The UK’s IQ will be tested via interactive television and the internet on Saturday night. The BBC hopes millions of people will watch and participate in the Test the Nation programme.
The results, along with those from studio-based tests of population sub-groups, will reveal, the BBC says: “where the cleverest people in the UK live. Who are the brainiest football supporters? Are blondes really dumb?”
However Colin Cooper, an expert on psychological testing at Queen’s University, Belfast, who created the 70-item IQ test for the BBC, told New Scientist: “They have to do that sort of thing for televisual appeal – but I wish they weren’t.”
Previous national TV IQ tests in other countries have thrown up no scientifically interesting results. Unsurprisingly, an earlier Dutch version found no significant IQ differences between people with blue or brown eyes, or blonde or red hair, or between people with different star signs.
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But the UK IQ test itself will be valid, says Cooper. “We administered it alongside a standard IQ test to 200 people, and we correlated the scores to make sure the test that will appear on the BBC does actually measure IQ. It most definitely does,” he says.
Glasses of wine
The questions cover language, memory, logic, numbers and perception. Each block of questions must be completed in an allotted time. The registration process includes certain questions designed to further probe links between IQ and other factors.
“There has been a suggestion that the ability to curl your tongue has some association with IQ – we’ll know at the end of the programme,” Cooper says. However, he admits that the findings are likely to only confirm what psychologists already know.
And although the test is valid, there are many factors that could mean the results will not be a true reflection of the UK population’s IQ.
“At home, all sorts of things could lead to someone’s IQ being underestimated. If they’ve had too many glasses of wine beforehand, or the dog pees on the floor, or other members of the family shout out the answer, this will mess up the accuracy of the results,” Cooper says. “But we will be warning about that before the test starts.”
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