Can IQ be increased in an adult?

[Evo]

Apollo 13?? Jim Lovell, Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon and Bill Paxton? And your father in law? Is he the character portrayed by Ed Harris?

There was a team that solved the problem, he was one, he really didn't talk about it, I asked him about the plaque and he said "yeah". That's all. I got the impression that there wasn't anyone that did anything special, they were doing their job.

 

[Stephanus]

Wow, I really like to talk about Apollo 13! At least the movie, the accident, (or incident?). The intrigue behind it. How they used, "something" made by Grumman, to come back to earth. "I don't care what it is designed for! Can it take them back!"
But it's beside the topic. And even IQ is not the topic here.
The OP wants to know whether brain can create more synaptic.

When a person thinks about something complex, do new synaptic connections form? Do the new connections remain after the person stops thinking about the complex issue?

That's interesting. Our muscles are somewhat loosed after long absent of exercise. Is our brain loosed also?

 

[Nidum]

There are several medical conditions which cause premature reduction of brain activity and effectively a lowering of intelligence . Dementia is one of the most common .In recent times there have been developments in medical treatment which can sometimes slow the advancement of these conditions and partially reduce the harmful effects .

Could medication ever be developed which went further and actually enhanced brain activity in a healthy person and raised their intelligence level ?

 

[William White]

Has anyone in this thread aside from Drakkith and I actually been administered IQ tests by a trained psychologist? If yes, why?

Trained psychologist - no
(are they the same camp as toothiticians?)

But I did the Mensa test (150); just to know that I could pass it - to satisfy myself that IQ is a load of balls.

The more highly qualified "intelligent" people I meet, the more I know that our definitions of intelligence are flawed.

 

[Stephanus]

Trained psychologist - no
(are they the same camp as toothiticians?)

But I did the Mensa test (150); just to know that I could pass it - to satisfy myself that IQ is a load of balls.

The more highly qualified "intelligent" people I meet, the more I know that our definitions of intelligence are flawed.

And from what I learned in Relativity theory. Light travels faster than sound.
That's why someone looks brighter until you hear him/her speaking.

 

[symbolipoint]

One cannot increase his I.Q.
One CAN increase in wisdom.

 

[William White]

Well, the point is, that the opposite is observed.

it is well known that scores in IQ can change (quite dramatically), due to environmental and societal factors (Flynn Effect).

It was observed that blacks living under Jim Crow had much lower IQ scores than whites.

IQs increased as environmental and societal factors improved.

What these IQ tests were testing was society, NOT intellgence.Wisdom is just the good application of experience gained as one ages, so saying that wisdom can increase is almost a pleonasm - in many cultures age=wisdom.

 

[Dr_Zinj]

"A higher IQ is not the result of what has been learned. It's more the capacity to learn."
That's not a bad observation. I'd be more inclined to say it's more the level of capability to learn. That's still too limited a definition as intelligence also encompasses the ability to "connect the dots"; to take knowledge and observations and arrive at a correct conclusion. Part of the problem is that the older you get, the more dots and correct conclusions you know, so the more answers you know (or can easily infer) on an IQ test.
Knowing how to learn is a set of techniques. Some people seem to be born using those techniques automatically, but there is some evidence that those techniques are learned at an early age, not inherited. There's also been a few studies that indicate a correlation between those who succeed in law school and an increase in measured IQ; supporting a theory that law schools somehow cause students to learn how to learn better.

 

[William White]

If high IQ is the capacity (or level of capability) to learn

then a low IQ is the lack of a capacity to learnThen how to explain the low IQ of black people living under Jim Crow in the USA?). These people did not have a lower capability or a lower capacity; they had a lower opportunity. The dramatic increase of measured IQ since Jim Crow can ONLY be explained by an increase in opportunity, and NOT an increase in the capability to learn.
Simply - IQ tests tell you NOTHING about intelligence, either innate, or the future capability.

 

[JOSH19]

Hello guys, this is my first ever reply to any post on this blog. I joined 3 days ago, My name is Josh. I don't know much about how IQ is calculated and what is its scientific bast but i want to tell me real life story. I scored between 55% to 58% in school exams for first 10 years of my schooling... in 10th Std i failed the prelim exams (exams conducted by the school itself just like real final exams that are conducted by the educational board whch awards diploma of 10 years of schooling) then I studied for 15 days 10 hrs a day and scored 65% but the IQ test my school conducted (which was compulsory for choosing the future educational field, I failed in it with 33% out of 100 marks...my parents were called and informed about it with a warning letter) (Frankly speaking I never give a damn to exams and studies in my entire life, I always was interested in the concept more and as i used to grasp the essence I used to stop right there..whereas rest of the students used to be in the competitive mode with each other so they used to study-and study and practice 100 times till they become perfect).
I wanted to become an engineer so with 65% marks I went to Engineering... I couldn't cope up in the first semester as i didnt have practice to sustain study load (not because my study concepts were unclear)and failed in all subjects of that semester... we had annual pattern so I continued schooling for the rest of the year, i studied well and scored good 88% when I finished my first year I was 16 years old... continued that pace for next 5 years become a Mechanical Engineer with 80% Now you may be wondering why i am telling you all this! Well, I never took studies seriously...i am a lazy person... and hate solving questions in an competitive manner like a mad race...so i procrastinate... read on! My real test of IQ was done only 2-3 times in my entire academic life...when I took TOEFL, GRE and GMAT... I scored 90% in all three exams... in GRE i was close to 100%! I also took 2 step entrance exam called IIT-JEE in India which is famous for its toughest tough exam in the world with huge syllabus and extremely tough questions...I could clear first test called screen test in IIT-JEE... anyway... what I want to cay is, IQ testing might be the most stupid thing on earth... it may only tell whether a student will fail or not in finishing his course intellectually or faulter...nothing else! for me EQ is more important than IQ... my IQ when I was 15 was much lower than the IQ i had at the age of 18 and lower than when I was 25-27! you might surprise, after the age 27 I read first science book in my life! and in last 5 years I have read some 4000 science books that's how I joined this forum as a self assumed physicist! So i can say, it can be increased later on! some efforts are really necessary to advance the IQ microscopically, its not an easy task I admit, because I took hell of efforts to improve myself ! i thing your existing IQ is related to your lifestyle... if you improve lifestyle(the way you utilize intellectual energy, it too improves! And hey, even Einstein was not a smart fella in his school days! ;)

 

[Evo]

And hey, even Einstein was not a smart fella in his school days! ;)

Actually, that is a myth, Einstein's grades were very good.

http://rarehistoricalphotos.com/Albert-einsteins-matriculation-certificate-1896/

 

[Evo]

This thread is now going off topic and has run it's course.