The article “Why a high IQ doesn’t mean you’re smart” by Shane Frederick on November 1, 2009, argues that having a high IQ does imply that you will be competent in decision making. IQ tests determine one’s mental faculties, such as logic, learning ability, memory capacity, and abstract reasoning. However, they fail to determine one’s decision-making ability in real-life cases. For an individual to be intelligent, they need to possess a high IQ as well as rational thinking skills.
Having a high IQ does not guarantee that one is brilliant. To the article, “A high IQ is like height in a basketball player” (Frederick, 2009, para 5). This implies that one is tall does not mean one will be good on the basketball pitch; one will need other factors to make them successful. Similarly, if one has IQ does not warrant that one will be smart in life. Society bestows high IQ tests, which only determine a limited part of cognitive functioning. However, these assessments are substandard since they do not predict one’s all-around intelligence or ability to succeed in a particular profession (Frederick, 2009). Despite one having a high IQ, they may fail terribly in their career since they lack other qualities such as emotional intelligence.
In my opinion, to make judgments in real-life situations, one needs IQ and rational-thinking skills. People with high IQs and who do not possess rational-thinking skills tend to lean much on academics, and their decisions may be biased. On the other hand, individuals that can rationally think and assess situations through intuition may be sidelined by their feelings and may not exploit the consequences of their decisions based on the existing literature. Thus, their choices may be uninformed and may not be the best. Therefore, to be savvy in decision-making, one should focus on improving their rational thinking skills and IQ.
Reference
Frederick, S. (2009). Why a high IQ doesn’t mean you’re smart.Yale School of Management. Web.