of 160 and then not go any higher than that?”.

So where does someone find the given people (who/whom?) score above an IQ-score of above 160, which would be known in general statistics as the sampling size. So quite literally where and how does someone find the people (more specifically the sampling size). In conducting research and when constructing a ‘large-the-normal’ scale, enough people with a wide variance of scores need to be sampled in order to properly know what a cognitive-IQ of 180 actually means (when compared to say, “A 200 IQ score” As an example, there is a component part that is one of many within a WAIS-IV chart, which is essentially the overall span of digits (i.e. the digit span). Not to give away too much proprietary information here, but say the reader is asked to remember the twelve digits (the 12 digits) in a row and then promptly write them down (all based after the digits are first shown, and then procedurally and quickly hidden). Hopefully, given reader get 11 digits (but how about deviating or digressing back to it). Yet, a perfect is score is 12-out-of-12. The issue at hand is that for people who easily or readily do 12. Now it would make sense to find people who can go up to 20 or to 25. How and where does one find such applicable people. With 11 or even 12 digits someone may be at the bottom of a given pool of sampled people. Yet, still such people still score in the upper two-point-five-percent (2.5 %) of the WAIS-IV. Keep in mind according to the ‘North American’ official website that ninety nine percent (99%) of people cognitively score between 55 and 145.

So, it’s based on the statistical issues that were just previously highlighted (indicated further above). It is even more difficult based on finding higher scoring individuals that are based on different ranges according to age-delineation (or simply stated as differing age ranges). This means that respective groups of, say, “20 to 25, 26 to 30, 90+, and every range in between). That functionally speaking this all boils down to a near-impossible-task! (not even to mentioning the associated costs). Firstly, an individual would have to pay a psychologist. Secondly, the same individual would then need to pay each participant sums of money in order to go through it to see in the above example (i.e. of how many digits each person can remember each time). That is a lot of foreseeable time-and-money per each person so as to comprise each ‘normative’ sampling-group.

As a disclaimer, readers of this blog post should keep in mind that this article or blog post is only referring to the classically defined cognitive type of intelligence. As in when someone hears the general term of IQ (i.e. Intelligence Quotient terminology). In no way, is this particular article discussing anything about emotional intelligence, creative intelligence, or all of the different varieties of intelligence that people have heard about.