Why is 100 said to be the average (50th percentile) IQ?

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First guess of mine, I'd say this is simple. Nothing to do with IQ this one.

IQ tests are culturally biased.

Even supposed culturally unbiased IQ tests (=culture fair IQ tests) are still slightly culturally biased.

Basically, even your gifted African would probably drop several IQ points if he/she was tested on with an European of American test (or a Chinese one or whatever).

It's a way of saying 'look, us Europeans and Americans are smarter!' with leaving out 'when we test ourselves with our tests!'

Sure you can do good what you have been taught to for your whole life. And you'll do worse if you're French or American are asked to think and conclude like a Japanese person.


Besides, in the end you got to remember that you had an education. You weren't send to work as a 5 yo usually.

You've had a lot of chances to make lots more experiences than someone who's been forced to work, who lives in poverty, who's not in touch with modern communication...

That, and probably the nutrition as well. The intelligence of someone largely depends on what he or she was fed in their first years of life because that's when the brain develops most. The countries on the bottom of the list ar those with food supply problems. I see a corellation there. After all, even in "rich" countries, the kids of rich people are more intelligent in average than those of poor parents. So I guess it's a matter of education AND better food.

And I wouldn't believe anything on that website. Seems like the meetingplace of frustrated people with inferiority complex. It basically screams "we're uneducated and the losers of society, but hey, at least we're white". Not to be taken seriously.

I would have to agree with that assessment in general but there are exceptions. For example, the UAE, Bahrain, and Kuwait are extremely successful nations despite their IQ scores.

Last edited by timeisdead on 26 May 2009, 12:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I know according to the World Factbook.

Here are statistics regarding per-capita income and literacy rates

Here is the per capita income of Nigeria.

$2,300 (2008 est.)
$2,200 (2007 est.)
$2,100 (2006 est.)
note: data are in 2008 US dollars



Per Capita income of Haiti

$1,300 (2008 est.)
$1,300 (2007 est.)
$1,300 (2006 est.)


Literacy rate of Nigeria

68%


Literacy rate of Haiti

52.9%

I've been thinking about that...it's no surprise in 2007 Haiti's PCI was $900 less than Nigeria because countries south of the US tend to do worse.
The countries that made up the bottom part of the list, with IQs in the 70s and 60s are what we think of as "third world".

It pretty much correlates with what we know is true about the human condition. People with normal IQs tend to have higher quality lives than people with lower IQs. They have better access to services and can afford decent housing. They are generally safer, too, and have better nutrition.

My iq is between 115-120.

Maybe it's the same reason alcohol content is rated as double the actual percentage per volume (pure alcohol is 200 proof, 100 proof is 50% alcohol).

The average IQ for English people is 100 because they picked the number as the average for all the people tested.

Are some people smarter than others? Well, that is obvious isn't it? Some people are taller than others, some people are stronger than others and some people are smarter than others.

The big and politically incorrect question is "are some RACES smarter than others"?

Well, let's look at dogs. All dogs are members of the same species but everyone knows there are huge differences between breeds. If you don't believe that then just try training a Springer Spaniel to be a sheep dog or get a Pit Bull to be a pet for your toddler.

If "racist websites" say that some races are not too bright then why do they admit that Chinese people and Ashkenasi Jews have a higher IQ than the average European or European American?

When I went to high school they still graded people by ability. The smartest kids were in the A class. The next were in the B class and so on. It was a big school so the classes went all the way down to M.

These days that would be unacceptable because "everyone is the same" so let's put the geniuses and the morons in the same class.

Let's drop the standards because it is "unfair" that half the students are "below average".

Well duh... that is what average means!

IQ is defined to be as close to a normal distribution, also known as a bell curve, as possible. The median is 100 and I think the standard deviation is 15, which means about 68% of people have an IQ between 85 and 115.

In Lake Wobegon, Minnesota, all the children are above average.