Self-estimated I.Q.'s

Introduction

Since 2013, high-range test candidates have been asked to estimate their own I.Q. on scale with a standard deviation of 15. The resulting statistics are below.

Height of the self-estimated I.Q.'s relative to test scores

The median self-estimated I.Q., 144, corresponds to protonorm 377 (I.Q. 134) when ranks of self-estimated I.Q.'s and test scores are equated. All tests for which at least two scores are known are used (for brevity, this report only lists correlations with tests with at least 3 scores). So, the self-estimated I.Q.'s are on average 10 points higher than the candidates' test scores.

Because the correlations with tests are on the whole low, it would not be meaningful to "norm" the self-estimated I.Q.'s based on those tests.

Scores on Candidate's self-estimated I.Q.

Contents type: Personal information and/or (self-)assessment.   

• n: 120
• Median: 144.0
• Quartile deviation: 8.5
• Range: 101
• Male median: 145.0 (n = 105)
• Female median: 135.0 (n = 14)
• Resolution: 0.60

Scores by males

n = 105

Scores by females

n = 14

Correlation of Candidate's self-estimated I.Q. with other tests by Paul Cooijmans

Weighted average of correlations: 0.110

Conservatively estimated minimum g loading: 0.33

Ranking in above table is based on the unrounded correlations. All available data is present in this table, no tests are left out except for those with less than 3 score pairs. All known pairs are used, including possible floor/ceiling scores or outliers.

Correlation of Candidate's self-estimated I.Q. with tests by others

Weighted average of correlations: 0.448

Ranking in above table is based on the unrounded correlations. All available data is present in this table, no tests are left out except for those with less than 3 score pairs. All known pairs are used, including possible floor/ceiling scores or outliers.

Please be aware that correlations with these external tests are in most cases affected (depressed, typically) by one or more of the following: (1) Little overlap with the object test because of the much lower ceilings and inherent ceiling effects of the tests used in regular psychology; (2) Candidates reporting scores selectively, for instance only the higher ones while withholding lower ones; (3) Candidates reporting, or having been reported by psychometricians, incorrect scores.

Correlation of Candidate's self-estimated I.Q. with other tests by Paul Cooijmans - for females

Weighted average of correlations: 0.721

Conservatively estimated minimum g loading among females: 0.85

Ranking in above table is based on the unrounded correlations. All available data is present in this table, no tests are left out except for those with less than 2 score pairs. All known pairs are used, including possible floor/ceiling scores or outliers.

Estimated loadings of Candidate's self-estimated I.Q. on particular item types

These are estimated g factor loadings, but against homogeneous tests (containing only particular item types) as opposed to non-compound heterogeneous tests. Although tending to surprise the lay person, it is not uncommon for tests to have high loadings on item types they do not actually contain themselves. Such loadings reflect the empirical fact that most tests for mental abilities measure primarily g, regardless of their contents; that the major part of test score variance is caused by g, and only a minor part by factors germane to particular item types. It is of key importance to understand that this is a fact of nature, a natural phenomenon, and not something that was built into the tests by the test constructors.

Compound tests have been left out of this table to avoid overlap.

Balanced g loading = 0.34

National medians for Candidate's self-estimated I.Q.

For reasons of privacy, only countries with 2 or more candidates are included in this table. Ranking is based on the medians, and then alphabetic.

Correlation with national I.Q.'s of Candidate's self-estimated I.Q.

Correlation of this test with national average I.Q.'s published by Lynn and Vanhanen:

• r = -0.13 (n = 120)

Correlation of Candidate's self-estimated I.Q. with personal details

Correlation with personal details of Candidate's self-estimated I.Q. - within females

Correlation with personal details of Candidate's self-estimated I.Q. - within males

Estimated g factor loadings upward and downward of particular scores

In parentheses the number of score pairs on which that estimated g factor loading is based. The goal of this is to verify the hypothesis that g becomes less important, accounts for a smaller proportion of the variance, at higher I.Q. levels. The mere fact of restricting the range like this also depresses the g loading compared to computing it over the test's full range, so it would be normal for both values to be lower than the test's full-range g loading.