Can You Tell Someone’s IQ by Talking to Them?

Yes, I can sort of figure out the IQ’s of the people I talk to, especially on the lower end. But it’s better  if you spend some time around them so you can really get a handle on them.

For instance, the average Hispanic IQ is 90. My city is full of Hispanics. After a bit, you get a feel for the “average Hispanic” in my town and just how intelligent they are. So there’s your 90 IQ. Now a 90 IQ? They’re not stupid at all. 85 is when people start appearing dumb. But even though they are not dumb at all, I would describe them as “not that smart.”

Your average White has an IQ of 100. I lived in an all-White working class town for a long time. Once again you figure out how smart the average White person is in town and there’s your 100 IQ right there. A person with a 100 IQ does not appear dumb at all.

Nor do they seem like they are “not that smart.” They are quite intelligent and they always surprise me. But they don’t seem like the type of people who we think of as “brainy” (higher than average intelligence) and most of them give off the impression that they didn’t go to university. A lot of them are doing blue collar or working class jobs and they are quite happy that way.

Now that I have lived in two towns, one with 100 IQ and one with ~93 IQ (most of whom  are ~90 IQ), I can tell you right off the bat that the difference is absolutely remarkable.

I was driving around with a friend the other day and he noted that there was sort of a general decline in this Hispanic city compared to an all-White town.

I told him, “That’s the difference of 10 IQ points you are seeing.”

It’s hard to see much intelligence difference at the individual level between average level IQ’s, but you can definitely see cumulative effects when you have two cities, both with  average IQ’s, which are 10 points apart.

The decline is hard to describe in words as it encompasses a lot of things. But at that level the town looks somewhat fallen apart, decrepit and has a  general lackadaisical, don’t give a damn attitude about it. Now mind you the decline is not great. I hate to say it but it’s nothing like the decline when a city from White to Black. But it’s definitely there.

A city going from White to Hispanic definitely undergoes somewhat of a decline and it’s absolutely noticeable.