As Brain Changes, so can IQ

I'm too scared to take an IQ test in case I can't understand the results.

('What? I don't understand how that can be? I ate all the fish Mum served me!')

If I don't like what I find, I can't change it...

This study suggests that teenagers can improve their 'intelligence'. I can imagine that perhaps something as complex as IQ isn't really as fixed and unchanging as we've thought?

But still, I'm skeptical. Ok, I'm not a teenager anymore so my brain is more static and unyielding, making it more difficult for me to change my ideas and opinions. I still have to wonder about the validity of IQ testing in the first place, as I find it difficult to imagine that we know enough about intelligence to develop a suitable test for it.

Considering that teenagers are undergoing a developmentally dynamic time of life when many learning and emotional changes are taking place, it's hard to know exactly what we're measuring. Concentration? The ability to participate in studies with more willingness? Perhaps even just learning how to learn influences a person's measure on an intelligence test. Whether a change in the arbirary 'IQ' value equates to a lasting effect, remains to be seen.

Maybe I'm just jealous, but I say don't encourage them too much, as not everyone can be the smartest person in New Zealand.