Although not a PhD herself, my wife is a researcher at a fairly well regarded university on the east coast. I’ve attended several of her conferences and many social events for her department. I’ve also helped a PhD prepare her thesis. While I’ve encountered many extremely bright folks, and have not asked anyone for their most recent IQ test results, based on these interactions I would be more than willing to make a mattress bet that a large percentage do not have IQs north of 135. It might be worthy to note that these particular folks have PhDs in social sciences (primarily sociology), but your original comment did not specify PhDs in any particular field.
As anecdotal evidence, one of the conferences I attended, the American Sociological Society’s annual meeting, offered free WiFi and the password was “Sociology”. I was not technically a conference attendee and had not seen my wife’s conference package with the WiFi password and guessed it on the 2nd try. I tried ASA and the year first. While this could be attributed to a lack of creativity on the part of the IT folks who setup the network, it could just as easily be attributed to the inability of the conference attendees to remember a more secure password. In fairness, I’ve also guessed the passwords of a few coworkers but didn’t regard them as overly bright either.
^ With all due respect I think intelligence is Far more complicated than simply guessing the password of the Wifi. I also think that most people don’t use their full potential in brain power just like they don’t use their physical capacity to the fullest simply because it’s more painful to sit down and think than browse through Netflix .
I’d think that study would be pretty interesting, since it’s the sort of thing that educational debates always go on about. How much of observed or perceived intelligence in a school program’s graduates comes from 1) the pre-existing intelligence of those who pass the selection process, 2) the intelligence added by the process of teaching and the curriculum, and 3) intelligence absorbed by being around other intelligent people and constantly interacting with them.
^What? This is shocking to me and will be to Higgs as well. I thought it was undisputed that the complexity of a password was directly correlated to the intelligence of the user. Higgs, how did we make it this far?
I would agree that intelligence is far more complicated than simply guessing a WiFi password. Perhaps recognizing a facetious anecdote, or the inability to do so, would be a good measure.
yeah, i’ll sit around and debate it and enjoy myself but do i really want to read some terrible study where the author actually attempts to quantify how much intelligence came from each source and fails miserably but tries to be like “yeah but with 72% confidence my study successfully proves my hypothesis that i’m a useless”? i see myself reading this study on the toilet and cursing the author’s name already.
So, you don’t actually have your PhD, then, do you? Personally, I don’t think it matters if someone is a student or has a PhD in order to make a logical argument in this case. It’s not really about the details of pursuing a degree, it’s just about a characteristic for a group of people.
Many of those on the board have interacted with PhDs (or have one) on a regular basis through academia or in a non-academic work setting. I know some PhD holders who are incredibly smart, but I also know some others who were probably in the right place, at the right time, and had enough memorization skills to scrape by the process (especially how PhDs are supposedly handed out today). Sure, the average IQ is most likely above average, but you said an IQ of 135 (ish) is necessary for a PhD, which is definitely not true.
the place (indian institute of science ) I am studying is so hard and tough on studying that you are considered to have a Phd . Believe me I know a thing or two about PhD
If you haven’t been awarded the degree, then you don’t have it. I didn’t question whether or not you know a thing or two (or three) about a PhD. I was saying that your point is moot, because having a PhD or being a PhD candidate isn’t the only way to have knowledge to answer this question (or reasonably debate it).
Good grief, if getting in to a PhD program there is considered equivalent to having a PhD, it’s a wonder anyone bothers to finish the program.
I sure hope they teach something along the lines of logical thinking there.
There’s a reason that PhD is a doctor of Philosophy and not a Doctor of Physics or Computers or whatnot. Hopefully you will figure out why before you finish the program.
Yes.The undergraduate college i went into would drop anyone who failed a course. 260 people entered the year I was in and only 33 graduated .We did not have calculus in undergrad and the real math started ,we started with linear algebra nd analysis ,something which is very late introduced in USA. the competion for jobs and shool is so high that motivation is the highest.In PhD you can get flunked at anytime if you do not perform as expected. So you my friend have to understand why I am saying this.Your trouble is you compare a PhD in usa with india.In India the professors are lazy so we have to work twice as hard.
So you’re saying “my PhD program is very hard and I’m sure I need an IQ of 135-145 to be in it, therefore PhDs all over the world need an IQ of 135-145 and just forget about PhDs from North American (and maybe European) Universities because their professors aren’t lazy so the students don’t have to work as hard, and therefore PhDs from those those places are irrelevant?”
Yes, that sounds like a solid argument from someone with an IQ north of 135.