Popularized in the 1990s by the French psychologist Alfred Binet, the concept of intelligence quotient, or IQ, aims to give a measure of a person's operational intelligence. In view of the extremely polysemic definition of intelligence, standardized IQ tests only measure specific aspects of intelligence (functional intelligence, procedural intelligence, etc.). Once our IQ has been measured, is it possible to change it? Can you increase your IQ?
Before questioning the possibility of knowing whether IQ can be improved or not, we must first answer the preliminary question:can IQ change over the course of life? For some neuropsychologists, if the IQ does not change, it is in any case possible to teach individuals to perfect the capacities they already possess and to use them in a much more effective way. For others, the IQ changes significantly over the course of life and the different activities performed.
An essential difference between intelligence and knowledge
For Jack Naglieri, a professor at the University of Virginia, the answer to this question, like many others, depends on a number of factors. He explains that research where scientists have made people smarter (i.e. improved their IQ) has mostly actually improved their pre-existing way of functioning. For example, it is possible to make someone better at mathematics without teaching them mathematics directly.
Thus, teaching a child to concentrate, organize his thoughts and plan his tasks, will make him more effective in all school subjects simultaneously. It is therefore often not the intelligence that is increased, but the capacities initially present that are improved. Understanding changes in IQ also requires careful consideration of how intelligence is measured. People confuse intelligence with knowledge.
We can all study and improve our vocabulary. But that doesn't make us technically smarter. The best way to measure intelligence is to measure the abilities that underlie the acquisition of knowledge, separately from the knowledge we have.
Clear evidence of IQ change
For Richard Nisbett, a psychologist at the University of Michigan, the answer is clear:yes, your IQ can change over time. But IQ tests give you the same answer to a very large extent, even over a period of a year. The older you are, the more stable your test score will be. The greatest volatility of IQ scores is in childhood, mainly in adolescence.
In addition, the average IQ of people changes over time. Basically, people in modern industrialized societies see their IQ increase. IQs increase by three points per decade. In fact, there was an 18-point increase between 1947 and 2002. So the average IQ of a 20-year-old in 1947 was lower than the average IQ of a 20-year-old in 2002.
Similarly, for Stephen Ceci, professor of developmental psychology at Cornell University, IQ changes over time, and many studies support this fact. A November article in the journal Nature by Price and his colleagues is an example. It included 33 adolescents, aged 12 to 16 at the start of the study. Price and his team gave them IQ tests, followed them for four years, then gave them IQ tests again.
The fluctuations in IQ were huge. Over 20 IQ points, one way or another. These changes in IQ scores weren't random — they were very well tracked with structural and functional brain imaging. Assuming that the teenager's verbal IQ really increased during this period; it is the verbal areas of the brain that have changed.
There are a slew of other studies showing that IQ can change, according to Ceci. Many changes in IQ correlate with changes in education. One way school increases IQ is by teaching children to “taxonimize,” or group things systematically rather than thematically. This kind of thinking is rewarded on many IQ tests.
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