That guy is really well-spoken. But in the end what he said doesn't really interact with what I think-- that success in life depends greatly on the work you put in.
Now if he suggests that higher IQ people are predisposed to putting in that work, then maybe Peterson and I are in agreement. Although I don't see how having drive and ambition could be connected to IQ, specifically because the way IQ is measured doesn't have any reference to work ethic, and psychometricians have taken great care to try and isolate their number to just natural cognitive ability.
But if we make the reasonable conclusion that IQ is independent of work ethic, the question becomes does work ethic matter at all? I'd say yes. Those who study hard in university to develop practical skills that they can apply to better society I deem successful, irrespective of what metrics about jobs or grades Peterson uses. That's sidestepping the fact that there are many definitions of success. The link between work ethic and success is much more clear than the correlations between IQ and success shown in longitudinal studies, which have many problems of their own.
Moreover, his whole talk controls for agreeableness, sociability, and many other factors which can contribute to success. While this is great for isolated studies about soundness of IQ, this is not great for studies about prediction of success of individuals. I think its dangerous to reduce people's ability to succeed to IQ studies, and ignore other factors. Let's not doom lower IQ people to "manual labor" over their IQ; I think we will agree it's an oversimplification.
Thanks for the link, pede. Writing this out has helped me organize my $0.02 on the subject.
That guy is really well-spoken. But in the end what he said doesn't really interact with what I think-- that success in life depends greatly on the work you put in.
Now if he suggests that higher IQ people are predisposed to putting in that work, then maybe Peterson and I are in agreement. Although I don't see how having drive and ambition could be connected to IQ, specifically because the way IQ is measured doesn't have any reference to work ethic, and psychometricians have taken great care to try and isolate their number to just natural cognitive ability.
But if we make the reasonable conclusion that IQ is independent of work ethic, the question becomes does work ethic matter at all? I'd say yes. Those who study hard in university to develop practical skills that they can apply to better society I deem successful, irrespective of what metrics about jobs or grades Peterson uses. That's sidestepping the fact that there are many definitions of success. The link between work ethic and success is much more clear than the correlations between IQ and success shown in longitudinal studies, which have many problems of their own.
Moreover, his whole talk controls for agreeableness, sociability, and many other factors which can contribute to success. While this is great for isolated studies about soundness of IQ, this is not great for studies about prediction of success of individuals. I think its dangerous to reduce people's ability to succeed to IQ studies, and ignore other factors. Let's not doom lower IQ people to "manual labor" over their IQ; I think we will agree it's an oversimplification.
Thanks for the link, pede. Writing this out has helped me organize my $0.02 on the subject.