Subject: Smart Scots
Date: Tue, 14 May 2002 09:30:37 -0500


But then we knew this already, did we not?  Were Dave and Iain involved?

old goat

from the Telegraph:

EDINBURGH TAKES THE LEAD IN BRITAIN'S BIGGEST IQ CHALLENGE
By Adam Lusher, Robert Matthews and Danielle Demetriou
(Filed: 12/05/2002)

MORE than 95,000 people last night subjected themselves to what was
described as the biggest mass IQ test ever conducted in Britain.

Edinburgh took the lead in Test the Nation, hailed by the BBC as an attempt
to measure the intelligence of the people of Britain. The corporation
challenged studio guests and viewers to answer 70 questions "scientifically"
designed to test their brain power in five categories: language, logic,
memory, numbers and perception
BBC1 viewers found themselves wrestling with questions such as: "A supply of
food will keep nine people for 12 days; how long will it keep three people?"
or "What is the next number in the sequence 999, 333, 111, 37?"
Other multiple choice questions involved shapes and algebra, or asked:
"Grape is to wine as flour is to. . . a) wheat, b) dough, c) baker, or d)
oven?"

Few, it seemed, found the test easy. Chris Leek, the chairman of Mensa, the
intelligence society which was consulted during formation of the questions,
admitted: "Some of the shape questions were vicious. I did find if hard to
get my head around some of the questions later on."

Those outside the studio took part by using interactive television or via
the Internet. Participants were invited to supply a limited amount of
information about themselves to challenge perceptions of the intelligence,
or otherwise, of groups such as men and women, blondes, builders and
teachers.

Anne Robinson, who presented last night's programme with Philip Schofield,
had promised: "Reputations will be made. Reputations will be ruined."

The BBC tested six "teams" comprising: identical twins, builders, teachers,
blondes, publicans and students. Also among the 300 studio guests were
prominent figures including the athlete Jonathan Edwards, Adam Woodyat, the
EastEnders actor, and Andrew Neil, the broadcaster. Some, however, were
reluctant to participate. A BBC spokeswoman said that the programme makers
had asked "between 20 and 30 MPs" to join the guests in the studio.

"We asked as many MPs as we could," she said. "None of them were able to
attend. We don't know why. I suppose you have to ask the MPs."

Some parliamentarians made no secret of their reluctance to appear. Lord
Hattersley, the former deputy leader of the Labour Party, said bluntly: "I
am not going to make an idiot of myself." Early results suggested that
Edinburgh had the most intelligent inhabitants of all the UK capitals.
Edinburgh viewers scored an average of 109.7, Belfast 109.3, London 107.3,
and Cardiff 106.6.

Other early results indicated that the most intelligent famous studio guest
was Jonathan Edwards, with 126. The most intelligent person in the studio
was Tim Rigby, a teacher, with of 137.

The questions were devised Dr Colin Cooper from Queen's University Belfast,
an associate fellow of the British Psychological Society and an expert on
psychometric issues. He devised the test to rely little on any prior general
knowledge. Dr Cooper said that his test had "scientifically validated
questions so that the results will be extremely meaningful".

Those of "average" intelligence would score 90-110 points. Those getting 110
can claim to be among the most intelligent 25 per cent. The programme makers
said that those scoring 130 or above can boast about being in the top two
per cent. Some, however, will question whether the scores mean anything at
all. The concept of intelligence and IQ has been fraught with controversy
since the first tests were published by Alfred Binet, the French
psychologist, in 1905.

Professor James Flynn, an IQ expert, of the University of Otago, New
Zealand, has even called on psychologists to stop claiming that IQ tests
measure intelligence.

Professor Steven Rose, of the Open University's Brain and Behaviour Unit,
said last week: "It's daft. You cannot consider IQ like a lump in your head
that stays unchanging throughout your life. You cannot rank intelligence -
with all its components of motivation, mental arousal and emotion - as if it
were a unilinear attribute."

According to Test the Nation, those with less than 70 are in the bottom two
per cent of the population.

They should perhaps refer the programme makers - and any vocal high
scorers - to Dr Brian Boyd, a reader in education at Strathclyde University.
Dr Boyd said that IQ tests were useless in picking out future fellows of All
Souls.

"If you were looking for a test to show with a fair degree of certainty how
successful people would be in learning," he said, "It was no more use than
hair colour."