MTGandP comments on What Is Signaling, Really? - Less Wrong
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Comments (169)
Possibly a side issue, but one motivation for signalling occurs when measurement is difficult for some reason e.g. regulation.
Giving prospective employees an IQ test can be quite hazardous for the employer. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence_and_public_policy
Spending $50,000 on college - and incurring toxic student debt in the process - to prove something that can be demonstrated by a $500 test seems strange, in the absence of other factors. Particularly when colleges use a near-IQ test (SAT) as one important criterion for admission!
Many people think that if you do poorly on an IQ test, it's because you're stupid. But if you do poorly on the SAT, people doesn't think that says much about your intelligence—perhaps you "don't test well" or you're "smart in a different way."