What does “average” intelligence really mean?
Although there probably isn’t “average” intelligence per se because the manifestation of a person’s IQ is influenced by both their genes and their environment, there is an “average” intelligence score, as measured by a standardized IQ test. The “average” or mean score in a white middle-class population is 100; that means that approximately 50% of IQ scores as measured by a standardized intelligence test fall above the mean of 100 and 50% of the scores fall below 100. IQ tests measure a person’s potential to do well in academic subjects in school. The test does not take into consideration a person’s creativity or common sense and can be negatively affected low expectations from teachers and parents, cultural bias in test items, and by poor reading and vocabulary skills.
