u/Educational-Mud8130

Apologies for this rant. In the short amount of time since joining this reddit feed, I have noticed trends, many of which are concerning that has been left unaddressed. There seems to be misconceptions of what IQ is, its distinction from general intelligence, and corollaries associated with intelligence. My brief presence in this group has revealed that there is a consensus that intelligence is associated with being misunderstood, maladaptation of the statistics behind intelligence, wrong conclusions linking IQ scores and predicted real world performance, and a subtext of narcissism and poor self-awareness in describing social interactions. Well let’s start with intelligence.
 
Human intelligence is hard to define, with definitions changing based on cultural expectations, evolutionary pressures, and overall goals of a species and organism. I’ll narrow my explanation based on the context of western society and where we are. Intelligence can best be defined as an organism’s ability to use available surrounding tools to develop insights to achieve a goal. From an evolutionary perspective, procreation is often the goal. The manner that this goal is achieved has changed through the centuries with the newest iteration occurring during the industrial revolution, wherein one’s ability to procreate is correlated with one’s ability to amass wealth of some sort. If you believe that to be true, then you’d agree it’s not much of a cognitive leap to conclude that intelligence can be loosely defined as assimilation and nimbleness in navigating to a dominant culture.  
For centuries, measuring human intelligence in a culturally neutral and scientifically reliable manner has proven extraordinarily difficult. The twentieth century saw the emergence of IQ testing, initially developed to identify school-aged children requiring additional educational support. Modern psychometric testing has since expanded substantially, with numerous studies demonstrating meaningful associations between IQ scores and outcomes such as educational attainment, occupational performance, income, health, and longevity.
However, an important nuance often lost in public discourse is that IQ scores are not synonymous with total human intelligence or human value. IQ tests are designed to estimate aspects of general cognitive ability and remain among the most validated instruments in psychology, but their predictive power is probabilistic rather than absolute. Even strong correlations between IQ and life outcomes leave substantial variability unexplained.
I am not arguing that IQ and intelligence are unrelated; the literature clearly demonstrates meaningful associations between them. Rather, I am arguing that the general public often overestimates both the precision and scope of what IQ scores can measure
How much IQ scores is explained by genetics and environment is unknown, yet it is commonly believed that genes play a role, anywhere form 50-80% in determining IQ.  It is also believed that IQ becomes concrete and stable at an early age. Still, the role of genetics and IQ in the media is based on out-dated and since disproven ideas of genes, with many in the media space suggesting a mendelian view on the role of genes in IQ. Genes are far more complicated with multiple factors affecting genotypic expression durign conception, development, birth, and all through stages of life.  
Despite all of what we know about genes, IQ, and intelligence, its use in the public sphere strays significantly from the science and seems to be a crutch for those who struggle/ decide against human interaction with groups, challenges to ideals and beliefs held, and trumped-up grandiose sentiments about self. Intelligence has been correlated with social acceptance. The image of the trouble genius is largely based on marketing from Hollywood and other movies scenes and tend not to align with what we’ve seen in history and in society today. In fact, most high IQ people enjoy the luxury of their IQ, rewarded with strong bonds, leadership positions, affluence and wealth. This follows even with high IQ individuals with immaterial endeavors when compared to a similar matched cohort. While there is significant variation in the aforementioned, high IQ individuals exist that struggle with human interaction, the proportion of high IQ individuals who find a level of social isolation is significantly less than individuals with lower IQ.  IQ, intelligence, and genes are incredibly complex and involve an interplay between genes, cultural expectations/assimilation, and testing explanatory capabilities. It is a number, taken from the world of social sciences that is now incredibly misused, particularly by those who do not understand it.