What is a "Genius IQ" score? (spoiler: it's kind of a myth)
So I did some digging on this trying to figure out where the "genius IQ" number actually comes from, and turns out psychologists don't even use the word "genius" anymore, it's basically a pop-culture leftover.
For reference on the scale: 130+ is "gifted" (top ~2%), 140+ is the classic "genius" line (roughly 1 in 261 people), and once you're past 160 you're in "1 in 31,000+" territory, so rare that most tests can't even measure it accurately anymore.
I also read this article about whether 120 counts as "gifted," and honestly I agree with the take, there's no universal cutoff because "gifted" is more of an educational/social label than a fixed psychometric one. It really depends on the institution, some programs use 115 as the bar, others still stick to the old 130+ rule, so the same score could "qualify" in one place and fall short in another.
So genuinely curious, where do you guys think the line should actually be? Is "genius" even a useful label anymore, or should it just be retired completely?