Motivation as Intellegence

There are clearly different kinds of smart, but I may have missed the most obvious type, motivation. Here are two experiments using IQ tests. In the first they discovered that financial rewards (only $1-10) elicited on average 10 points on the IQ scale of 100. In the second experiment they showed that researchers could predict future success just by measuring how often students looked unmotivated (yawning, heads on the table, or looking around). The researchers suggest that motivation could account for 84% of the differences between years of schooling or ability to find a job. So, "IQ tests are measuring much more than just raw intelligence--they also measure how badly subjects want to succeed both on the test and later in life". Yet another reason to teach patience and motivation in schools.