this post was submitted on 09 May 2025
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I think it would be hard to isolate exactly how much of our daily lives we experience as a direct consequence of our IQ and how much is a consequence of other things such as personality, emotional predisposition, environment, and luck.
My IQ is pretty average (around 115 I think? I tested ages ago and I can't even say the test was reliable). Some people insist I must be somewhat higher than that but I don't know. I feel dumber every day.
My father though, he does have a higher IQ (I think 135 iirc) and it's obvious to anyone that he's a brains guy. Always top student in his youth and later a decent researcher, engineer and programmer. And yet he still makes dumb mistakes like everyone else, and his temper and personality will often turn a mediocre day into a bad one. He has a tendency to overcomplicate things unnecessarily, and sets high standards for others around him- you'd think being smarter would mean he wouldn't do this, but as I said, intelligence doesn't work isolated. I remember asking him how it feels like being smarter than most of his peers and his answer is always "bah!".
So I don't know if this answers your question, but there's my two cents for you.
115 is not "average" lmao
It’s within a standard deviation, it’s not like it’s getting him into Mensa.
By definition, it is. 85-115 is the 1 standard deviation range for IQ and encompasses ⅔ of the population (roughly). So, 115 is "average" or "high average".
115-130 is above average, while 70-85 is below average ("mild intellectual delay" used to be the term I think? Not sure if that's still current). 145+ was "genius" and 160+ was "super genius", back in the day; I assume those terms aren't used anymore, but I haven't looked into it. IIRC, about 97% of the population is 70-130 IQ.
My brother is a "genius"; I am not. (I was never told my exact score on the IQ test found for me as a child, but I know the range, and in both our cases came from a psychologist).
I'm more "successful" by most standard measures of success, but that might have more to do with his (undiagnosed and unsupported) autism than his IQ. (Career , house, family, etc.) In math, for example, he could get 100s without effort, until university. I could get 100s with significant but not extreme effort, or coast and get 80s-90s until university. We both got top scores on math contests at the local (academic) school level.
I don't really think IQ is very valuable for having a "good" life. Emotional regulation, introspection, mindfulness, and other soft skills are more important, imho, and I'm actively working on trying to build more capacity in those areas, and they're leading to more success for me than my speed at learning a narrow subset of things (what IQ measures).
I'm dealing with a lot of harm from how constantly being labeled "smart" was damaging for me, paired with my at-the-time undiagnosed ADHD. I struggle with a lot of imposter syndrome, need for external validation, and oscillating sense of self worth.
TL;DR: "Emotional intelligence" trumps IQ for life skills and general happiness, equanimity, and "success".
It does! This is precisely the kind of stuff that I'm interested in! I agree with you, in that it's possible to think wrong thoughts even with a higher IQ. I see IQ as the speed of thought, and you can very quickly arrive at wrong conclusions. Similarly, if there's a thought that your skill tree hasn't unlocked, then you're left with thoughts that are maybe not ideal for a particular situation, thoughts that could make someone "overcomplicate things unnecessarily" or "make dumb mistakes", as your dad or anyone on planet Earth would.
I think it's especially hard to isolate IQ when there are many thoughts or behaviors that we don't typically associate with high IQ. "Ah yes, the violin is a sensible instrument for a learned man" or whatever people may think. That's partly why I asked my question. If someone leads a life not typically associated with a high IQ and yet have a high enough IQ that manifested in their life, how did that look like? Of course, I'm not looking for wild stories. I'm looking for genuine stories, and I'm glad that I got an interesting answers like yours!