IQ scores have a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 16. Steven Pinker, a famous experimental psychologist with an IQ of 158. How many standard deviations is this away from the mean?

Answer 1

To determine how many standard deviations Steven Pinker's IQ is from the mean, you can use the formula:

\[ \text{Number of standard deviations} = \frac{\text{IQ score} - \text{mean}}{\text{standard deviation}} \]

Given:

• Mean = 100
• Standard deviation = 16
• Steven Pinker's IQ = 158

Now, substituting the values into the formula:

\[ \text{Number of standard deviations} = \frac{158 - 100}{16} = \frac{58}{16} = 3.625 \]

Therefore, Steven Pinker's IQ is 3.625 standard deviations above the mean.