Last I heard we don’t even know how to measure that in the first place. As my intro to psychology class said IQ tests are a reliable measure, but what they measure nobody knows. (which is to say if you take the test more than once you will score about the same every time)
We have better idea now about what it measures. For example about 35% of differences in IQ scores are associated with working memory capacity. And we have very specific tests to measure working memory. There are more very specific parameters that are correlated with IQ that we can measure. We know quite well what IQ actually is but it’s a mix of many different things and not a simple parameter indicating who’s smart and who’s not.
Last I heard we don’t even know how to measure that in the first place. As my intro to psychology class said IQ tests are a reliable measure, but what they measure nobody knows. (which is to say if you take the test more than once you will score about the same every time)
We have better idea now about what it measures. For example about 35% of differences in IQ scores are associated with working memory capacity. And we have very specific tests to measure working memory. There are more very specific parameters that are correlated with IQ that we can measure. We know quite well what IQ actually is but it’s a mix of many different things and not a simple parameter indicating who’s smart and who’s not.
The word I’ve heard for “reliable” is precise.
If a test meaures what it’s supposed to measure, it’s accurate.
I took the class 30 years ago so my memory of exactly words were used is untellable. The point is memorable and I believe is correct.