Published
Video length: 4 mins.
On the market, many tests on the Internet offer a diagnosis to discover if a person has high intellectual potential. But are these free tests reliable? Paola Scemama lttah, psychologist, explains their differences with a test carried out in the office.
“The HPI is a calculation of the intelligence quotient. The intelligence quotient, therefore, is what we will measure intelligence. Having a high intellectual potential is the new word for gifted or precocious, and it is simply having an intelligence quotient, therefore an IQ which is greater than or equal to 130.” More and more free tests on the Internet claim to be able to calculate this intelligence quotient. But for Paola Scemama lttah, psychologist, the difference between a test on the internet and a diagnosis made in an office with a professional is significant. “Your thoughts work at very high speed, your head never stops and your mind is overwhelming. You have the constant feeling of being out of step with others.” Here are the explanations that an HPI test on the Internet can generate. But according to Paola Scemama lttah, psychologist, these indications have nothing to do with being HPI.
“What’s important is not so much having a number”
Paola Scemama lttah indicates that the presentation of these free tests indicates that an assessment must be carried out in three stages. “The problem is that behind it, they offer you a test which is obviously not a real test that we will do in the office”. Indeed, HPI tests are carried out in professional offices, with a section devoted to the assessment of the clinician, of a therapist. For her, “we don’t expect an HPI test to reveal a number but rather to understand where the person stands in relation to others.” On average, a test lasts more or less 1h30 in a practice compared to around ten minutes on the Internet.