Americans like standardized tests. We evaluate kids at multiple parts of their academic careers, and high-stakes tests, like the SAT and ACT, are a rite of passage for entrance into college. Still, many people believe IQ scores aren't the determining factor for success in life.
While researchers haven't definitively pinned down how much a person's IQ affects their success later in life, they have uncovered that many factors throughout our lives may affect our IQ scores — and conversely, our IQ scores can greatly affect the outcome of our lives.
Read on to see seven uncomfortable facts about how IQ may affect your life.
Breastfeeding may be linked with better performance on cognitive tests
In a small 2016 study, researchers monitored daily breast milk and formula given to 180 babies for their first 28 days of life. At 7 years old, children who consumed breast milk performed better on cognitive tests they were given.
Source: The Journal of Pediatrics
Junk food diets for kids under three may be linked to lower scores on an intelligence test
Children who ate processed junk foods before the age of three were shown to have a lower score on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children than their peers by the time they were eight years old. A diet rich in vitamins and minerals was shown to do the opposite.
Source: Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
Poverty may be linked with poorer performance on cognitive tests
A small 2013 study at Princeton found that "a person's cognitive function is diminished by the constant and all-consuming effort of coping with the immediate effects of having little money, such as scrounging to pay bills and cut costs."
Source: Princeton University
For each one-point increase in a country’s average IQ, the per capita GDP was $229 higher, and can go up to $468 higher for each additional point
A 2011 study in Psychological Science revealed that in a study of 90 countries, the "intelligence of the people, particularly the smartest 5 percent, made a big contribution to the strength of their economies." Intelligence was determined by various factors such as test scores in science and technology and Nobel Peace prize awards.
In the 2015 book "Hive Mind," economics professor Garett Jones argues that a nation's IQ is a fundamental indicator of its economic success.
Source: Psychological Science
There may be a link between intelligence and life expectancy
Multiple studies around the world have shown a link between intelligence (as measured by cognitive tests) and mortality. There is even a field of study called cognitive epidemiology dedicated to the relationship. Still, it's not been entirely proven why this link exists.
Source: Scientific American
High performance cognitive tests may also demonstrate high levels of creativity
Creative potential can be revealed in cognitive ability tests, according to cognitive psychologist Scott Kaufman, Ph.D. "Thoughtful reasoning, divergent production, pattern detection, learning," are all part of the creative process, and are measured in an IQ test, he wrote in Psychology today in 2011.
Source: Psychology Today
Intelligence and social skills may be linked
Intelligence may be correlated with emotional intelligence, or "EQ," according to a 2013 study published in the journal Social Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience.
"Intelligence, to a large extent, does depend on basic cognitive abilities, like attention and perception and memory and language," Aron Barbey, a neuroscientist at the University of Illinois and coauthor of the study, told Scientific American. "But it also depends on interacting with other people," he continued.
Source: Social Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience
Eric Goldschein and Kim Bhasin contributed to a previous version of this story.
