Yes I think it's very possible that if you were to graph a population's Intelligence using a some empirical score, then it has a high probability to NOT look exactly like a normal distribution.

For example, let's say that there was some score called "intelligence score" that scores people's intelligence from 0-100. Do you think that if you were to graph a given population's "intelligence score" that it would be EXACTLY centered around 50 in a Normal distribution? I think that's unlikely. It's more likely that there would be local maximums or minimums, or various skews in the graph. There could be a small peak at score 75, or a trough at 85. There could be all sorts of distributions.

And guess what? Given this hypothetical distribution, you could STILL draw lines somewhere on the graph showing quartiles. Those lines might not be at 25-50-75. They might not even be the same distance apart from each other. But you CAN draw them somewhere to split the scores. Just because a graph "has quartiles" does not mean it will always look like the OP.

I think you’re talking past each other — you’re talking about the box plot and they’re talking about the histogram

Absolutely, but it's still useful. Allegedly Alfred Binet did not approve of the eventual applications of the test he designed.

I don't know, when I got tested it seemed like they were testing the right stuff.

I'm pretty sure it's a well-made test that provides fairly accurate results. Even if what they claim to be measuring in each category isn't reflected in the test, it is, at the very least measuring the abilities required to take the test and that exactly.

It seems pretty straightforward to see how good a kid is at solving a puzzle, right?

I was definitely critical of the graph and of IQ. It's a flawed concept created by people who were at best blind to cultural differences and at worst outright racist. [I'm sorry if you found my messaging unclear]<--- I'm being absolutely genuine here, I was trying to make a serious point and if you misunderstood it then perhaps I could have been clearer. In future with these kinds of posts I'll label it as off topic at the beginning.

I'm sure Lemmy wasn't like this a month ago. What I was enjoying is that someone would make a post and then you could start a conversation that wasn't strictly on topic just have an interesting talk about the general subject.