Learning objectives
The term Intelligence is derived from the Latin verb intellegere; which means “to understand”. Despite a long history of research and debates, there is still no standard definition of intelligence. Intelligence has been defined in many ways: higher-level abilities (such as abstract reasoning, mental representation, problem-solving, and decision making), the ability to learn, emotional knowledge, creativity, and adaptation to meet the demands of the environment effectively.
There is a lot of debate around what abilities does intelligence include and whether or not it is quantifiable. Some researchers have suggested that intelligence is a single, general ability. Others believe that intelligence encompasses a range of aptitudes, skills, and talents.
Intelligence is a very general mental capability that among other things involves the ability to plan, reason, comprehend complex ideas, solve problems, think abstractly, learn quickly and learn from experience.
At a basic level, intelligence reflects a broader and deeper capability for "making sense" of one's surroundings and "figuring out" what to do.
Grades and intelligence are two different things. From an early age, we are made to believe that being intelligent means "getting good grades". If someone is not getting a good grade in a subject, the person is not intelligent enough in that particular subject. However, excessive focus on grades generates fear which makes a person give up. Instead, we must emphasize learning and mastery. We should continue to learn and demonstrate learning until we understand.
Priority is learning, not just getting a specific score or completion of an assignment.
We can adopt two types of goal orientations: mastery and performance.
Between the two, mastery orientation yields better outcomes in the long-term, as it nurtures positive qualities like seeking out challenges, a desire to learn, and hard work. Being too focused on performance causes anxiety.
Intelligence is not all-or-nothing. There’s always plenty of room for improvement, nothing can be done perfectly. Just because you or somebody else notices that there’s room to improve something, it doesn’t mean you failed. Rather, it means that you should work harder to achieve what it is that you want to achieve.
Crystallized and Fluid Intelligence
True intelligence is not a single factor "test scores". Rather it is a collection of distinct abilities. In the 1940s, Raymond Cattell proposed a theory of intelligence that divided general intelligence into two components: crystallized intelligence and fluid intelligence.
Intelligence is composed of different abilities that interact and work together to produce overall individual intelligence. For example, when taking a math exam, you might rely on fluid intelligence to come with a strategy to solve a problem, while you must also employ crystallized intelligence to recall the exact formulas you need to use.
| Fluid intelligence | Crystallized intelligence |
| Global capacity to reason | Prior learning and past experiences |
| Ability to learn new things | Based on facts |
| Think abstractly and solve problems | Increases with age |
Grades are static while human intelligence is dynamic.
Being able to recite all the countries and capitals, history facts, inventions, a larger vocabulary, or other similar material from textbooks reflect one's hard work and memory, not intelligence.
An individual's outcome in life is not determined by bookish knowledge. The type of behavior and skills that help one get ahead in life are independent of the knowledge obtained from books. For example, Robert Sternberg’s theory identifies three types of intelligence: practical, creative, and analytical.
Each of us has an incredible variety of different strengths and talents. The abilities typically measured by grades only cover a set range of them. Intelligence is just one of the countless variables that will impact your grades.
In 1983, Howard Gardner proposed the Theory of Multiple Intelligences which suggests that all people have different kinds of "intelligence." In order to capture the full range of abilities and talents that people possess, he theorized that people do not have just an intellectual capacity, but have many kinds of intelligence. In this theory, each person possesses at least eight intelligence. While a person might be particularly strong in a specific area, he or she most likely possesses a range of abilities. The following table describes each type of intelligence.
| Intelligence type | Characteristics |
| Linguistic intelligence |
Ability to use words well, both when writing and speaking. Ability to write stories, memorize information, and read. |
| Logical-mathematical intelligence |
Ability to see numerical patterns, strong ability to use reason and logic. Ability to think conceptually about numbers, relationships, and patterns. |
| Visual-spatial intelligence |
Ability to visualize things, perceive relationships between objects and how they move in space. Ability to understand and interpret directions as well as maps, charts, videos, and pictures |
| Musical intelligence |
Ability to appreciate music and its elements like rhythm, pitch, and tone. |
| Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence |
Ability to control physical body movement, performing actions, with excellent hand-eye coordination and dexterity. |
| Intrapersonal intelligence | Ability to access personal feelings and motivations, and use them to direct behavior and reach personal goals |
| Interpersonal intelligence | Ability to understand and be sensitive to the various emotional states of others |
| Naturalistic intelligence |
Ability to appreciate the natural environment and the species within it. |
Both genetics and environment influence intelligence.
There is no single intelligence gene that plays a major role in differences in intelligence. It is likely that a large number of genes are involved. The way inherited genes express is determined by the interaction between a person's genes and environment. For example, if both the parents are tall, the child will usually grow tall, however, the exact height depends on the nutrition and exercise the child gets. Factors related to a child’s home environment and parenting, education, and availability of learning resources, and nutrition, among others, all contribute to intelligence. A person’s environment and genes influence each other, and it can be challenging to look at each of them individually.
It is clear that both environmental and genetic factors play a part in determining intelligence.
Intelligence is malleable and can be improved over time.
Have you ever played with clay? Like the clay is shapeable, stretchable, and changeable, so is our ability to learn or "intelligence".
We are not born with "fixed" intelligence and abilities. Our intelligence and abilities can grow and improve over time through personal effort and perseverance.
Just as people get stronger and more flexible by physical exercise, we can increase our strength, agility, and learning potential by working out our brain.
When you come across a topic that you do not immediately and effortlessly understand, what do you do?
Should you leave that topic as you cannot master it? NO.
Intelligence is not like eye color - you have to live with whatever you're born with. Intelligence improves through study and practice. If something is hard, it will push you to get better. You should put in more effort to learn. The need to expend effort to learn does not indicate low intelligence.
Struggle is not failure instead it is a critical part of the learning journey.
Our brain is more like a muscle.
When a person exercise, their muscles becomes stronger. A person who gets exhausted in running 1km the first day, slowly gains strength and stamina to complete 3km within a short time when he or she practices running every day. Where do you think this strength comes from? Running every day makes their leg muscles become stronger. In the same manner, our brain also grows and gets stronger when practice learning every day.
Inside the outer layer of the brain – the cortex – are billions of tiny nerve cells, called neurons. The nerve cells have branches connecting them to other cells in a complicated network. Communication between these brain cells is what allows us to think and solve problems. When you learn new things, these tiny connections in the brain actually multiply and get stronger. The more you challenge your mind to learn, the more your brain cells grow. Things you once found very hard or even impossible to do – like speaking a foreign language or doing maths – become easier. The result is a stronger, smarter brain.
People aren’t “smart” or “dumb”. At first, no one can read or solve math problems. But with practice, they can learn to do it. The more a person learns, the easier it gets to learn new things – because their brain “muscles” grow stronger.
