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Topics: Health, Science, Mental Health, US News
Ella Scott
Those living with lower-than-average IQ levels have detailed exactly what life is like for them on social media—with one claiming they sometimes miss ‘obvious details’ during day-to-day events.
IQ - short for intelligence quotient - is a standardized measure of a person’s mental ability.
Healthline reports that taking an IQ test helps you and medical professionals understand your reasoning ability, spatial visualization, memory capabilities and overall cognitive intelligence.
The tests can be flawed, as they do not measure creativity well, nor can they gain an accurate representation of a person’s critical thinking levels.
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Therefore, it’s worth taking your test results with a pinch of salt.
According to a report by Human Rights Watch, the vast majority of United States residents have an IQ between 80 and 120. The average however is more around the 100 mark.
Those who hit between 80-89 are deemed to have a Low Average IQ classification while a 70-79 puts you in the ‘Well Below Average’ category.
If your IQ is below 70, you are considered to have an Extremely Low level of intelligence. Healthline states only a small fraction of people have an Extremely Low IQ level.
Over on Reddit, people with lower-than-average intelligence levels have been discussing how it has impacted their lives.
The conversation was started by a user, known as IronFires, who typed: “People with confirmed below-average intelligence, how has your intelligence affected your life experience, and what would you want the world to know about what it’s like to be you?
One Redditor has recalled the time they were asked to complete a school admission IQ test. “I knew it was a test and thought there must be some kind of secret bonus answers like the cube might fit in the triangle hole somehow since the sides of the cube are smaller than the long side of the triangle... I'm not smart.
“There's quite a few times I miss what might seem like obvious details,” they continued. “Overall, I've done ok, though a lot of things have been more stressful that they should be because I'm constantly second-guessing myself.”
Another commented: “Not technically below average, but my Neurologist/Psychologist (not sure which) said I had the biggest disparity between cognitive functioning she had ever seen.
“I was in the 90th percentile for things like reasoning, and in the 10th percentile for speed. My entire life has been that feeling of after a conversation, you realize what you should have said.”
However, a third said that having a low intelligence level hasn’t held them back from achieving major career goals.
“So I was placed in learning disability programs from grade 1 to grade 7 because of my level of intelligence. I had to repeat a year of middle school as well. I am now a resident doctor at the top university program in Canada,” they gushed.
Meanwhile, another wanted readers to understand what it feels like to be snubbed for not ‘functioning relatively normally’.
“Talking slowly or, getting annoyed because I've asked you to repeat something, or pushing me out of the way when I don't react fast enough...that's just rubbing it in,” they confessed.
“I can't change how well I process information — believe me, I've asked my doctor about it, and other people have tried before me. I'm stuck where I'm at in this regard, and it's hard to 'try harder' when I'm already running at 110 [percent] just to keep up with the rest of the world.”
According to Dr Angela Hassiotis, of the University College London’s Mental Health Sciences Unit, those with lower IQs are likely to have lower happiness levels.
Her study, published in the journal Psychological Medicine, saw 6,870 participants answering honestly about their education, health, income and social life.
Their happiness levels were then measured ‘on a three-point scale and verbal IQ estimated using the National Adult Reading Test (NART).’
Results showed that people in the lower IQ range (70-89) were more likely to be ‘socially disadvantaged and less happy compared to people with higher IQ’
“When looking at the data we saw that people with a lower IQ were less likely to be happier because of higher levels of socio-economic disadvantage such as lower income," added Dr Hassiotis.
"They are also less likely to be happy because they need more help with skills of daily living, have poorer health and report more symptoms of psychological distress.”
According to Healthline, there are a multitude of ways you can boost your IQ level.
These include completing memory activities, including crossword puzzles and pages of sudoku.
Activities like Scrabble, Pictionary and completing brainteasers can also improve your IQ level, alongside building 3-D models and even learning a musical instrument.