Website Tests the Intelligence in the United States

By Kerry Grinkmeyer
Intelligence is the mental capability to reason, solve problems, think abstractly, learn and understand new material, and profit from past experience.

Intelligence tests date back to the late 19th century; the works of Sir Frances Galton explored the difference in the accomplishments of generations of the English aristocracy. Alfred Binet expanded on Galton's work to develop a test to be administered to French children to assist in predicting their academic success. American psychologist, Lewis Terman modified Binet's test in the early 1900's to make it applicable for adults and establishing standards for performance relative to age. He also developed a scoring system which he called the intelligence quotient or IQ.

Today's IQ tests no longer compute scores using the IQ formula. Today's tests give a score that measures the participant's performance relative to the average performance of others of the same age who have taken the test. The average score is arbitrarily set at 100, thus those scoring above the average of 100 are considered more intelligent up to genius and those who score below 100 are considered less intelligent.

The Best of the U.S. has launched a new website SmartestofUS.com in an effort to bring focus on the importance of individual intelligence to the future of the United States economy.

"The U.S. will never again be a manufacturing nation so in order to maintain our position as a world leader we must harvest our most valuable asset, individual intelligence. We need to make an effort to recognize and promote people who are suited to make decisions that affect us all in our corporations and in our government."