I’ve heard of an Asian saying, which can be roughly translated as follows: “Don’t believe what you see; don’t believe what you hear; only believe what you have thought through fully”. Doesn’t this encapsulate the significance and importance of intelligence.
What is Intelligence?
Intelligence is a multi-faceted term that has been defined along different dimensions by different people in different contexts. While there are several definitions of what constitutes intelligence, there are some underlying similarities in these various definitions. That is the ability and process of “thinking through” based on the available information and making the right’ judgment in the context. Again, what constitutes’ right can be debated, but by and large, right’ can be defined as what enables the situation to move forward and leave the situation better than what it was.
I have tried to put down some of the most popular constructs of intelligence as defined under some of the most prevalent theories of intelligence. It might then be easier for us to think through how these various thought processes’ can be acquired and nurtured.
(1) Intelligence is the capacity to reason, to plan, to solve problems, to think abstractly, to comprehend ideas, to use language, and to learn.
(2) Intelligence includes traits such as creativity, personality, character, knowledge, or wisdom.
(3) Intelligence is judgment, otherwise called good sense, practical sense, initiative, the faculty of adapting one’s self to circumstances. (Theory of Alfred Binet)
(4) Intelligence is the aggregate or global capacity of the individual to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with his environment (theory of David Wechsler)
(5) Intelligence is the ability to deal with cognitive complexity (Theory of Linda Gottfredson)
(6) Intelligence is Goal-directed adaptive behavior (Theory of Sternberg & Salter)
(7) Intelligence is a human intellectual competence must entail a set of skills of problem solvingenabling the individual to resolve genuine problems or difficulties that he or she encounters and, when appropriate, to create an effective productand must also entail the potential for finding or creating problemsand thereby laying the groundwork for the acquisition of new knowledge. This is perhaps currently a popular theory of intelligence put forth by Howard Gardner. Called the theory of multiple intelligences, Gardner broke down intelligence into at least eight different components: logical, linguistic, spatial, musical, kinesthetic, naturalist, intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligences.
If we were to distill the key characteristics of intelligence based on the above popular definitions, it would perhaps be the following:
o Problem solving
o Proactive planning
o Goal directed behavior
o Act purposefully based on the aggregate complexities presented by the environment
o Judgment displayed in adapting oneself to the environment
o Creativity, abstract thinking, ideation, communication
o Knowledge
In sum, all the above characteristics point to one essential attribute: The ability to enable a person to lead a life that is fulfilling, satisfying and successful as per his definition of success. That indeed is the true meaning of Intelligence.
Understanding the elements of Intelligence:
I personally like to think of intelligence as a mental model’ that each person carries in his head to deal with different circumstances. This mental model is largely made up of memories and information that a person has picked up over the years, based on their experiences and exposure. Memories take the form of pictures, images, sounds, smells, and tastes, textures combined with a specific feeling about each of these. Knowledge takes the form of information collected based on each of these sensory experiences.
All of us use these mental models’ all the time. Every time a person is presented with a situation he reaches for one of these mental models and makes a judgment based on that. His actions, behavior and reactions are based on this judgment, which in turn is based on his mental model, which again depends on this collection of memories and information. The stronger these memories and knowledge, the better is his mental model and therefore his intelligence.
This mental map’ has the ability to keep evolving depending on the addition of further memories and information. That is why people always have the capacity to learn.
Memories and knowledge do not stand alone. They have to be combined together in different permutations and combinations to develop the different aspects of intelligence that will help a person deal with situations. The essential elements in combining the memories and knowledge can be summarized as follows:
o Familiarity. These can be thought of as liberating structures that will enable the person to have control over his immediate environment
o Acquiring an intelligent purpose
o Order, Sequence linear thinking
o Perfection
o How to evaluate self
o Judgment (all kinds of judgment visual, auditory etc)
o Learning to scan environment
o Learning to exercise will
o Communication
The elements listed above when combined with memories and knowledge is essentially what constitutes the storehouse of intelligence for a person.
Identifying the gateways to intelligence:
So how do you create intelligence? The best way to create intelligence is by identifying the gateways for creating intelligence and by sending in a wealth of information through those gateways so that the person is able to create his own mental models of the world and build his intelligence.
There are two gateways:
o Creating an environment where the person can form memories’ and information’.
o Creating an environment where the person can discover and perfect the elements of intelligence
How these gateways can be expanded:
The elements of intelligence such as analytical thinking, judgment, self-appraisal, purposeful action etc, cannot develop unless there is a wealth of memories and information in the first place. Elements of intelligence work by combining these memories and information to form mental models.
Consciously choosing to be in environments whereby we have the scope to gain exposure to various experiences opens up our gateways to gather a wealth of memories and information. These memories and information form the storehouse for intelligence.
Consciously choosing to be in environments whereby we have the scope to exercise the elements of thinking, opens up our brain to form mental models of the world. These mental models that are exercised through judgment, planning, problem solving define the effectiveness of the intelligence.
Ensuring that we have an open mind, a mind open to new experiences and changing the mental models we have of the world based on newer experiences and information, is perhaps one of the best things we can do for ourselves towards nurturing our intelligence.
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