I.Q. IN THE HIGH RANGE CORRELATES NEGATIVELY WITH INDICATORS OF DISORDER AND DEVIANCE
by Paul Cooijmans
This result has surprised me, and for years I thought it might be due to sampling error and would disappear as more data came in. It did not, and I am now fairly confident that there is indeed a significant, albeit small (about .3 to .4), negative correlation between high-range mental test scores and indicators of disorder and deviance such as the actual presence of psychiatric disorders, the presence of such in relatives (which reveals genetic disposition), and personality test scores related to deviance.
The main reason I had not expected this result is the persistent notion in “giftedness” circles that “gifted” individuals often experience psychosocial or psychiatric problems and may need special treatment and help. At events related to “giftedness” one can nowadays see committees of all sorts of (often quack) therapists, eager to “help”, and whenever they spot someone “diagnosed” with “giftedness” those vultures come down from the trees. I have believed in this interpretation of “giftedness” until about the late 1990s, but gradually became sceptical as I saw the statistics build up, and as I got in contact with many people with known I.Q. scores on many tests; my experience in such contact is that, within the high range of intelligence, those with higher I.Q.’s are more normal, less deviant, undergo less psychosocial suffering, than those with somewhat lower I.Q.’s.
Do notice that the fairly small size of the negative correlation certainly allows some part of the population of intelligent to be deviant, disordered, or suffering; but it is apparently not the intelligence that causes their problems. Also, this result by no means excludes the possibility of a positive (genetic) link between intelligence and certain disorders, like schizophrenia and Asperger syndrome. The eventual correlation may result form a complex of mechanisms, such that a possible positive genetic relation is turned into negative by for instance (1) the fact that a high I.Q. suppresses the expression of the disorder, and (2) the fact that, in cases where the disorder does become fully expressed, the disorder depresses one’s I.Q.