I am left handed and for some reason I heard that left handed people generally score lower on IQ tests.
Back to the OP so we don't side track too much! I've never heard anything like this and, anecdotally, all of the left handed people in my family are just as bright, if not brighter, than the rest of my family members. An article in Scientific American quotes studies that find pretty much identical IQs between right and left handed folks overall:
Studies in the U.K., U.S. and Australia have revealed that left-handed people differ from right-handers by only one IQ point, which is not noteworthy.
I wonder if what you heard was someone mistaking the studies that find higher rates of left handedness among those with mental retardation and learning disabilities, neither of which I can imagine applies to you given your achievement. That same SA article notes this finding.
Left-handedness is, however, much more common among individuals with severe learning difficulties, such as mental retardation. A slightly higher proportion of left-handers have dyslexia or a stutter.
I am genuinely curious as to why I can achieve good grades and scores on tests, but not be gifted. I would appreciate some input on my situation. Thank you!
My guess on this is twofold:
1) your IQ isn't likely "low" per se, just perhaps not in the top 2% that is considered "gifted." People with IQs in the top range of where most people fall (IQs around 110-115) can be very, very high achievers but not gifted. 66% of people have IQ scores within one standard deviation of the mean, meaning that 66% of people have IQ scores between 85-115 and would be considered "average." None the less, the performance of someone with an IQ of 115 will be stellar as compared to someone more toward the bottom or center of that "average" range. I've seen kids with IQs that are not dramatically above 100 (105 or so) perform in the top 1-5% of their grade with high motivation and because they are a really good fit for how schools are designed. I think that this article explains it well:
http://www.giftededucation.org.nz/documents/high-achievers-pdf.pdfIn essence, high achievers are children who fit very comfortably into the normal school system. Their approach to learning is primarily to focus on mastery of the given curriculum. They have the capacity to do this to a very high level, and they show a very high level of motivation in doing so. They finish set tasks, and generally present their work well and take pride in doing so. They do well in exams and generally eventually leave school with a raft of certificates and prizes to attest to their accomplishments. They tend to relate well to their teachers and are often described as a pleasure to teach.
They may be leaders amongst their classmates - they are often captain of the team, school prefect, etc.
As she describes it, gifted is not differentiated from bright, high achiever on the surface by the gifted being
higher achievers, but by the gifted being ones who learn differently and who may fit less well into the school setting and perhaps perform
less "highly" as a result:
As far as learning goes, it means we are dealing with a child who may find many aspects of the normal school programme frustrating and irrelevant and who is not motivated to persist when he/she has already demonstrated a grasp of a topic. If he/she thinks the topic worthwhile, the concern is to push on to the next step, with extraordinary intensity of concentration and effort. But if he/she does not perceive the topic as worthwhile, then there is huge impatience with wasting time and a real reluctance to perform/conform. Gifted learners are much more inclined to initiate projects than are the high achievers
- and much less inclined to finish projects solely to meet some externally imposed presentation standard. Thus we can get very erratic levels of performance from these children.
2) Perhaps you are someone with a lot of internal drive and drive really counts for a lot. Work ethic often counts for more than sheer ability. Is it also possible that you are on the older end for grade? In general, and I feel like a heretic saying this here b/c a lot of us (me included) have kids who are intentionally very young for grade some due to grade skips, people who are older for grade tend to perform more highly than the younger kids in the early grades and, often, that leads toward being tracked into high achieving classes and a self fulfilling prophecy where the older kids continue to perform better.
Another possibility is that the IQ test you took just didn't fully represent your ability. IQ tests have been knows to be wrong at times.
