Limitations and Constancy of IQ


Limitations and Constancy of IQ

Limitations of IQ:

1. IQ is not the quantity of a person’s intelligence. It is only an index that gives the relative brightness of an individual.
2. All the tests do not yield an identical IQ. Consequently, none of the IQs indicated by any one test is completely reliable.
3. The zero point in IQ scale is arbitrary rather than real and the various units are of unequal length. The difference between an IQ of 60 and 70 is not the same as the difference between an IQ of 110 and 120.
4. Even when a person is examined by the same test a number of times, the IQ shows a change.
5. IQs are not comparable from one test to another.
Constancy of IQ

                Under ordinary circumstances an individual’s IQ is supposed to remain constant throughout life or at least throughout the age limits covered by the test. This property of IQ is referred to as the constancy of IQ. The IQ remains more or less constant throughout life because it is an index of the relative brightness of the individual compared to other of his age. It is true that an individual grows in intelligence, still his IQ remains constant because other individuals of his age group also grow at the same rate.

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