Intelligence Quotes

“The fact that, for example, the link between smoking and lung cancer was first discovered by Nazi doctors (Proctor, 2000) doesn’t mean we should tell people that smoking is healthy after all.”
― Stuart Ritchie, Intelligence: All That Matters

“people (to quote the researchers) had achieved an astonishing amount (Kell et al., 2013). They had become high-ranking politicians, CEOs of companies, high-ups in government agencies, distinguished academics, journalists for well-known newspapers, artists and musical directors. They had been awarded patents, grant money and prizes, and had produced plays, novels, and a huge amount of economic value. They had, in other words, made incalculable contributions to society, for everyone’s benefit.”
― Stuart Ritchie, Intelligence: All That Matters

“One subset of this Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth – as it’s called, although these youths were also precocious in non-mathematical areas – were the best of the best: their SAT scores were the top 0.0001 per cent of the population. And 30 years after they had taken the SAT, these 320 ‘scary smart’ people (to quote the researchers) had achieved an astonishing amount (Kell et al., 2013). They had become high-ranking politicians, CEOs of companies, high-ups in government agencies, distinguished academics, journalists for well-known newspapers, artists and musical directors. They had been awarded patents, grant money and prizes, and had produced plays, novels, and a huge amount of economic value. They had, in other words, made incalculable contributions to society, for everyone’s benefit.

Overall, then, it seems that particularly high IQ scores are related to particularly impressive achievements. Moreover, and importantly for our question here, another analysis by Benbow and Lubinski showed that, even within the top 1 per cent of SAT scorers, those with higher IQs were doing better: they had higher incomes and were more likely to have obtained advanced degrees (Robertson et al., 2010). There are, it seems, no limits to the benefits of a high IQ: even within the cleverest people, intelligence keeps on mattering.”
― Stuart Ritchie, Intelligence: All That Matters

“In 2010 scientists collected together all the data on the Mozart Effect, and the unusually frank title of their paper nicely sums up their opinion: ‘Mozart Effect – Schmozart Effect’. They concluded that, overall, there was no good evidence for Mozart’s power to improve intelligence (Pietschnig et al.).”
― Stuart Ritchie, Intelligence: All That Matters