Pedophiles - Low IQs?

I have read several books on pedophilia that were really books written by researchers for other researchers - I have yet to find a book writtten for people who have pedophilia. In most of these books it said that people with pedophilia have a lower than normal IQ. I wonder if this is just because they are testing child molesters who have been caught - maybe the dumb ones get caught. I took two online IQ tests and got scores of 145 and 154, way higher than average. And a friend of mine who is attracted to young girls scored 134. Neither of us have acted on our feelings and engaged in sexual activity with a young girl.

Anyone else here have an explanation for why researchers are saying pedophiles have low IQs? Anyone think it's weird that me and my friend have pedophilia but have high IQs? Anyone here with pedophilia ever taken an IQ test - what did you score?

I've never taken a test, but I'm pretty sure that the research you read is biased. I'd have to say it would make sense if criminal sex offenders tested with low IQ's. Education is a major tool for the prevention of criminal behavior. There are exceptions to everything though. My father-in-law abused his daughters (excluding my wife) when they were children. He was caught and is being tried, but he's extremely intelligent and he's become quite upstanding since he stopped abusing years ago. He never did have a very healthy emotional life throughout childhood though. Despite everything, he's paying a high price now for his mistakes.

Ï perceive myself as pedophile, and i scored a 156 on a MENSA test - as a 15 year old. There is no logic in this, though i agree educations counters criminal behavior...

nehevea11 wrote:I have read several books on pedophilia that were really books written by researchers for other researchers - I have yet to find a book writtten for people who have pedophilia. In most of these books it said that people with pedophilia have a lower than normal IQ. I wonder if this is just because they are testing child molesters who have been caught - maybe the dumb ones get caught. I took two online IQ tests and got scores of 145 and 154, way higher than average. And a friend of mine who is attracted to young girls scored 134. Neither of us have acted on our feelings and engaged in sexual activity with a young girl.

Anyone else here have an explanation for why researchers are saying pedophiles have low IQs? Anyone think it's weird that me and my friend have pedophilia but have high IQs? Anyone here with pedophilia ever taken an IQ test - what did you score?

Same with the sociopaths, stupid sociopaths commit a crime and get caught. Clever sociopaths control their urges to set babies on fire etc. Very clever sociopaths do whatever the hell they want and are never caught. If you're never caught, you're not registered, and so cannot be made to contribute to such testing.

Hi nehevea11, As far as I can remember, being a Pedophile is a manifestation of an early exposure of a child to sex. I think the explanation why some researchers thought that Pedophiles have low IQ's because of their preferences in choosing a sexual partner. An adult with an average mind will surely not choose a child for a sexual partner in a sense that a child is not yet mentally and physically mature for sex. Having sex with a child is abnormality that's why it was categorized as disorder in psychology. It is so wrong to have sex with a child because that's already a molestation. Children are not in their right frame of mind to understand sex. So why would an adult do that on a child?

Sexuality has nothing to do with IQ.

Someone said they knew of someone who they suspected is a paedophile, and he was very clever and devious. He has a massive house,has villas in Spain, has three cars, a swimming pool, he once had horses until he got rid of them, even has his own bar in his house. He also designed his house, and as big a @@@@@@@ as he is, he definitely is very smart.

I guess it comes down to the idea that only the dumb Pedophiles act on their urges, and only the dumbest ones out of that group get caught.

The rest are smart enough to realize that acting on emotions and desires will only cause pain for ourselves and others.

* Though I am happy to say that I have reduced my thoughts about such things to every other day or so, and often they are fleeting. Occasionally I may fixate, but it's usually on a child I have conjured up... not one I have seen in real life, or I may try to imagine my bf when he was younger --- this seems to satisfy as well. *

I think that the subject of co-morbidity should be studied. I would be curious to know how many individuals with antisocial personality disorder are also paedophiles. Both disorders relate to a need for manipulation, and control. Brain dysfunction seems to play a role in both of these disorders. However, brain dysfunction doesn't necessarily equate to lowered IQ. I'm of the opinion that the higher IQ paedophiles (and high IQ sociopaths), and those working in positions of power are less likely to get caught. I have two close personal friends who were abused as children by high IQ paedophiles. One of the paedophiles was a member of MENSA. It also appears that the paedophiles who operate in rings tend to be caught less often. The scandals involving rings are dismissed in court more often. This is likely due to the threat to individuals in positions of power. We also shouldn't eliminate the possibility that some of the researchers could be paedophiles. What better way to misdirect investigations, than to falsify research suggesting that paedophiles have low IQs.

I'm not sure there could be said to be a positive correlation between IQ and 'chances of getting caught'; there will be an element of (bad) luck (or good, depending on perspective). Besides, I have met many people who presumably have high IQs and yet lack basic common sense. There is evidence to suggest that a disproportionately high level of the overall prison population suffer from dyslexia, but I don't know of any studies that suggest a correlation between IQ and imprisonment (though I've no doubt they abound). Obviously significant intellectual impairment would hinder a person's chances of evading the law. With regard to IQ's relationship to propensity to offend, I myself could only speculate.

It may be that those who have molested children and been caught and subjected to a prison order may have lower IQs. If so, I suspect the portrayal of paedophiles as drooling imbeciles is at least in part founded on a conflation of the term paedophile (someone attracted to prepubescent minors) with the term child molestor (or, at any rate, those caught, imprisoned and left in a room with an IQ test and a pen). It may also be part of a shallow and transparent cultural discourse that serves to demonise the latest 'other' to which society's focus is directed to appease the restless tabloid-reading masses. Who knows?

Personally I have taken a few IQ tests online over the years. I won't share results, partly because I feel it's a bit vulgar, but in the main because they are unreliable. By nature an IQ score is meaningless without reference to the type of test taken; a score of, say, 132 on one test may equate to a score of 146 on another. What I do know is that many online tests commonly produce scores that would not be out of place among the Da Vincis and Goethes of this world. Furthermore, they purport to rate one's intelligence on the basis of a pitifully small number of easy questions. I remember one that consisted of thirty questions, a correct answer to all of which would produce a score of 148. If your IQ were higher than that (the caveat again being that IQ scores mean nothing without reference to a type of test), based purely on that test you simply wouldn't know, because 148 (or whatever score it was) was evidently the maximum. These online tests are useless. And when it comes to real extremes of intelligence, all IQ tests are of limited use.

As an aside, I'm not convinced by the assertion that paedophilia relates to a need for manipulation and control. I can assure you that when I'm in the company of a young girl on whom I have a major crush it's very clear to me who wields the power, and it ain't me.

wow genasmith i didnt know you had pedophilia... suprised me lol. anyway the "research" is so inaccurate because of how small the study base is and how little diversity there is between the people, aka they most likely are convicted... that means that its biased... hooray... *sarcasm*