Hi TonyYes it can be correct :) Psychological stu...

Hi Tony

Yes it can be correct :) Psychological studies tell us (I can give you bibliographical details if you'd like to read them yourself) that IQ is simply an indicator of what someone could achieve using their intelligence.

It does not mean that people will actually use it, or that they will use it specifically to increase their income or net worth. There are many other factors that have an impact on 'success' (however you measure or define that)such as a person's ability to persevere with things they find challenging, support from family and friends, educational level (not necessarily defined by IQ), their interests and passions, their own definitions of success, etc.

It is actually a largely 'western' viewpoint that IQ could be a predictor for success. Our cultures often tend to promote the view that success is largely due to talent or intelligence and to a lesser extent perserverance.

Interestingly Asian cultures usually see things the opposite way around - they view success as largely due to perseverence rather than talent or intelligence.

As an adult educator, what stands out for me is that IQ very rarely seems to predict success for adult learners. Those learners who have learned not to give up when things get difficult are often the ones who succeed in learning, and will also probably do so in life.

Thanks for the great discussion topics!

Melita :)