US Army

I have heard that the US Army has an IQ cap for soldiers. As in, they test them before hand, and if they are above a certain IQ, they will refuse to let them in.

Could this be to ensure soldiers can be controlled easier?

Of course, it could just be a counter measure, to ensure no really intelligent people join the military to create some grand scheme of their own.

An IQ cap? I've never heard of it....
If this was true, maybe its so they could put the person in higher positions maybe like working with machinery.

Or maybe they just want our soldiers not to ask questions.....

Where'd you hear that? Being alittle gullible man. I'm in the army, and I can tell you from first hand knowledge, that there isn't an IQ cap. There isn't even an IQ test, to begin with.

That is probably something to do with it, ask no questions, and have blind faith. Just obey. So things are just accepted, and those who disobey are rare.

It could be to root out those, but I think that anyone with an IQ too high is not allowed to join the military at all. The police force has simillar protocol as well, I believe.

Just a sign of the government trying to control its legions completely, by keeping them at a level that is easy to brainwash.

Oh are you sure about this? I met someone who was in the US army who said they had to do a test before joining that was 'simillar' to an IQ test. When they asked why it was given they were told that there is a cap.

I mean no offence though, I mean the cap was said to be rather high at about 115 or 120. I will try using google to search for info.

[Edited on 11-2-2004 by QuestForSafety]

Perhaps they don't want people that are too intelligant because they would most likely be harder to convince of the lies trhat the military usually bombards their soldiers with. Besides, i've read reports that the military is like 15% mind control or something, wouldn't intelligant people be less suseptable to that?

I think outright mind control is going too far, but by brainwashing I mean basically conforming people to certain styles of life, so they learn how to act, in a way that pleases superiors. Eventually they even learn not to think as much for themselves, but to follow orders.

Trust me man there is no IQ cap. you gotta over active imagination or somthing.

[Edited on 11-2-2004 by medic]

So what "tests" are there, anything that revolves are mental or reasoning, things of that nature? Or do you sign up and get shipped off...

"U.S. Army embraces IQ testing

The greatest spurt in American IQ testing came in 1917, when America entered World War I. Binet's original tests were designed to be administered to children on an individual basis, but the U.S. Army was faced with the dilemma of sorting huge numbers of draftees into various Army positions. To solve this problem, the Army put together a committee of seven leading psychologists to devise a mass intelligence test. The chairman of this committee was Robert Yerkes, who later admitted he was chosen simply because he was president of the American Psychological Association that year.

Luckily, one of the seven selected psychologists, Lewis Terman (coiner of the term intelligence quotient), had a pupil named Arthur Otis, who had already begun constructed a group intelligence test when the Army decided it needed one. By and large, the committee adopted the material Otis had already prepared, and in six weeks the tests were ready for the printers. A few weeks after that there was a trial run with four thousand men. Less than two years later, by the beginning of 1919, nearly two million American men had taken the Army intelligence tests.

The Army scores were not expressed using the intelligence quotient, but instead by simply awarding points for correct answers. On the basis of these points, men were divided into one of five classes, ranked from A to E."

(Taken from - History of IQ)

Perhaps they do not use it for kicking members out, but rather to sort them instead, as this history on the IQ tells of.

It does not seem a very imaginative thing, especially since I never even thought it up myself. Considering aliens, and all the other things people talk about here.

There are a number of tests you take before they ship you off, But A. none of them are IQ tests, and B. there is no cap. You take the Asvab, a coding test, and a mechanical test. depending on what your MOS is you will take more. But no there is no direct IQ test, and no there is no cap. Imaginative? your talking about them capping IQ in the army.....thats pretty far out there buddy.

It is not really that far out, as it has a lot of practical reasons. Besides, I am sure they do it in the police force, as there was an artical posted about some people ranting on that before in a newspaper.

They are not direct IQ tests, but as the paragraph I posted explains the psychologists devised a mass IQ test, obviously much shorter than the traditional one that takes a few hours, and perhaps just to get a general idea for sorting. Also less expensive, since it must be administered to millions of people. Perhaps one of those tests you did was actually this mass IQ test it spoke of.

There would be no real way of finding out if reasons for turning people's applications down are real or not. They could have failed or did too well. Such a concept would not surprise me, if it was found to be true, the government is always up to something.

This is a bunch of bovine fecal matter - someone was feeding you a line of BS... probably just trying to insult the military.

There is no IQ test when entering the military... period.

Well I told him it might be insulting, he assured me he was not trying to be cruel, and that the cap was quite high, even into the gifted range. I met the person on a game you may have heard of, called Furcadia, it is an RPG game but somehow or other they started talking to me about this. They could have been lying, but they had no real reason too, since they were in the army. Unless they get some sick pleasure from knowing they lied to someone.

Well even if they were lying, at least they convinced me to research the matter and find out for sure that at one time they did conduct IQ tests on military soldiers, but whether or not they do now in the present I am unsure.

[Edited on 11-2-2004 by QuestForSafety]

Ok, mass IQ test I could believe, but capping? No way. The higher your score in the Asvab determines MOSes available, but there is no cap. Obviously you can fail the asvab, but you can't score too high. Not only does that make no sense, but it's completely stupid. I'm not attacking you by the way, don't take it that way. Just my oppinion on the"capping" theory.

Well, originally I thought it was completely stupid as well. I mean why turn away intelligent soldiers who could do good work? However I thought about it, and found a few possible reasons. Though, the military is not that paranoid, or advanced probably, so I suppose they would have no reason to make a cap.

Asvab, you mean that test we took in high school that told us what we were going to hold as a job the remainder of our life.

Did you read the date "Army Embraces IQ test" you are referring to?

The greatest spurt in American IQ testing came in 1917 when America entered World War I

[Edited on 11-2-2004 by NetStorm]

I never took an Asvab in Highschool. I doubt you took it either. It stands for Armed Services Vocational Board. Actaully I can't remember the b in it. I think it was board.

I did, which is why I mentioned that I know for sure they used to do it, but am unsure whether or not they do now. That is why I had to ask in the first place, since protocols change.

I think my question has been answered, it may be used as a sorting tool as it was in the past, but there is seemingly no cap, so that conlcudes the answer.

Thank you for helping to clairfy though, and learning of the different tests they make you take was also interesting.