The Netflix docuseries "Making a Murderer" follows the story of Steven Avery, aWisconsin man who spent 18 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit, only to be convicted in the 2005 murder of photographer Teresa Halbach.It also follows the trial and conviction ofAvery's then-16-year-old nephew Brendan Dassey as an accomplice.According to court documents, Dassey was convicted offirst-degree intentional homicide, mutilation of a corpse, and second-degree sexual assault.As depicted onthe show, theconviction appeared to belargely based off of a confession Dasseygave to police, which his defense attorneysargue was coerced. Theattorneys repeatedly make the case that Dassey was susceptible to police pressure to confess because he had a low IQ.IQ scores have been linked with many things, including a person's school and job performance, income, social status, and risk of death.But there's a lot of debate in the scientific community about what a high or low IQ actually means.What IQ tests really measureThe term"IQ" test, which stands for intelligence quotient,was developed by the German psychologist William Stern in the early 1900s. The test usually consists of a standard set of questions designed to measure human intelligence in logic, math, and verbal comprehension.TheaverageIQ score in each age group is defined as 100, so in a typical population,two-thirds of peoplescore between 85 and 115.By comparison, the show reveals thatBrendan Dassey has an IQ of 73 (and a verbal IQ of 69).In some states, an IQ of 70 or below is used as the cutoff for intellectual disability. Butin 1978, the Supreme Court overturned the death sentence ofa defendant who was found guilty of rape and murder whohad an IQ of 71, arguing against a strict cutoff.One of the most widely used IQ tests is the Wechsler Intelligence Scale, which comes in adult and children's forms. The test measures two types of intelligence: verbal intelligence (things like vocabulary and comprehension) and performance intelligence (like pattern recognition and picture completion).Another commonly used test is the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales, which measure a combination of five factors, including fluid reasoning, knowledge, quantitative reasoning, visual-spatial processing, and working memory. The test is used to diagnose developmental or intellectual problems in young children.But some experts argue that IQ tests measure specific types of intelligence at the expense of others.A narrow definition of intelligenceIn the case of Brendan Dassey,Richard Leo, an expert on coercion and false confessions,testified in a 2010 hearing for Dassey's defense thatthe teen was coercedinto confessing his involvement inHalbach'srape and murder, without understanding the consequences.Butan IQ test alone wouldn't tell you that.In his 1983 book "Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences," developmental psychologist Howard Gardner described eight different kinds of intelligence: musicalrhythmic, visualspatial, verballinguistic, logicalmathematical, bodilykinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic.By Gardner's definition, IQ tests only measure verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, and some types of spatial intelligence. Itdoesn'tnecessarily predict poor intra-personal intelligenceanother term for self-awareness and introspectionthe kind of intelligence you might expect to explain why Dasseywas susceptible to coercion by the police.Still,that doesn't mean we should get rid of IQtests completely,Illinois State psychologist W. Joel Schneider said in an interviewwithpsychologist and science writer Scott Barry Kaufman."IQ tests, error-ridden as they are, peel back a layer or two of uncertainty about what people are capable of," Schneider said.READ NEXT:This vial of blood is the most controversial piece of evidence in the 'Making a Murderer' mystery ' here's how the test that was run on it worksSEE ALSO:A Chinese artificial intelligence program just beat humans in an IQ testJoin the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: The lawyer from 'Making A Murderer' describes what's wrong with America's criminal justice system
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