For What It's Worth
Some time back, I did some IQ test on theSpark.com and came across an interesting question. I don't normally do IQ tests, but I did the gender test on theSpark, and couldn't stop doing quizzes after that =P.
The question went something like this:
At first glance, I thought to myself 'Ahah! Trick question! They want people to think that the question wants to trick them by thinking 1. is more because there will be more nickels in a full boot as compared to 1/2 a boot. But since a nickel is worth 1/2 of what a dime is worth, these people will all choose C. However, the real trick is that a dime and a nickel are not of the same size, so the smaller one will be the one that is worth more!'
Of course, I am not from the USA, and I've never been there. While that is no excuse for not knowing which is larger, the nickel or the dime, I quite believe that IQ tests were supposed to have certain biases removed (e.g. biases against nationality), and I sincerely couldn't be bothered to find out what the sizes of the coins were just to answer an online IQ test, so I just went along with the fact that the 10c coin in Singapore is larger than the 5c coin, and picked A) as the answer.
I have no idea if my answer was marked as correct. Now that I've checked with Gideon, the answer is appears to be B), because the dime is actually smaller than the nickel. But that still doesn't mean that the people who set that certain question reasoned out the answer in the same way, so I asked a couple more people what they thought the answer was.
Both the people I asked answered C immediately.
One of them is very proud of his 160 IQ (he actually tested as having an IQ of 180, but has chosen to reduce this number because of what he claims was mental deterioration over the years, e.g. through lack of sleep). When I explained to him why I thought the answer was A) (I had yet to talk to Gideon at this time), he simply stated, no, he believed the answer would still be C. No explanation, not even on why he thought my answer to be wrong.
The other person immediately accepted my explanation, and even said that was a smart way of thinking.
While it is always rather disconcerting to have people disagree with you, and possibly rather hard to accept at times, I sincerely do not understand how it is possible that when some people have a different point of view from you, they can still fail to explain (to you) how they came up with their opinion of what is right. Or even attempt to tell you why your explanation of your opinion is wrong.
Granted that some people may not think you are worth their time, and hence would not bother with any explanations. But this particular question was not about a touchy topic like religion or some social views. It was just a question from an IQ test. And yes, there can always be questions like "Is the 'worth' they are talking about the monetary worth, or the worth in terms of amount of metal present?" But no other questions were brought up, the conversation just ended with 'I'm right, you're wrong.'
I rather wonder if the 3 people to whom I've asked this question reacted in a way similar to one that they play bridge in. I've actually partnered all 3 at some time or another.
I'm probably never going to partner the one with an IQ of 160 again, because his behaviour during bridge is extremely similar to that described above. He definitely thinks that he is much better than me in bridge, and had no qualms reminding me of that (past tense because I've had no contact with him for some time). Thus, I guess that is the reason why, on the bridge table, unless he admits he is wrong first (before you can point it out to him - hence he still appears to be better than you), he is always right. Doesn't matter if the score is bad, doesn't matter if everyone else managed to do it some other way, doesn't matter if everyone else at the table is in support of you. I suspect the reason why he only removed my admin access from his blog instead of totally removing me from it (as per my request) was because he would like to *finally* have some way to dominate over me =P. May not really work that way, but everyone's entitled to live in their own fantasy world.
For the guy who answered C), but accepted my explanation on why I thought the answer was A), I still play bridge with him regularly. I guess that asking him that question and actually reflecting on his (and others') answer brought me to the conclusion that I should be more accepting when discussing bridge things with this partner. He's not always in the position of the person answering C); I guess I am sometimes too, and there are always times we both are. But if we both react like the person mentioned above, we can never improve as a pair. He obviously is willing to listen to me, and accept my explanation when it makes sense; I should try to listen to his explanations more (even though I sometimes think he takes off on flights of fantasy).
As for Gideon, I expected him to come up with the right answer the first time around, given his mental capabilities, and he did not let me down. Although we came up with different answers, it was due to a technical error (fine I was lazy and didn't check. But you're not supposed to during a test =P). The reasoning was the same. I wonder if that would apply to us on the bridge table. I haven't played with him enough to know if that is true. Maybe we'll find out someday =D.
But after all that, maybe it's actually landing up at the same (correct?) answer, no matter what the reasoning, that matters at the bridge table. I remember this rather amusing hand with another partner (not one of the 3) where we, after a takeout double from the opponent and a penalty double of that take out from me, managed to run from a contract where we only had a 4-2 fit to a contract where we had a 5-3 fit. o.O. Am going to ask him that question when I next see him online =P.
Edit: The answer given by the last person was B), the reason being that there is a limit to the no. of coins that can be used in 1 transaction, and since the smaller no. of coins is more likely to be below that limit, B) is more likely to be worth more. Nice new perspective on a very normal looking question =).
The question went something like this:
Which is worth more?
1. A boot full of nickels.
2. Half a boot full of dimes.
A)1. B)2. C)They are both the same.
At first glance, I thought to myself 'Ahah! Trick question! They want people to think that the question wants to trick them by thinking 1. is more because there will be more nickels in a full boot as compared to 1/2 a boot. But since a nickel is worth 1/2 of what a dime is worth, these people will all choose C. However, the real trick is that a dime and a nickel are not of the same size, so the smaller one will be the one that is worth more!'
Of course, I am not from the USA, and I've never been there. While that is no excuse for not knowing which is larger, the nickel or the dime, I quite believe that IQ tests were supposed to have certain biases removed (e.g. biases against nationality), and I sincerely couldn't be bothered to find out what the sizes of the coins were just to answer an online IQ test, so I just went along with the fact that the 10c coin in Singapore is larger than the 5c coin, and picked A) as the answer.
I have no idea if my answer was marked as correct. Now that I've checked with Gideon, the answer is appears to be B), because the dime is actually smaller than the nickel. But that still doesn't mean that the people who set that certain question reasoned out the answer in the same way, so I asked a couple more people what they thought the answer was.
Both the people I asked answered C immediately.
One of them is very proud of his 160 IQ (he actually tested as having an IQ of 180, but has chosen to reduce this number because of what he claims was mental deterioration over the years, e.g. through lack of sleep). When I explained to him why I thought the answer was A) (I had yet to talk to Gideon at this time), he simply stated, no, he believed the answer would still be C. No explanation, not even on why he thought my answer to be wrong.
The other person immediately accepted my explanation, and even said that was a smart way of thinking.
While it is always rather disconcerting to have people disagree with you, and possibly rather hard to accept at times, I sincerely do not understand how it is possible that when some people have a different point of view from you, they can still fail to explain (to you) how they came up with their opinion of what is right. Or even attempt to tell you why your explanation of your opinion is wrong.
Granted that some people may not think you are worth their time, and hence would not bother with any explanations. But this particular question was not about a touchy topic like religion or some social views. It was just a question from an IQ test. And yes, there can always be questions like "Is the 'worth' they are talking about the monetary worth, or the worth in terms of amount of metal present?" But no other questions were brought up, the conversation just ended with 'I'm right, you're wrong.'
I rather wonder if the 3 people to whom I've asked this question reacted in a way similar to one that they play bridge in. I've actually partnered all 3 at some time or another.
I'm probably never going to partner the one with an IQ of 160 again, because his behaviour during bridge is extremely similar to that described above. He definitely thinks that he is much better than me in bridge, and had no qualms reminding me of that (past tense because I've had no contact with him for some time). Thus, I guess that is the reason why, on the bridge table, unless he admits he is wrong first (before you can point it out to him - hence he still appears to be better than you), he is always right. Doesn't matter if the score is bad, doesn't matter if everyone else managed to do it some other way, doesn't matter if everyone else at the table is in support of you. I suspect the reason why he only removed my admin access from his blog instead of totally removing me from it (as per my request) was because he would like to *finally* have some way to dominate over me =P. May not really work that way, but everyone's entitled to live in their own fantasy world.
For the guy who answered C), but accepted my explanation on why I thought the answer was A), I still play bridge with him regularly. I guess that asking him that question and actually reflecting on his (and others') answer brought me to the conclusion that I should be more accepting when discussing bridge things with this partner. He's not always in the position of the person answering C); I guess I am sometimes too, and there are always times we both are. But if we both react like the person mentioned above, we can never improve as a pair. He obviously is willing to listen to me, and accept my explanation when it makes sense; I should try to listen to his explanations more (even though I sometimes think he takes off on flights of fantasy).
As for Gideon, I expected him to come up with the right answer the first time around, given his mental capabilities, and he did not let me down. Although we came up with different answers, it was due to a technical error (fine I was lazy and didn't check. But you're not supposed to during a test =P). The reasoning was the same. I wonder if that would apply to us on the bridge table. I haven't played with him enough to know if that is true. Maybe we'll find out someday =D.
But after all that, maybe it's actually landing up at the same (correct?) answer, no matter what the reasoning, that matters at the bridge table. I remember this rather amusing hand with another partner (not one of the 3) where we, after a takeout double from the opponent and a penalty double of that take out from me, managed to run from a contract where we only had a 4-2 fit to a contract where we had a 5-3 fit. o.O. Am going to ask him that question when I next see him online =P.
Edit: The answer given by the last person was B), the reason being that there is a limit to the no. of coins that can be used in 1 transaction, and since the smaller no. of coins is more likely to be below that limit, B) is more likely to be worth more. Nice new perspective on a very normal looking question =).
posted by Shelly at 3:14 AM
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