• Question: What is our IQ when we are born?

    Asked by cai192546 to Amy, Drew, Julia, Kimberley, Sara on 16 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by isaac.
    • Photo: Amy MacQueen

      Amy MacQueen answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      IQ really measures the ability you have to do an IQ test – so based on that I guess its zero!!!

    • Photo: Drew Rae

      Drew Rae answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      Amy is spot on! Of course, a baby won’t get any answers wrong on the test either! Do you lose marks for dribbling on the page instead of filling in the little circles?

    • Photo: Kimberley Bryon

      Kimberley Bryon answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      As the others have said it would have to be zero as IQ tests are based on being able to do certain things. There are IQ tests for babies but they still need to be able to do basic things.

    • Photo: Julia Griffen

      Julia Griffen answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      I’ll dito amy’s answer!

    • Photo: Sara Imari Walker

      Sara Imari Walker answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      Hello again cai! Interesting question. I like Amy’s answer. I wouldn’t have thought about it that way but it is pretty true! From my understanding children really can’t take an IQ till about the age of 5 at the earliest. That being sad, IQ is supposed to be a measure of inherent intelligence (as opposed to learned intelligence). So, theoretically I guess someone’s IQ would be almost the same when they are born as it is throughout their whole life. There are cases of IQ getting higher as you get older – that may have something to do with maturity. But even in these cases it tends to stay within a set range. But yeah, since you can’t measure it as a baby probably zero is a fair estimate! Lots of potential for growth at least 😉

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