Shankar Vedantam

The file on the psychologist's desk was a report with Scott's IQ test.

When this happened, Scott, do you recall him saying where you sat on the IQ spectrum?

I mean, if 130 was gifted and 90 to 110 was normal, did he describe what 87 was?

I understand that after you left his office, you went to the school library and you basically looked up how to read IQ tests.

What did you find?

By this point, Scott was actually doing well in school.

He had a case to be moved to the gifted track.

But in looking at the results of his IQ test from when he was in elementary school, the school psychologist was saying some important things.

First, the test had picked up something innate about Scott.

It didn't matter how much he'd learned or what he'd accomplished in the years afterward.

The test had peered into his mind, and the test had determined he was not gifted.

Not then, not now, not ever.

You're listening to Hidden Brain.

I'm Shankar Vedantam.

Hey there, Shankar here.

We're running a little experiment and need your help.

Please also send us a link to your work.

And thanks.

This is Hidden Brain.

I'm Shankar Vedantam.