Many years ago, I noticed that IQ was correlated with a great many physical and demographic traits such as head size, height, income, education, etc. This gave me the idea of trying to estimate peoples’ IQs based on bio-demographics. A member of Prometheus society brilliantly suggested that “multiple regression” would be the classic application for my idea, and he also suggested that I use religiosity as one of the demographic traits.
Well it turns outs psychologists have been using demographic traits like education and occupation to estimate premorbid IQ in people suspected of dementia for years, but they don’t include biological traits except for race. I thought it would be interesting to use a wide range of bio-demographic traits so using data from 144 Canadians (age 26 to 76) I created an equation to estimate your IQ. The sample was heavily skewed towards my demographic (Ontario men in their thirties) but the formula might still work on working age North Americans in general.
INSTRUCTIONS
Start by assuming your IQ is 21.088, and then add or subtract based on the following 30 instructions. Be honest or your estimate will not be accurate.
Education
1. If you graduated from elementary school, add 6.42 points
2. If you graduated from high school, add another 6.42 points
3. If you have a university degree, add another 6.42 points.
4. If you have a graduate degree or attended an elite college or high school, add another 6.42 points.
5. If you both attended an elite college AND have a graduate degree, add yet another 6.42 points.
Head Size
6. Multiply your cranial circumference (in inches) by 2.627 and add the resulting number of points.
Height
7. Multiply your height (in inches) by 0.252 and add the resulting number of points
Weight
8. Multiply your weight (in pounds) by 0.0924 and subtract the resulting number of points
Race
9. If you’re less than half-black, add 2.595 points
10. If you’re less than a quarter black and less than a quarter Native American, add another 2.595 points
11. If you’re more than 75% Northeast Asian, or more than 50% Ashkenazi Jewish, add another 2.595 points
12. If you’re more than 75% Ashkenazi Jewish, add yet another 2.595 points
Media preferences
13. Which of the following do you most prefer for entertainment: a) fun TV shows like sitcoms, reality TV, game shows, sports, and popular talk shows, b) intellectual TV shows about science, history or politics, c) fun books like romance novel or thrillers, or d) intellectual books like literary novels or academic texts. If you chose “a” add 0 points, if you chose “b” add 3.532 points, if you chose “c”, add 7.064 points, and if you chose “d”, add 10.596 points.
Sex
14. If you’re male, subtract 3.907 points
Income
15. Multiply the number of figures in your yearly pre-tax income by 1.094 and add the resulting number of points. If you’re retired, use your peak earnings, adjusted for inflation. If much of your earnings go into your business or if you’re too rich to have a conventional income, simply divide your individual net worth by ten to approximate your income.
Religiosity
16. If you believe in God, subtract 3.63 points.
17. If you’re a creationist who does not believe in evolution, subtract another 3.63 points.
Social conservatism
18. If you’re not pro-immigration, subtract 0.932 points
19. If you’re opposed to immigration, subtract another 0.932 points
20. If you’re not pro-gay marriage, subtract 0.932 points
21. If you’re opposed to gay marriage, subtract another 0.932 points
Authoritarianism
22. If you’re not pro-legalizing hate literature, subtract 0.932 points
23. If you’re opposed to legalizing hate literature, subtract another 0.932 points
24. If you’re not pro-choice on abortion, subtract 0.932 points
25. If you’re opposed to abortion rights, subtract another 0.932 points
Alcoholism
26. If you’re an alcoholic, subtract 2.856 points
Smoking
27. If you’re a smoker, subtract 2.856 points
And your IQ is…
28. Subtract 100 from all your points
29. Divide by 0.8
30. Add 100
Why should I substract points if I am a male ?
Males didn’t have an higher IQ than female ?
Head size, height & income all overestimate the IQ of men, so when all those variables are included, the equation balances that by subtracting points from men.
Africans females have an higher head size than africans males(and an higher IQ too) so it doesn’t work the same for everybody.
The studies I’ve seen show black women have much smaller brains than black men & usually lower IQ
Black women have smaller heads than black men? Really??? Even Thomas Sowell wrote about black women being vastly overrepresented compared to black men at IQ > 120. Black women attend college and keep professional jobs at several times the rate of black men (we’re the only race where this is the case).
Yes, exactly.
If you speak french, this is a good video that explain the cause of these differences.
Black women have smaller heads than black men? Really??? Even Thomas Sowell wrote about black women being vastly overrepresented compared to black men at IQ > 120.
Jensen investigated the possibility that black women are smarter than black men and rejected it. It’s possible Jensen was wrong and Sowell is right, but Jensen cited a study showing black females are dumber than black males, but of course one study is not conclusive.
Black women attend college and keep professional jobs at several times the rate of black men (we’re the only race where this is the case).
In cold adapted races (whites, East Asians) women evolved to be dependent on men for survival but in the tropics, women can provide for themselves. I suspect that’s why black women do relatively well.
Btw Pumpkin what IQ give you this test ?
By the way, this test could be improved slightly if you were more exact in your questions, “Have you attended an elite school?” and “Do you have a graduate degree?” University of Michigan is considered elite to some, but not to all. What’s the cutoff for elite? Harvard, yale, Princeton? Ivy League? Top 30 4 year colleges in US News? Public Ivy?
Grad degrees vary widely in difficulty. A Phd in education may require a minimum IQ of 100. A Phd in theoretical physics has a minimum IQ of 130.
In the U.S., I would define an elite college as any of the colleges listed in table 1 of this document:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/files/attachments/56143/wai-americas-elite-2013.pdf
Very interesting. I estimate ”my” iq , i.e, general iq, about 110. I go make this test…but, i’m not working by now and i doubt that i will have a high income job in the future. Remember, all cognitive tests will have blind points because there are diversity of minds. Even, general intelligence tests are not holistic… ”My” iq 110 don’t say everything about my intellect.
110 was the estimate you got using my formula in this post?
No, by average in more than 20 online tests i do and simple formule that i create to estimate ”my iq” by school scores. In my better matters, history and geography, i score 130. To estimate my ‘iq scores’ i use rule of three starting by iq 155, based on iq community i participate during few months.
“more than 20 online tests”. Dude, you are fucking trained, that’s not fair.
Santoculto, on a creativity scale from 1-10 with 10 being the most creative, how would you rate yourself? I mean especially problem-solving creativity.
I don’t know. Depend what nature of problem. In pure math i could give me score near to 0.
That thing overestimates my IQ by 7-9 points.
What is the result ?
Cale ba,
i find a average 110. If i was very trained, i score 140, 😉
and online tests are weak to estimate iq.
Yo Pumpkin,
Are you familiar with the Canadian horror TV series Friday the 13th (only tangentially related to the movie series of the same name)? I’m watching it right now.
The whole thing is here on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo0B3N2B67I
I’ve heard of it, but just figured it was too unrelated to the movies to bother with. Have you seen any of the movies?
I’d like to advertise here 2 HBD books that were just released or are soon to be.
The first is by Garrett Jones on the subject of national IQs:
http://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=23082
And the second is by Stuart J. Ritchie on findings of psychology, behavioral genetics, and so on about IQ and how blank slatists and anti-HBD obscurantists try to deny these facts about IQ:
http://www.amazon.com/Intelligence-That-Matters-Stuart-Ritchie/dp/1444791877/
The latter book is so interesting because it goes into all the hard evidence that anti-HBD people always try to ignore. From the summary:
“[T]he scientific evidence is clear: IQ tests are extraordinarily useful. IQ scores are related to a huge variety of important life outcomes like educational success, income, and even life expectancy, and biological studies have shown they are genetically influenced and linked to measures of the brain. Studies of intelligence and IQ are regularly published in the world’s top scientific journals.”
…can anti-HBDers dispute any of that? Disprove it? Of course not. Facts are unshakeable.
Gonna check those books out.
Iq are extraordinary useful by what???
More humility for psychometricians please!!!
If iq correlate with society, then it also correlate with geography, history, sociology, psychology and their statistical results express structural contextual hierarchy. Contextual because no there only one society model.
Society module demands and money distribution. Is not natural, but a artificial structure because big economy speculation are artificial itself.
Unfortunately, like most social analysis made by conservatives of STEM or by neodarwinians is not based on important critics about social problems. Useful idiot not only by left.
A better society, without anti-white leftist narrative, will can be good for all.
I do 126,975, no account income, i no have Virtually any income by now. I very doubt my average scores in iq tests will be above 126.
what the average iq was estimate of this post mortem canadians?? 100??
126 is still pretty good
Love this idea, I’m traveling now or I would give it a try. Either tonight or tomorrow I’ll be back with my result.
It will be interesting to see how close it comes to your tested IQ
I prefer the revised version but they’re both statistically equivalent
https://pumpkinperson.com/2015/05/17/revised-formula-for-estimating-iq-from-bio-demographics/
Do what extent do the typical set of high IQ demographics (liberalism, non-religiosity etc..) hold for people with super high IQs? Is there any reason to think the correlation gets stronger as IQ scores increase? I haven’t studied very many cases of people with ultra- high IQs, but I’m familiar with the more well known ones in high IQ groups- Langan, Rosner etc.. If I were to guess, I’d say that people with ultra high IQs tend to have religious and political beliefs that are unusual, but well thought out. Perhaps they have behavioral traits that match the same pattern as well. Langan tends to be a prime example of the former, and Rosner the latter..
If anything, the correlations might get weaker at the high end if Chris Langan is any indication
Chris Langan and Rick Rosner are not representative at all of the extremely high IQ part of the population which tend to be composed of autistic types. These 2 guys actually are the opposite of autistic.
I believe that you made a mistake in the final step of this estimation process. I have had several therapist/doctor-conducted IQ tests all giving me about 145-ish, and when I did this test, It gave me about 66. I tried running my numbers through the final step again but without subtracting the 100 points (3rd to last step) and it came out 146, which seemed about right. I think that you made a mistake, though I may be incorrect.
mistake.?….that whole equation is bullocks……i wouldn’t worry about it much
I think this test is pretty accurate. I received a 143 using your test. I was in the gifted program all through secondary school and determined to have an IQ somewhere around that range since I was very young (tested in the 99% starting in the 2nd grade.) I graduated with honors from an elite college and have a graduate degree. I consider myself agnostic and socially liberal.
Well done! It estimates me at 139, but I cheated: I didn’t subtract for believing in God, being a social conservative, or being anti-abortion, because those things only correlate with IQ in the modern age, not throughout human history. If I had subtracted for those things, the test would have been way off.
In reality, I was tested at over 140 (my mother remembers it being 156, but isn’t positive) in 1st grade and graduated with highest honors in electrical engineering at one of the top engineering schools in the world without much effort, which seems to confirm the tested IQ … and I’m female, which makes me about as rare in those categories as a unicorn. I did a 57-question online IQ test recently and got 144 late at night while very sleep-deprived, so still close to your test’s predicted range (absent the social/political/religious predictors). I think you’ve thought through this very well, and your theories are likely pretty accurate.
Thank you so much!
Great to hear a female perspective!
You are actually retarded [believing in god] so probably around 120 to 130 IQ. Most common range for delusions.
Like JHS, I didn’t subtract any points for my social values or for my religious faith, and my IQ, as “estimated” by your procedure, is close to my actual IQ, as determined by the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) IQ test. Notwithstanding the similarity in results, I remain unconvinced that IQ can be “estimated.” Correlation, rather than causation, can easily explain the similarity between your “estimate” and the WAIS test’s finding relative to my IQ. (I wonder how Thomas Aquinas or Paul Tillich would have scored according to your approach.)
I only got 89. I took an IQ test at school once and scored around 90 on most of the scores, so I guess it is kind of accurate.