relationship between SAT scores and intelligence?

[willie24]

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I think his point is that you guys are BADLY abusing the definition of intelligence so that every little kid gets to be called intelligence "in his own little way." Honestly you guys, intelligence isnt just a synonym for "vaguely good." It has meaninging. When you start to lump into intelligence basically EVERY SINGLE HUMAN CHARACTERISTIC that most people would consider positive, it starts to become foolish.

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look, i agree with you. there's not much worse than the self-esteem boosting attitude prevalent in schools today. but i'm being serious - i don't know what intelligence means. to me, it means "brainpower." i think i'm one of many that go by that definition. if you want it to mean "reasoning ability" or "mathematical ability" or whatever, that's fine. just define it as such when you use it.

is there a high correlation between "reasoning ability" and other intelligences? i'm sure there probably is, but that doesn't mean they are exactly the same thing.

i scored 1480 on the SAT, but i couldn't pass calc 2...in two tries. your average 12 year old can draw a better picture than me. i can't rotate an object in my mind. when i'm in the car and i'm having trouble hearing what my passenger is saying, i mindlessly turn the RADIO volume knob up even though it's not even on.

am i smarter than your average 1200 scorer? well, in some ways yes, and some ways no. my only point is that IQ tests measure what they measure. they do not measure mental superiority. is reasoning ability the single most important mental skill? i don't know, maybe it is. it's not something you can say for sure, because importance is relative.