The lighter side of ADHD
cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/62370205
Is this a meme yet or is there supposed to be a joke other than me
No but for real I have this paralysis fear of iq tests because I suspect I am a total moron so I do sometimes these public ones so I can have an excuse in case it goes wrong and it never showed me something bad and theoretically I am not stupid but I feel like I am
To take a stronger tack on what loonsun has said: IQ tests are bullshit.
Measuring intelligence - that is, the ability to find patterns and integrate experiences to synthesize solutions - is still an unsolved problem, and any psych major will happily tell you that - they'll have learned it in their first course, even. No one's figured out a way to do it that isn't just testing knowledge instead of the actual "intelligence" of someone.
To give you just one reason they're bullshit: there's no IQ test in existence where studying for the test does not significantly improve your score. Clearly that means the test is at least in part testing what you know, instead of some "base aspect" of your mind.
Another reason often quoted is that tests made in different cultures produce different results for people who aren't from that culture. So clearly, again, learned cultural knowledge - not some "base intelligence" - is involved in the test.
So instead of worrying about IQ tests, put them out of your mind. The only people who care about them are charlatans. If you're having trouble functioning in daily life, you'll likely go a lot further finding resources that help with the tasks you're struggling with - which may not be easy, but will help you. A therapist may also be a good person to chat with this about - mine has certainly been a big help to me. Good luck!
Cognitive ability tests aren't that straightforward and no online random free one is going to actually be representative of a true one. Even traditional "IQ" tests are not just a number you get. Most people with ADHD have what we call "spikey" profiles on most tests of individual differences. This is partially because we just have different strengths and weaknesses from neurotypicals that comes out in testing and the other part is these tests usually aren't made for people with neurodivergances and results tend to come out strangely (if you take any personality test based on big 5 or hexaco you'll probably have way lower contentiousness scores for example). You aren't a genius, but you also aren't stupid, you're just you with all the strengths and flaws.