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Methodology

Methodology. Technology, IQ, and Koko the Gorilla. Are people getting smarter?. HYPOTHESIS: Technology advances produce a smarter population. METHOD: Plot average IQ test results as a function of year. ASSUMPTION: IQ tests accurately measure intelligence.

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Methodology

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  1. Methodology Technology, IQ, and Koko the Gorilla

  2. Are people getting smarter? HYPOTHESIS: Technology advances produce a smarter population. METHOD: Plot average IQ test results as a function of year. ASSUMPTION: IQ tests accurately measure intelligence. Technology advances occur at a constant rate.

  3. Results of IQ study

  4. Does this prove the IQ hypothesis? • Nothing in the study demonstrates that the IQ increase is due to technology! • The IQ test changed during the test period. • Other indicators like SAT scores have fallen! • Environmental explanations for IQ result. • Cultural, social & economic biases in IQ testing.

  5. Take Koko, for example: • a vocabulary of 375 signs. • IQ measured to be 84 • an IQ only slightly below average for a human child! • good results even though some IQ test questions were biased against gorillas! Koko has been taught sign language. In 1978 she had: Patterson, P. (1978) Conversations with a gorilla, National Geographic Magazine, Oct. 1978, p. 438-465.

  6. IQ Test Question: Point to two things that are good to eat:

  7. Koko: a current update • In 1999 Koko knows >500 signs and 2000 words of spoken English. • Understands the notions of past, present, and future, and truth and falsehoods. • IQ has been measured to be as high as 95 despite anti-gorilla bias in testing. • Koko is getting smarter, and/or she is getting better at taking IQ tests! http://www.gorilla.org/gorilla/koko/index.html

  8. Planet of the Apes?

  9. What can we actually conclude? Keeping Koko’s story in mind, the methodology proposed only proves the following: • People are getting better at taking multiple choice IQ tests, just like gorillas! • Intelligence testing is hard to get right.

  10. Where did we go wrong? • Principal assumptions flawed. • Failed to develop methodology that connected technology with the intelligence. • Faith in numbers over and above method!

  11. Interpreting results... • If you produce a result which is out of bounds or unexpected, trust your intuition and ask WHY? • It may be that your hypothesis is false. • It may mean that your method is flawed

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