IQ Bias

A specific bias involving the use or interpretation of IQ scores. It includes the assumptions that IQ measures innate intelligence, that it is culturally neutral, and that it predicts success across all domains. IQ bias ignores the Flynn effect, the role of education and socioeconomic status, and the multiple dimensions of intelligence. It also includes the tendency to treat IQ as a fixed, hereditary trait, leading to deterministic and often discriminatory conclusions.

Example: “He claimed that workers with lower IQ couldn’t learn new skills—IQ bias, mistaking a test score for a ceiling on human potential.”

IQ Bias by Abzugal May 1, 2026

IQ Biases

A set of interrelated biases that cluster around IQ testing: cultural bias in test design, environmental bias (ignoring nutrition and schooling), scoring bias (assuming equal intervals across the scale), heritability bias (overstating genetic contribution), and reification bias (treating a constructed score as a real thing). IQ biases reinforce social hierarchies by making contingent outcomes seem natural and inevitable.

IQ Biases Example: “The textbook’s chapter on intelligence suffered from multiple IQ biases: it used old, culturally loaded questions and concluded that group differences were genetic.”

IQ Biases by Abzugal May 1, 2026