Einstein is said to have an IQ of 160, Stephen Hawking's about 170, and William James Smith a whopping 230. So, all these talks about IQ bring up one question particularly, the title question. In short, the answer is no, IQ is just one of the many factors is required for us to succeed. But don't get me wrong having a higher IQ is a head start to being successful and even living longer. Just not enough of a head start discredit everything else. I also want to make an important clarification; IQ is not the exact equivalent of Intelligence it is more of a measure of the representation of Intelligence we show to solve puzzles. But we will be using IQ and intelligence interchangeably in this article.
IQ
intelligence quotient (IQ) is a total score derived from a set of standardized tests or subtests designed to assess human intelligence. The abbreviation "IQ" was coined by the psychologist William Stern for the German term Intelligenzquotient(his term for a scoring method for intelligence tests). Historically, IQ was obtained by dividing a person's mental age score, obtained by administering an intelligence test, by the person's chronological age, both expressed in terms of years and months. The resulting fraction is then multiplied by 100 to obtain the IQ score. In modern IQ tests, the median raw score is defined as IQ 100, and all possible scores form a bell curve.
The popularity of IQ
IQ Tests are extremely popular for the same reason as a personality test. They make it a lot easier to divide humans into a large of categories. Anyway, humans love to simplify and categorize complex human actions into simpler and more tangible figures and numbers. IQ Tests serve this purpose and hence are popular. But this is the reason I Q was introduced.
History and Uses of IQ
IQ was originally developed so that it would be easier to figure out which children would require special attention later it was used by the US military to screen military men for officer training. By the end of World War 1 two-thirds of military officers were from training camps that underwent screening.
Myths and IQ
- IQ is not a meter scale for intelligence. Intelligence is an abstract concept and measuring intelligence correctly is.
- IQ or even intelligence is not innately determined by birth. Nor is it entirely independent some parts of our intelligence are influenced by our parent's intelligence. But that is not the only factor.
- People with higher IQ are socially bad is a myth made popular through movies and stereotypes but there is no scientific correlation.
Benefits of Higher IQ
IQ is entirely vague and abstract in fact studies correlated high IQ with a lot of benefits:
- School performance, children with high IQ tend to learn more and faster
- The validity of measuring IQ with job performance exists but varies from job to job.
- The relationship between IQ and income is week but existent
- Believe it or not, people with a higher IQ have been shown to live longer.
Success and Factors
Now let's get to the other side of the story what does being successful depend on the most? But first what is success? Success is defined as the accomplishment of goals Expectations and aims. To success is fairly subjective and varies from person to person, but that said the factors from which success depends on are common to all successful people. To read more about this topic, follow success and factors.
Most Important Factors
Self-discipline
Hard work and intelligence pay off in being successful. Achieving results after putting in effort leaves us satisfied and feeling accomplished. It makes the fruits of labor sweeter.
Growth mindset
People with a growth mindset welcome challenges and setbacks and learn from their mistakes. With a growth mindset, one can master anything and is successful despite failures.
Resilience
Intelligence is admirable but being unable to handle things going wrong is not. Rather than succumbing to failure, resilient people accept something that didn't work and go about finding a different way.
Passion
While knowledge is offering an excellent starting point, relentless passion is a guarantee to drive you towards success. Receiving something just because you good at it and not because you're passionate about it is unlikely to get you to the top.
Intelligence
This is self-explanatory
Empathy
Putting yourself on the same page as others help build report and reduce tension. Having an entity is the difference between understanding someone and pointing out their mistakes
Openness
If you're curious about how and why things work and are keen to uncover explanations then you are four times more likely to succeed in a closed of classmate and colleague. This is due to the genuine excitement if you when given the opportunity to learn something new.
Social skills
You can network function in a team and bring people together all while remaining focused. Having social skills means more than just being friendly it means being emotionally capable in any situation. It is one of the most important factors for success.
Conscientiousness
Conscientious people are disciplined, Competent, and excellent, and planning ahead. Rather than assuming they are already gifted with everything they need to know. They conscientiously put effort into making sure they do.
Self-regulation
Managing emotions successfully means you will be able to respond to negative situations rationally rather than emotionally. Taking time to think before you act as the first step toward success in any area of your life.
In conclusion, the IQ score is important for success. Just not important enough in comparison to the other requirements for success. Rather it is just another variable (more or less) factor which is harder to change.
Written By - Joshua
Edited By - Vaibhav Sharma
Social