[ExI] re end of world

[rex]

Rafal Smigrodzki <rafal.smigrodzki at gmail.com> [2015-09-10 20:31]:
>    On Thu, Sep 10, 2015 at 9:29 PM, spike <[1]spike66 at att.net> wrote:
> 
>        Please those who are hipsters on the topic, especially those with
>        formal training, BillW: what is the modern thinking on the notion of
>        IQ?  Last I heard it was falling out of favor because we never have
>        established a way to measure it such that various tests return similar
>        results, or even the same test returns similar scores for the same
>        person.
> 
>    ### Not true. IQ has very high test-retest reliability, there are a few
>    well validated instruments (Stanford-Binet, Wechsler and others) that are
>    highly correlated in individuals, and IQ is highly predictive of
>    intellectual achievement, especially at lower to middling-high levels. IQ
>    is as good as it gets in psychometry and precisely for that reason much
>    reviled. Truth hurts.

IQ is about the best practical predictor available for many jobs, not only
jobs with an obvious need for intellectual ability. William Wright's book,
_Born That Way_ is a highly readable account of the execrable conduct of
many social scientists who spread disinformation on IQ for over 50 years.

http://www.unc.edu/~nielsen/soci708/cdocs/Schmidt_Hunter_2004.pdf

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
2004, Vol. 86, No. 1, 162–173.

"Evidence is presented that weighted combinations of specific aptitudes
tailored to individual jobs do not predict job performance better than
GMA alone,"

General Mental Ability in the World of Work: Occupational Attainment
and Job Performance

Frank L. Schmidt University of Iowa John Hunter Michigan State University

The psychological construct of general mental ability (GMA),
introduced by C. Spearman (1904) nearly 100 years ago, has enjoyed a
resurgence of interest and attention in recent decades. This article
presents the research evidence that GMA predicts both occupational
level attained and performance within one’s chosen occupation and does
so better than any other ability, trait, or disposition and better
than job experience. The sizes of these relationships with GMA are
also larger than most found in psychological research. Evidence is
presented that weighted combinations of specific aptitudes tailored to
individual jobs do not predict job performance better than GMA alone,
disconfirming specific aptitude theory. A theory of job performance is
described that explicates the central role of GMA in the world of
work.  These findings support Spearman’s proposition that GMA is of
critical importance in human affairs.

-rex
--
"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves
up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened."    --Winston Churchill