Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!purdue!umd5!mimsy!chris
From: chris@mimsy.UUCP (Chris Torek)
Newsgroups: sci.misc
Subject: Re: Bias on IQ tests
Message-ID: <11011@mimsy.UUCP>
Date: 11 Apr 88 09:20:18 GMT
References: <153reneerb@byuvax.bitnet> <20779@bu-cs.BU.EDU> <1689@aecom.YU.EDU>
Organization: U of Maryland, Dept. of Computer Science, Coll. Pk., MD 20742
Lines: 25

In article <1689@aecom.YU.EDU> werner@aecom.YU.EDU (Craig Werner) writes:
>... the verbal repetition of a string of numbers 5 or greater in
>the REVERSE order, as in:
>Tester says:  5 2 7 3 4
>Examinee responds:  4 3 7 2 5

There are only two numbers in there 5 or greater :-)  (I think you
meant `of five or more numbers').  What sort of score would I get for
answering `7 5'?  This, by the way, is a real problem: tests with
mistakes in the standard answers, and more common, tests with
ambiguities.

>... the knowledge that Christopher Marlowe wrote Hamlet (no, wait a minute,
>wasn't it that Shakespeare person, I'm not sure)

I thought it was Sir Francis Bacon. :-)  (He also wrote half of Bach's
music; Mozart wrote the other half.  Sorry, musician's jokes.)

Like SATs, it is clear that IQ tests measure *something*.  What is not
clear is exactly what it is they measure.  It is probably related to
intelligence.  Now if only we can figure out what intelligence is....
(I have it: intelligence is inversely proportional to UseNet! :-) )
-- 
In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 7163)
Domain:	chris@mimsy.umd.edu	Path:	uunet!mimsy!chris