Autism and IQ

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marginally related: does anyone know of any good (or interesting) divergent thinking quiz/test available online?

As said by many others already, IQ tests fluctuate, and are not the best way to judge your intelligence. However, I don't think you CAN measure intelligence by any means of data or scale.

My IQ tends to range around 152. But this is purely genetics, my father's is 165. I know people who I feel overall can think much more abstract than myself, and come to conclusions on things which I would not have thought of; but their IQ's are only around 100-120. IQ simply cannot account for MOST aspects of intelligence, and to me, that makes it about as useful as a Myers Briggs test.

Measuring intelligence is a bit of an impossible task in general, intelligence is too complicated to measure. How can you really decide that one mode of thinking is better than another? It is different, you can't compare apples to oranges because they are not the same thing. Just as you cannot draw a conclusion that straight-forward thinking is better than abstract thinking, or vice versa; both have their uses, and both are important. But they cannot be compared.

I agree that it will increase, especially if IQ tests are an interest of the person with Asperger's. I find IQ tests to be odd because I score a 148 then turn around and fail a math test, so I cannot possibly understand how I am semi-intelligent and an idiot at the same time. Once I had an interest in IQ tests and I found my score went up almost 30 points, because I had gotten really good and really fast at solving those simple logic puzzles. Also, people with Asperger's are good with logical and solid evidence. We can work with everything in front of us but nothing behind us as I say.

I have no idea what my IQ is but I'm pretty good at science and math and have received plenty of compliments for my memory from plenty of people. But I feel that my verbal intelligence leaves much to be desired since I am an utterly mediocre essay writer.

On IQ as a measure of intelligence I think it's conceptually and methodologically flawed, because people whether they are autistic or not choose to use their intelligence for very different things and lives very different lives. Not to mention you can be affected by the situation of being tested, not being able to eat enough or not being able to receive the help you need during your schooling can affect your score negtively and so on.

The thing that makes them methodologically flawed is that the field is infamous for using data reduction techniques(factor analysis,PCA etc), not checking for mesaurement invariance and skipping what the question of whether the attribute actually is quantitative instead of just ordered.

I recommend reading the following articles:

G, a statistical myth by Cosma Shalizi


Additive conjoint measurement and psychologys resistance towards falsifiability by Moritz Heene


Attempting measurement of psychological attributes by Thomas Salzberger


The quantitative imperative and the psychometricians fallacy by Joel Michell


Alfred Binet and the concept of heterogenous orders by Joel Michell


Theoretical Amnesia by Denny Borsboom


Attack of the psychometricians by Denny Borsboom


The consequence of sustaining pathology:Scientific stagnation by Paul Barret

This doesn't mean that standardized testing doesn't have it's place, sometimes e.g employers have to place new recruits fast and then standardized testing is better than nothing.

I recall seeing an article somewhere that autistic people did better than neurotypicals on IQ tests like Ravens Matrices but that we as a whole isn't better on IQ other IQ tests.

I think my IQ now is actually lower than it was when I was younger. When I was around 11 years old, I was administered an IQ test where I scored 125. Not bad. Two years ago however, I was administered another test as part of a neuropsychological assessment, and they couldn't even put a number on it at first since I scored so unevenly. When they were asked to put a number on it, I averaged 98. Ouch. I'm not sure what I'd score now, but it would probably be better than what I scored the last time I was administered an IQ test, since I was going through a tremendous amount of anxiety at the time. I may have been actively using Zoloft at the time too, and from my experience, that drug gives me horrible brain fog.

Gah. I feel like a f*****g ret*d. (no offense to anyone with any intellectual disabilities)

The only IQ test I have ever had was given to me by a psychologist and it said 118. I feel like my IQ was probably higher as a child. Don't get me wrong, I am okay with my score, but I don't think that IQ tests are a good representation of actual intelligence or how smart one is overall. There are many things that don't get included when determining one's score.

Thanks, guys. I really appreciate it. I have a habit of noticing patterns, so I did assume it was more an "aping" or "gaming it" thing. I usually figure out new stuff by finding a pattern. And yes, I agree IQ measures specific skills. So if an autistic person works out "the pattern" of the test then likely they will do well. Also life skills are more important, unless your job is finding patterns, lol . And thanks for being nice about your replies. Always a bit cagey commenting in forums.

a range is a range. average is a point. and that point is 100, by definition (or, more strictly speaking, i think it's the median, which is probably slightly different from the average, but close enough)