Shadowing Practice: The Strangest Things that Correlate with IQ - Learn English Speaking with Video
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When you think about IQ, you might think about scientists like Einstein,
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or about nerds who'd rather read an academic paper than talk to another human being.
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But I'm going to tell you about some of the strangest things that have been found to correlate with IQ,
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including in our own giant IQ study involving over 3 ,000 people and in the work of other researchers.
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So what is IQ?
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Well, it's a standardized score that's designed to test cognitive ability, essentially what intelligence tasks measured in a lab have in common.
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So if you give people a wide range of intelligence tasks, let's say logic puzzles, math,
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spelling, vocabulary, and then you calculate a score that best predicts your performance at all of these different tasks, that's a measure of IQ.
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It doesn't necessarily predict how good you are socially or morally
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or whether you're good at the sort of things that hunter -gatherers tended to be good at.
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Now as we all know, a formless void serves the mechanics of destiny and interdependence is an unparalleled element of all experience.
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But what I just said is total pseudo -profound bullshit.
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And fascinatingly, in our study, when we gave people statements like these and asked them to rate how profound they are,
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higher IQ people tend to rate them as less profound.
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In other words, they seemed better at calling out bullshit.
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Perhaps this is because people with higher IQs are less likely to assume
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that just because they don't understand something that it's actually meaningful.
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If you watch intellectuals on podcasts, you'll actually see this quite a bit.
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They'll say something that sounds profound, but doesn't really have any meaning.
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And the audience, not understanding it, assumes that it must be really deep and gives them the benefit of the doubt.
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When you hear things like this, I recommend deep diving and saying, well, what does this mean really?
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As the second child born in my family, I find this next one especially interesting.
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IQ is actually associated with being the firstborn child.
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It's debated why this is, but one theory is that it has to do with parental investment.
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If you only have one child, you can devote more time to raising them.
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And time -use surveys suggest that this might actually be the case, that parents put more time into raising their firstborn child.
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So perhaps this extra parental investment leads a child to have higher IQ over time.
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We're not talking about a huge difference here, we're just talking about a few IQ points, but it's interesting that there's a difference at all.
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Next, I want to tell you about one of the funniest correlations we found in our giant study of IQ.
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Who do you think has higher IQs on average?
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People who believe they can figure out solutions to societal problems, or people who believe they can't figure out solutions to societal problems?
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Well, it turns out in our study, people who believe they can't figure out solutions to societal problems actually tended to have higher IQs,
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perhaps because they were more aware of how incredibly difficult it is to figure out those kinds of solutions.
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You might think that the explanation for this is the Dunning -Kruger effect.
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People sometimes mistakenly think that the Dunning -Kruger effect is that lower -skilled people think that they're better than higher -skilled people,
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but that's actually not what it is.
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The Dunning -Kruger effect says that lower -skilled people tend to overestimate their ability,
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not that they tend to think their ability is higher than higher -skilled people.
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So this is different than the Dunning -Kruger effect.
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There's a stereotype that nerdy people are more intelligent and more likely to wear glasses.
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And many people believe that wearing glasses gives you an air of being intelligent.
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Fascinatingly though, when a study tested this idea by showing faces of people either with glasses or without,
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people did not perceive them as being more intelligent when they had glasses.
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But, perhaps surprisingly, there actually is a link between IQ and nearsightedness.
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In other words, people who wear glasses probably are a little bit higher IQ on average.
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Why on earth would there be a link between IQ and nearsightedness though?
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Well, there's a couple different theories.
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One theory is that nearsightedness is actually linked to the amount of light exposure you get when you're young.
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So if higher IQ children are more likely to stay indoors rather than spending outdoor time playing,
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this could actually possibly explain why they tend to be more nearsighted.
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Another theory is that nearsightedness is linked to close -up work such as reading or studying.
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If that's the case, that could also help explain why higher IQ children tend to be more nearsighted.
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So far, the correlations we've talked about might be interesting, but they're not useful.
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So are there useful IQ correlations that can help us guide how to live our lives?
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Well, there are actual useful IQ links that can guide our choices.
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One is toxins, such as lead poisoning, especially in children, which have been linked to lower IQs.
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Two, sleep apnea.
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If you wake up not feeling rested and you snore really loudly,
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you may want to get checked out by a doctor because sleep apnea is actually treatable.
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Three is high blood pressure especially as an older adult.
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High blood pressure is linked to a reduction in IQ over time.
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The fourth perhaps most surprisingly is adult hearing loss.
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When older adults lose their hearing it tends to precede reductions in IQ.
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We don't know for sure that it's causal
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but I think it's worth being aware of and treating your hearing loss is good for other reasons as well.
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There's also the other category, which are positive choices that are linked to higher IQ.
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That includes getting proper nutrition, especially as a child.
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It also includes boring but incredibly important things like having a healthy diet and exercising regularly.
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As a caveat here, we can't always be certain about the causal role that these things play.
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For instance, it's known that worse childhood nutrition is linked to lower IQ, but that could be because of other factors.
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Like maybe childhood poverty is linked both to worse nutrition and to lower IQ.
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All of that being said, I think for a number of these, we have pretty good reason to think that there is a causal role,
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especially things like head trauma and high blood pressure.
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However, the most important thing to know about cognitive ability, in my opinion, is
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that you can get better at absolutely any task you choose simply by practicing it and getting good feedback.
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You don't need to improve your IQ in order to get better at anything you care about.
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Someone who's diligently studied math for 10 years is absolutely going
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to blow out of the water at math someone who has 10 IQ points higher who hasn't studied math at all.
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What about beliefs?
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Are there any interesting correlations between IQ and what people believe?
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Well, fascinatingly, higher IQ people tend to be less religious.
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It's not known why this is.
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There's different theories.
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Most people in the world are born into a religion and most people stay with whatever religion they're born into.
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So it's possible that what's going on here is
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that higher IQ people are simply more likely to question whatever belief system they're born into.
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It's also interesting that higher IQ people tend to be more likely to support the free speech of people they disagree with.
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Even if they oppose what a group stands for, whether it's Christian fundamentalists or neo -Nazis,
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they're more likely to express support for that group being able to express their opinions, hold public demonstrations, and be involved in public debates.
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what about things that you'd expect to be correlated with iq
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but actually aren't well one of the strangest is that you think
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that people with higher iqs would tend to be happier
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because they tend to be wealthier they tend to be better at getting certain types of jobs
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and in theory they should be able to problem solve better in their lives
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but in fact there is no link between iq and life satisfaction
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or happiness this is a genuine mystery that nobody has really resolved.
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If IQ is about being able to use your mind to effectively achieve goals,
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then why does it fail at getting people the thing that almost everyone wants?
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But this shows very clearly that IQ is very far from giving you everything you want in life.
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It doesn't even give you happiness.
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A lot of people also expect that IQ is linked to conscientiousness or diligence or hard work or being organized.
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But actually, studies tend to find that has either no correlation or a very small negative correlation.
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It might be the case that people who are more conscientious tend to seem smarter.
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Maybe they're more diligent about studying.
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Maybe they have more knowledge.
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Maybe they're more likely to stay in school, but they don't actually have higher IQs.
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Those that say IQ is meaningless are actually just scientifically wrong.
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It predicts lots of interesting things, but IQ is also very far from everything that matters it can't even predict how happy you are.
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If you're interested in using psychology to improve your life, I'd love it if you check out my new book, The 12 Levers.
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My co -author and I deep dive on over 100 self -improvement books and over 20 types of therapy.
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And every time they give a method or technique, we extracted it.
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And through analyzing that, we came to a surprising conclusion.
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There are only 12 main psychological strategies you can use to improve your life.
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And in the book, The 12
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Lovers, we teach you what those strategies are and how to use them.
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You can buy it now at 12loversbook .com.
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Subscribe to this channel for more deep dives on psychology every week.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “The Strangest Things that Correlate with IQ”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: higher, tend, linked, likely. This video has 117 sentences and 1672 words to shadow. The speech runs for 8:41. The speaker talks fast, about 193 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| correlation noun | /ˌkɔɹ.əˈleɪ.ʃən/ | A reciprocal, parallel or complementary relationship between two or more comparable objects. |
| math noun | /mæθ/ | Arithmetic calculations; (see do the math). |
| skill noun | /skɪl/ | A capacity to do something well; a technique, an ability, usually acquired or learned, as opposed to abilities that are regarded as innate. |
| predict verb | /pɹɪˈdɪkt/ | To make a prediction: to forecast, foretell, or estimate a future event on the basis of knowledge and reasoning; to prophesy a future event on the basis of… |
| profound adjective | /pɹəˈfaʊnd/ | Descending far below the surface; opening or reaching to great depth; deep. |
| intelligent adjective | /ɪnˈtɛlɪd͡ʒənt/ | Of high or especially quick cognitive capacity, bright. |
| dive verb | /daɪv/ | To swim under water. |
| nutrition noun | /njuːˈtɹɪʃ.ən/ | The organic process by which an organism assimilates food and uses it for growth and maintenance. |
| societal adjective | [səˈsaɪ.ɪ.tɫ̩] | Of or pertaining to society or social groups, or to their activities, customs, etc. |
| belief noun | /bɪˈliːf/ | Mental acceptance of a claim as true. |
| happiness noun | /ˈhæpinɪs/ | The emotion of being happy; joy; elation. |
| reduction noun | /ɹɪˈdʌk.ʃən/ | The act, process, or result of reducing. |
| incredibly adverb | /ɪŋˈkɹɛdɪbli/ | In an incredible manner; not to be believed. |
| psychology noun | /saɪˈkɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/ | The study of the human mind. |
| cognitive adjective | /ˈkɑɡ.nɪ.tɪv/ | Relating to the part of mental functions that deals with logic, as opposed to affective which deals with emotions. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| figure out verb | To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce. | |
| check out verb | To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.). | |
| call out verb | To specify, especially in detail. | |
| close up verb | /kləʊzˈʌp/ | To close (remove a gap) completely or fully. |
| wake up verb | /ˌweɪk ˈʌp/ | To stop sleeping; to awake. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | have been found · is actually associated · is actually linked |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | People who believe · people who wear · children, which have |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have been found · we've talked · have been linked |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 32 contractions and reduced forms, such as they're, can't, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: math /mæθ/, wealthy /ˈwɛl.θi/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: correlation /ˌkɔɹ.əˈleɪ.ʃən/, nutrition /njuːˈtɹɪʃ.ən/, reduction /ɹɪˈdʌk.ʃən/, explanation /ˌɛkspləˈneɪʃən/, exposure /ɪkˈspəʊ.ʒə(ɹ)/
- Long words — get the stress right: correlation /ˌkɔɹ.əˈleɪ.ʃən/, intelligent /ɪnˈtɛlɪd͡ʒənt/, incredibly /ɪŋˈkɹɛdɪbli/, psychology /saɪˈkɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/, surprisingly /səˈpɹaɪzɪŋli/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like correlation, math, skill.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.