how *exactly* is someone with a higher IQ different from someone with a lower IQ?
I guess a higher IQ predicts a higher chance of solving a problem successfully; also solving the same problem in a shorter average time. The prediction works best for problems that are general enough (don't require too specific background knowledge), otherwise the domain knowledge becomes important too.
Is this the kind of answer you want?
It would be more exact with a specific way of measuring complexity of the problem (if everything else fails, we could just measure them by "how many people can solve this problem in one minute"), and then a two-dimensional table with IQ in rows, problem complexity in columns, and probability of solving the problems and average time in the cells. I never heard about something like this, so perhaps it would make a good thesis for a psychology student -- we just need a volunteer.
It would be interesting to know e.g. how much intelligence can be substituted by speed. For example if you give a person with IQ 150 one minute to solve a problem, and a person with IQ 100 gets unlimited time for the same problem, which kind of problem will give advantage to which one?
Is this the kind of answer you want?
Not really, I was looking for an answer that explains the exact way IQ works. Some problems might be less g-loaded. The explanation I'm looking for is something like that:
In a hypothetical situation, a problem is given to two (or more) people with very different IQs. Then there is a detailed explanation of how did they reach to the answer they gave - describing their thoughts and how did IQ lead them to think that. Also, something that accounts for the speed.
In other words, I want to know the patterns through which IQ...
(copied and edited from my post in the Facebook LW group)
I suspect that it would be obvious to most rationalists that the way people judge other people is flawed. Typically for a heuristic approach, it's correct to a degree, but with many faults. And it's wasting a big amount of information and a potential for a more planned approach where you can ask questions that assess certain qualities and exchange information about people's personalities by giving their "parameters".
I needn't think of it in this way, it was natural for me to take this approach as soon as I learnt my first measurable parameter and its implications (it was IQ). Then I explored more of them and researched them some more.
So far, I know about IQ, rationality (Keith Stanovich's), Big Five personality traits, executive functions, intuition for social situations and a few more things. However, I can't seem to find any literature that helps describe them (how do I detect them in people and what are their implications?) and their implications (how *exactly* is someone with a higher IQ different from someone with a lower IQ?). Also, I can't find literature on other traits.
Any literature on any of that would be greatly appreciated. I wonder if there is a book that deals with the whole issue. Also, I need literature about IQ and Big Five, but anything else would still be useful.
Is that sort of thing popular on LessWrong?