Intelligence... In everyday use, we are accustomed to using this word as a synonym for human mental abilities and rarely think about how many meanings and shades of meaning are actually put into it, how many scientific theories and approaches are devoted to the interpretation of this phenomenon.
Who, for example, can immediately answer what verbal intelligence is? How do thinking and intelligence, intelligence and abilities relate?
And there are questions that many, on the contrary, have probably thought about more than once. For example, how to increase the level of intelligence and is it even possible to do this if you are not too lucky with genetics?
Explain, measure, improve
The concept of intelligence is multifaceted. In general, the definition sounds like this: a relatively stable structure of a person’s mental abilities. However, psychology suggests studying these abilities from different points of view. Thus, in a number of concepts an attempt has been made to consider the creative components of intelligence (for example, the idea of insight, substantiated by Gestalt psychologists), and, say, supporters of the sociocultural approach consider it one of the results of socialization.
Everyone knows a way to quantify intelligence using IQ (intelligence quotient) tests. And although this technique is not unreasonably criticized, nevertheless, IQ now serves as a universal indicator of normal and abnormal intellectual development.
Thus, an indicator in the range of approximately 50-70 allows diagnosing mild intellectual impairment, and data below 50 indicates severe intellectual impairment. What is normal level intellectual development if we give the answer in the same numerical dimension? Values from 80 to 120 are recognized as the norm (such a wide range is explained by the wide variety of tests).
What does the development of a person’s intelligence generally depend on, and how can it be influenced? Scientists around the world are struggling to find an answer to this question, but so far the data obtained are very ambiguous. Some say that you can’t argue with genetics, while others believe that increasing the intelligence of any child can be ensured by the right upbringing conditions.
There is also a lot of debate about how to quickly and permanently increase intelligence, although the main ways are known: learn new things, solve crosswords and puzzles, don’t forget about physical exercise... And yes, the brain needs constant training: progress is lost as quickly as it is gained.
It can be different
Considering how differently psychology explains the concept itself, it is logical that both the types of intelligence and its structure also do not have an unambiguous scientific interpretation.
The middle position between these two levels is occupied by the so-called group factors. Their presence is justified by the fact that it is possible to group similar indicators for which one ability is responsible. The English psychologist Turnstone identified more than a dozen group factors, but the following seven of them became recognized:
- Speech fluency.
- Associative memory.
- Understanding words.
- Number manipulation factor.
- Speed of perception.
- Spatial thinking.
- Reasoning and logic.
Also interesting is the theory, the founder of which was the British and American psychologist Raymond Cattell. He said that human intelligence consists of two layers: fluid and crystallized.
As for the types of phenomena, it is appropriate to recall the theory belonging to Howard Gardner. Studying intelligence, he came to the conclusion that there are multiple types of it, and therefore the standard measurement of intellectual abilities as a whole should give way to a differentiated approach. These types are:
- Logical-mathematical ().
- Intrapersonal (the ability to clearly understand one’s own feelings and desires).
- Interpersonal (understanding what this or that emotion of another person means).
- Musical (perception of sounds and their various characteristics(pitch, tone), sense of rhythm).
- Spatial (the ability to imagine an object in various dimensions, to visually evaluate its parameters).
- Bodily-kinesthetic (body control).
- Linguistic (related to language, speech, the ability to formulate and coherently express thoughts).
Consequently, children whose linguistic, interpersonal, and logical-mathematical types of intelligence predominate are considered successful in school. However, for example, someone who dreams of becoming a dancer will most likely be concerned with how to develop other intelligence - bodily-kinesthetic and musical, a future architect will need a spatial type, and so on.
Mind and Feelings
Let us pay attention to inter- and intrapersonal types. They are often combined, because both of them are responsible for recognizing emotions, only in one case their own, and in the other - those who are nearby. What is emotional intelligence and how to increase its level has been written a lot lately, but much less has been written about some of its negative features.
And indeed, people who read their colleagues (and most importantly, their superiors) like an open book do not necessarily have to demonstrate professional achievements in order to advance in their careers. career ladder. In addition, a developed ability to recognize emotions can provoke excessive self-confidence. A person is aware of his own ability to understand others and relies on first impressions, not wanting to dig deeper, which leads to completely incorrect conclusions about the situation and its participants.
So it turns out that you need to think not only about how to develop emotional intelligence, but also about how to protect yourself from the dangers that emotional competence poses. Author: Evgenia Bessonova
Today, many people watch educational videos and TV shows, and the “fashion” for reading has returned again. Men and women try with all their might to improve themselves, to be a little smarter, wiser, more experienced than others. Everyone invariably associates the phrase “high intelligence” with something good, which is why the idea of possessing it is so tempting.
Concept
From Latin this word is translated as understanding, knowledge. Intelligence is the ability of our brain to understand and solve certain problems.
Plato was the first to raise the idea of the cult of intellect. In all his texts he attached great importance to thinking. He wrote that life without curiosity, the desire to learn new things, is impossible. Plato was fully supported by his student Aristotle, who developed the concept of the primacy of reason. He said that the one who has the inclination to rule should rule, and others should obey.
The level of mental abilities can be developed and increased, or it can be decreased. Academician Moiseev states that intelligence is the creation of a successful strategy, planning your steps, which will help you achieve your desired goal. This is the organization of one’s life and activities with the help of other abilities, which include: learning, thinking, the ability to classify, integrate, isolate unnecessary things, find connections and patterns.
The main properties of intelligence are:
- curiosity - the desire to learn something new, to explore phenomena;
- depth of mind - the ability to find the main and important things in a pile of information, and weed out the unnecessary;
- logic - consistency of reasoning, the ability to build reasonable and correct chains, taking into account relationships and details;
- flexibility of mind - a person’s ability to use his capabilities, experience, knowledge, without using templates, but creating his own solutions to problems;
- breadth of thinking - the ability to fully study data, not lose information, see several solutions to a problem;
- criticality of thinking - the ability to evaluate the result of work, find the right ones and weed out the false ones, also the ability to change the path if it is not the true one;
- evidence of the mind is to find facts and use them at the right moment to make sure that the goal is correct.
In ordinary life, an individual always uses his thinking abilities to understand the world around him, take next steps and find the optimal solution. It is quite difficult to imagine even a day of life without the ability to analyze the situation and compare facts and objects.
Only through the thought process is there the possibility of self-development and personal improvement. Without intelligence, a person would not be able to make scientific breakthroughs, create cures for dangerous diseases, create music, or paint pictures.
What does it take to become an intellectual?
So what marks out a smart person with high intelligence? There are several important facts that are key to the concept of such a question.
Constant development
The concept of “high intelligence” implies the ability to learn, the ability to adapt to different situations. The mind constantly requires development, it cannot be “pumped up” once and for all, because no rarely used information can constantly circulate in the brain, it is forgotten.
All people have almost the same inclinations (potential), but they have to develop their personality independently by receiving and processing information. But what is important is not the quantity of information remembered, but its quality and processing algorithm. An intellectual will not swallow information for the sake of information; he is able to isolate what he needs and sift out the “garbage”.
Awareness and erudition
There are many television programs where people compete in erudition and prove their uniqueness and intelligence. So in life, every person tries to stand out, know more than others, share their own knowledge and experience.
Erudition indicates a good memory, but for high intelligence this may not be enough. You need to not only know certain information, but also be able to manage it. After all, being well-read is also a positive trait of a person; it speaks of his intelligence. But large number books read is not as important as the information gleaned from them, the meaning understood. A person with high intelligence can grasp the second semantic series of a work; he understands that it is better to read one “smart” book than a dozen “about nothing.”
Rational thinking
Life does not stand still, it is constantly changing, in order to keep up with the times, you need to be able to adapt to new conditions. A smart person will not invent something new if there is no reason for it. He is able to show flexibility of thinking and rationality, and find another, simpler and more optimal way to solve a problem.
You need to be able to look at a problem from different angles, look for more than one solution, but have several backup options. A highly intelligent person can be critical of his decisions and thoughts, and be able to admit his own imperfections and mistakes.
He does not consider himself superior or smarter than others; he is able to adequately assess his own knowledge. Self-improvement and a thirst for knowledge will help you make yourself better. A person with high intelligence never stops there; he always strives for improvement.
How to recognize a person with high intelligence
How is high intelligence expressed in a girl or guy? What makes a smart person?
Several signs high level intelligence.
- The ability not to be distracted by extraneous stimuli. Smart people are able to focus on what is important for long periods of time.
- Goes to bed late and gets up late. It is believed that night owls are smarter than early birds. Two studies were conducted in which more than 1000 people participated. During testing, it was proven that it is “owls” who have high intelligence.
- The ability to quickly adapt to new things. This is not only due to new job, but also with the search for the optimal path that can more effectively change the situation.
- A person with high intelligence knows how to admit that he does not know much. He's not afraid to say he doesn't have an answer asked question, understands that the more you know, the more often you encounter the unknown.
- Smart people are incredibly curious. Curiosity is one of the main signs of high intelligence.
- The ability to seek and accept new ideas and opportunities. Such people do not think in a standard way; they are always looking for an alternative that can lead to the goal with the least loss.
- They feel comfortable being alone. They do not need anyone's company to feel needed; they are self-sufficient individuals.
- They know how to take control of their own emotions in difficult situations. Intellectuals can plan their own time, know how to build strategies and evaluate results. They are not impulsive and always make decisions after carefully considering the possible consequences.
- Good sense of humor. It has been proven that smart people have a great sense of humor, this is confirmed by tests that comedians have undergone.
- Empathy. An intelligent person can put himself in someone else's shoes and look at the situation from the outside. He will be able to calculate the reaction and turn the situation at an angle favorable to himself.
- The ability to find connections that are not visible at first glance. Intellectuals can find differences and common characteristics of any subject because they think on a larger scale and never use patterns.
- Think about global issues. They often think about the meaning of life, their own destiny, about the existence of parallel universes. They think about why it happened this way and not differently, and what could have been changed to prevent this resolution of the situation.
Such signs are not an axiom, because people are different, they cannot be lumped with the same brush. There are completely unique individuals who do not fit into any created frame, and at the same time are considered geniuses.
There are several unexpected signs of high intelligence that are viewed with skepticism, but they are actually true:
- untidiness and a tendency to disorder are signs of high intelligence;
- smart people have a large vocabulary, so they use foul language more;
- slim people have a higher IQ than fat people;
- modesty, because they are not able to brag or overestimate their own strengths;
- love cats more than dogs;
- maintaining virginity during adolescence is one of the indicators of an intelligent person.
What is the difference between low intelligence and high intelligence?
If you don't want to take tests to find out your IQ, there are several factors that will show that a person is not smart enough. Signs of low intelligence in adults:
- any material is difficult to assimilate and remember;
- lacking social skills;
- there is no control over one’s own emotions, the person is not restrained, is aggressive, first he does and then thinks about what it will lead to;
- do not learn from their mistakes;
- are unable to feel and understand the emotions of other people;
- they spend more than they can afford, do not know how to properly manage their finances, do not think about the future, so they spend money on trifles, and cannot save;
- think only about themselves;
- do not know how to accept criticism;
- they blame other people for their own failures;
- constantly argue without reason, even if they know they are wrong;
- do not know how to properly manage their own time;
- They don’t stay in one job for long.
Have you ever wondered what this “concept of intelligence” is, or do you think that it is inherent only to rare talented people, or generally only to geniuses? And how can you measure and understand what kind of intelligence each individual person has? I will say right away that there are still no clear answers to this question. There is also no single generally accepted definition of intelligence in the scientific world. Why? This is because intelligence is such a multifaceted and complex concept that it is very difficult to describe it, to put it into some kind of framework of a certain phrase. However, I will try to convey the essence of this concept for you.
The concept of intelligence. What is intelligence?
In its most general form, intelligence is the ability to acquire, process, reproduce, and use knowledge in a meaningful way. You and I are exposed to a huge number of streams of information, both in terms of the method of perception (visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, gustatory) and in information content.
Every day we see thousands of images: objects, people, settings, nature, objects; we communicate and perceive the feelings and thoughts of another person, we think about our own affairs. Countless streams of information come to us. And we somehow process it, weed out the unnecessary, highlight the main thing, analyze, draw conclusions, remember and do much, much more.
Agree, this does not always work out well; we do not always achieve the necessary and desired solutions. We don’t always come up with important and valuable conclusions for ourselves; not all of us can quickly and clearly perform these mental operations. In addition, we use all the information we receive in different ways. Some people successfully apply it in practice and get beneficial results, while others cannot extract anything practical from the abundance of their knowledge. All these differences constitute the essence of our most common abilities - intellectual ones.
The concept of intelligence is inextricably linked with interaction, development and decision making. Intelligence manifests itself where something interacts with something or someone (people with people, people with technology, people with numbers or computers), where development or transformation takes place (a person builds a house, trains some of his skills) and most importantly, where is the person makes decisions .
How are decision making and the concept of intelligence related?
Decision making and intelligence are inseparable. Wherever decisions need to be made, intelligence is present. And where there is no decision-making, there is no intelligence.
If you automatically drive a car along a familiar road, then intelligence is practically not involved. But where the road is difficult, new, where you need to skillfully maneuver, you constantly make decisions on how to move, assess the situation, choose the best way. These are manifestations of intelligence.
Whether we are solving a math problem, arranging a home space, choosing a school for a child, or leading a group of people, we always make small and large decisions in these actions.
Intelligence itself is realized and embodied in many other abilities:
- Education
- Cognition
- Logical thinking
- Systematization of knowledge
- Analysis and synthesis
- Application of knowledge
- Finding connections and associations
- Thinking
- Planning
- Problem Solving
- Understanding
As you can see, it is difficult to unambiguously answer the question “What is intelligence”; the concept of intelligence does not accurately describe its diverse essence. And another significant difficulty is related to the fact that until now intelligence has been perceived for the most part as mathematical and logical abilities. But this is far from the truth.
Intelligence is much broader than the ability to think logically. Psychologist Howard Gardner described and continues to develop the theory of multiple intelligences several years ago, emphasizing that we have at least 9 of them. different types. This includes musical, linguistic, spatial and other types, which we will talk about later.
Features of multiple intelligences
As it turns out, most of us have a well-developed intellect, but only one or two of these ten. The good news is that everyone can call themselves an intellectual, albeit of one kind. And the second good news is that each of these intelligences can be developed by raising your overall level.
Intelligence General mental ability to overcome difficulties in new situations.
Brief explanatory psychological and psychiatric dictionary. Ed. igisheva. 2008.
Intelligence
(from Latin intellectus - understanding, understanding, comprehension) - a relatively stable structure of an individual’s mental abilities. In a number of psychological concepts, intelligence is identified with a system of mental operations, with a style and strategy for solving problems, with the effectiveness of an individual approach to a situation, which requires cognitive activity, With cognitive style and others. In modern Western psychology, the most widespread is the understanding of intelligence as a biopsychic adaptation to the current circumstances of life (V. Stern, J. Piaget, etc.). An attempt to study the productive creative components of I. was made by representatives Gestalt psychology(M. Wertheimer, W. Köhler), who developed the concept of insight. At the beginning of the twentieth century. French psychologists A. Binet and T. Simon proposed determining the degree of mental giftedness through special tests (see). Their work laid the foundation for the pragmatist interpretation of intelligence, which is still widespread to this day, as the ability to cope with relevant tasks, effectively integrate into sociocultural life, and successfully adapt. At the same time, the idea of the existence of basic structures of history, regardless of cultural influences, is put forward. In order to improve diagnostic techniques for I. (see), they were carried out (usually with the help of factor analysis) various studies of its structure. At the same time, different authors identify different numbers of basic “factors of information”: from 1–2 to 120. Such fragmentation of information into many components hinders the understanding of its integrity. Russian psychology is based on the principle of the unity of personality and its connection with personality. Much attention is devoted to the study of the relationship between practical and theoretical I., their dependence on the emotional and volitional characteristics of the individual. The meaningful definition of intelligence itself and the features of the instruments for measuring it depend on the nature of the corresponding socially significant activity in the individual’s sphere (production, politics, etc.). In connection with the successes of the scientific and technological revolution - the development of cybernetics, information theory, computer technology - the term “ artificial I." IN comparative psychology Animal I. is being studied.
Brief psychological dictionary. - Rostov-on-Don: “PHOENIX”. L.A. Karpenko, A.V. Petrovsky, M. G. Yaroshevsky. 1998 .
Intelligence
This concept is defined quite heterogeneously, but in general terms it refers to individual characteristics related to the cognitive sphere, primarily to thinking, memory, perception, attention, etc. It implies a certain level of development of the mental activity of the individual, providing the opportunity to acquire more and more new knowledge and to use them effectively in the course of life, - the ability to carry out the process of cognition and to effectively solve problems, in particular when mastering a new range of life tasks. Intelligence is a relatively stable structure of an individual’s mental abilities. In a number of psychological concepts it is identified:
1 ) with a system of mental operations;
2 ) with a style and strategy for solving problems;
3 ) with the effectiveness of an individual approach to the situation, requiring cognitive activity;
4 ) with a cognitive style, etc.
There are a number of fundamentally different interpretations of intelligence:
1 ) in the structural-genetic approach of J. Piaget, intelligence is interpreted as the highest way of balancing the subject with the environment, characterized by universality;
2 ) with the cognitivist approach, intelligence is considered as a set of cognitive operations;
3 ) with a factor-analytic approach, stable factors of intelligence are found based on a variety of test indicators (C. Spearman, L. Thurstone, H. Eysenck, S. Barth, D. Wexler, F. Vernoy). It is now generally accepted that there is general intelligence as a universal mental ability, which may be based on the genetically determined ability of the nervous system to process information with a certain speed and accuracy (H. Eysenck). In particular, psychogenetic studies have shown that the share of genetic factors calculated from the dispersion of intelligence test results is quite large - this indicator has a value from 0.5 to 0.8. In this case, verbal intelligence is especially genetically dependent. The main criteria by which the development of intelligence is assessed are the depth, generality and mobility of knowledge, mastery of methods of coding, recoding, integration and generalization of sensory experience at the level of ideas and concepts. In the structure of the intellect, the activity of speech and especially internal speech is of great importance. A special role belongs to observation, operations of abstraction, generalization and comparison, which create internal conditions for combining diverse information about the world of things and phenomena into a single system of views that determine the moral position of the individual, contributing to the formation of his orientation, abilities and character.
In Western psychology, the understanding of intelligence as a biopsychic adaptation to the current circumstances of life is especially widespread. An attempt to study the productive creative components of intelligence was made by representatives of Gestalt psychology, who developed the concept of insight. At the beginning of the 20th century. French psychologists A. Binet and T. Simon proposed determining the degree of mental giftedness through special intelligence tests; This was the beginning of the still widespread pragmatist interpretation of intelligence as the ability to cope with relevant tasks, effectively integrate into sociocultural life, and successfully adapt. At the same time, the idea of the existence of basic structures of intelligence, independent of cultural influences, is put forward. In order to improve the methodology for diagnosing intelligence, various studies of its structure have been carried out (usually using factor analysis). At the same time, different authors identify different numbers of basic “intelligence factors” from one or two to 120. Such fragmentation of intelligence into many components prevents the understanding of its integrity. Russian psychology is based on the principle of the unity of intellect and its connection with personality. Much attention is paid to the study of the relationship between practical and theoretical intelligence, their dependence on the emotional and volitional characteristics of the individual. The inconsistency of statements about the innate conditionality of differences in the level of intellectual development among representatives of different nations and social groups. At the same time, the dependence of a person’s intellectual abilities on socio-economic living conditions is recognized. The meaningful definition of intelligence itself and the features of the tools for measuring it depend on the nature of the corresponding socially significant activity in the individual’s sphere (intelligence, production, politics, etc.). In connection with the successes of the scientific and technological revolution, the term artificial intelligence has become widespread.
Dictionary of a practical psychologist. - M.: AST, Harvest. S. Yu. Golovin. 1998.
Intelligence Etymology.
Comes from Lat. intellectus - mind.
Category.The ability to learn and effectively solve problems, in particular when mastering a new range of life tasks.
Research.There are a number of fundamentally different interpretations of intelligence.
In the structural-genetic approach of J. Piaget, intelligence is interpreted as the highest way of balancing the subject with the environment, characterized by universality. In the cognitivist approach, intelligence is viewed as a set of cognitive operations. In the factor-analytical approach, stable factors are found based on a variety of test indicators (C. Spearman, L. Thurstone, H. Eysenck, S. Barth, D. Wexler, F. Vernon). Eysenck believed that there is general intelligence as a universal ability, which may be based on the genetically determined property of an unequal system to process information with a certain speed and accuracy. Psychogenetic studies have shown that the share of genetic factors calculated from the dispersion of intelligence test results is quite large; this indicator ranges from 0.5 to 0.8. In this case, verbal intelligence turns out to be the most genetically dependent.
Psychological Dictionary. THEM. Kondakov. 2000.
INTELLIGENCE
(English) intelligence; from lat. intellectus- understanding, cognition) - 1) general to knowledge and problem solving, which determines the success of any activities and underlying other ability; 2) the system of all cognitive (cognitive) abilities of an individual: sensations,perception,memory, ,thinking,imagination; 3) the ability to solve problems without trial and error “in the head” (see. ). The concept of intelligence as a general mental ability is used as a generalization of behavioral characteristics associated with successful adaptation to new life challenges.
R. Sternberg identified 3 forms of intellectual behavior: 1) verbal intelligence (vocabulary, erudition, ability to understand what is read); 2) ability to solve problems; 3) practical I. (ability to achieve goals, etc.). In the beginning XX century I. was considered as the level of mental development achieved by a certain age, which is manifested in the formation of cognitive functions, as well as in the degree of assimilation of mental skills And knowledge. Currently accepted in testing dispositional interpretation of I. as a mental property (): a predisposition to act rationally in a new situation. There is also an operational interpretation of I., going back to A.Binet: I. is “what the tests measure.”
I. is studied in various psychological disciplines: for example, in general, developmental, engineering and differential psychology, pathopsychology and neuropsychology, psychogenetics, etc. Several can be distinguished theoretical approaches to the study of I. and its development. Structural genetic approach based on ideas AND.Piaget, who considered I. as the highest universal way of balancing the subject with the environment. Piaget identified 4 types of forms of interaction between subject and environment: 1) forms of the lowest type, formed instinct and directly arising from the anatomical and physiological structure of the body; 2) integral forms formed skill And perception; 3) holistic irreversible forms of operation formed by figurative (intuitive) pre-operational thinking; 4) mobile, reversible forms, capable of grouping into various complex complexes formed by “operational” I. Cognitivist approach is based on the understanding of intelligence as a cognitive structure, the specifics of which are determined by the individual’s experience. Proponents of this direction analyze the main components of the implementation of traditional tests to identify the role of these components in determining test results.
The most widespread factor analytical approach, the founder of which is English. psychologist Charles Spearman (Spearman, 1863-1945). He put forward the concept "general factor", g, considering intelligence as general “mental energy”, the level of which determines the success of any tests. This factor has the greatest influence when performing tests for searching for abstract relationships, and the least when performing sensory tests. C. Spearman also identified “group” factors of intelligence (mechanical, linguistic, mathematical), as well as “special” factors that determine the success of individual tests. Later L. Thurstone developed multifactor model I., according to which there are 7 relatively independent primary intellectual abilities. However, studies by G. Eysenck and others showed that there are close connections between them and when processing the data obtained by Thurstone himself, a common factor stands out.
Also became famous hierarchical models S. Barth, D. Wexler and F. Vernon, in which intellectual factors are arranged in a hierarchy according to levels of generality. The concept of Amer is also among the most common. psychologist R. Cattell about 2 types of I. (corresponding to the 2 factors he identified): "fluid"(fluid) And "crystallized"(crystallized). This concept occupies, as it were, an intermediate position between views of intelligence as a single general ability and ideas of it as a variety of mental abilities. According to Cattell, “fluid” intelligence appears in tasks whose solution requires adaptation to new situations; it depends on the action of the factor heredity; “crystallized” information appears when solving problems that clearly require recourse to past experience ( knowledge,skills,skills), V to a large extent borrowed from cultural environment. In addition to 2 general factors, Cattell also identified partial factors associated with the activity of individual analyzers (in particular, the visualization factor), as well as operational factors corresponding in content to Spearman’s special factors. Studies of I. in old age confirm Cattell’s model: with age (after 40-50 years), the indicators of “fluid” I. decrease, and the indicators of “crystallized” remain unchanged. normal almost unchanged.
The Amer model is no less popular. psychologist J. Guilford, who identified 3 “dimensions of intelligence”: mental operations; features of the material used in the tests; the resulting intellectual product. The combination of these elements (“Guilford’s cube”) gives 120-150 intellectual “factors,” some of which were identified in empirical studies. Guilford's merit is the identification of “social I.” as a set of intellectual abilities that determine the success of interpersonal assessment, prediction and understanding of people's behavior. In addition, he highlighted the ability to divergent thinking(the ability to generate many original and non-standard solutions) as the basis creativity; this ability is contrasted with the ability to convergent thinking, which is revealed in problems that require an unambiguous solution found using learned algorithms.
Today, despite attempts to identify new “elementary intellectual abilities,” most researchers agree that general intelligence exists as a universal mental ability. According to Eysenck, it is based on the genetically determined property of n. s., determining speed and accuracy information processing. In connection with the successes in the development of cybernetics, systems theory, information theory, artificial AND. and others, there has been a tendency to understand intelligence as the cognitive activity of any complex systems capable of learning, purposeful processing of information and self-regulation (see. ). The results of psychogenetic studies indicate that the proportion of genetically determined variance in intelligence test results usually ranges from 0.5 to 0.8. The greatest genetic conditioning was revealed in verbal I., somewhat less in non-verbal. Non-verbal I. (“I. actions”) are more trainable. The individual level of intellectual development is also determined by a number of environmental influences: the “intellectual age and climate” of the family, the profession of the parents, the breadth of social contacts in early childhood etc.
In Russia psychology of the 20th century I.'s research developed in several directions: the study of psychophysiological inclinations general mental abilities(B.M.Teplov,IN.D.Nebylitsyn, E. A. Golubeva, V. M. Rusalov), emotional and motivational regulation of intellectual activity ( ABOUT. TO.Tikhomirov), cognitive styles (M. A. Kholodnaya), “the ability to act in the mind” ( .A.Ponomarev). In recent years, new areas of research have developed, such as the features "implicit"(or ordinary) theories of I. (R. Sternberg), regulatory structures (A. Pages), I. and creativity (E. Torrens), etc. (V. N. Druzhinin)
Large psychological dictionary. - M.: Prime-EVROZNAK. Ed. B.G. Meshcheryakova, acad. V.P. Zinchenko. 2003 .
Intelligence
INTELLIGENCE (With. 269)
The scientific development of the problem of intelligence has a very short history and a long prehistory. Why is one person smart, and the other (no matter how sad it is for supporters of universal equality to admit this) - alas, stupid? Is intelligence a natural gift or a product of education? What is true wisdom and how does it manifest itself? From time immemorial, thinkers of all times and peoples have been looking for answers to these questions. However, in their research they relied mainly on their own everyday observations, speculative reasoning, and generalizations of everyday experience. For thousands of years, the task of detailed scientific study of such subtle matter as the human mind was practically not even posed as in principle unsolvable. Only in this century have psychologists dared to approach it. And, it must be admitted, they have succeeded a lot in experimental and theoretical developments, in producing hypotheses, models and definitions. Which, however, allowed them to move very close from the vague philosophical maxims of the past and ingrained everyday ideas. Today there is no single scientific theory intelligence, but there is a kind of fan of contradictory tendencies, from which the most desperate eclectics find it difficult to deduce a vector. To this day, all attempts to enrich the theory come down to expanding the fan, leaving the practicing psychologist with a difficult choice: which trend to prefer in the absence of a single theoretical platform.
The first real step from speculation about the nature of the mind to its practical research was the creation in 1905 by A. Binet and T. Simon of a set of test tasks to assess the level of mental development. In 1916 L. Theremin modified the Binet-Simon test, using the concept of intelligence quotient - IQ, introduced three years earlier by V. Stern. Having not yet come to a consensus about what intelligence is, psychologists different countries began to construct their own tools for its quantitative measurement.
But very soon it became obvious that the use of seemingly similar, but partly dissimilar tools gives different results. This stimulated a lively (if somewhat belated) discussion about the very subject of measurement. In 1921, the most complete set of definitions put forward by participants in the correspondence symposium “Intelligence and Its Measurement” was published in the American Journal of Educational Psychology. A quick glance at the various proposed definitions was enough to understand: the theorists approached their subject precisely from the position of measurement, that is, not so much as psychologists, but as testologists. At the same time, voluntarily or unwittingly, he was overlooked important fact. An intelligence test is a diagnostic, not a research technique; it is aimed not at identifying the nature of intelligence, but at quantitatively measuring the degree of its expression. The basis for compiling the test is the author’s ideas about the nature of intelligence. And the results of using the test are intended to substantiate the theoretical concept. Thus, a vicious circle of interdependencies arises, completely determined by an arbitrarily formulated subjective idea. It turned out that the methodology, originally created to solve specific narrow practical problems (and, by the way, preserved in almost its original form to this day), outgrew the boundaries of its powers and began to serve as a source of theoretical constructions in the field of the psychology of intelligence. This gave rise to E. Boring, with open sarcasm, to deduce his tautological definition: “Intelligence is what intelligence tests measure.”
Of course, it would be an exaggeration to deny the psychology of intelligence any theoretical basis. For example, E. Thorndike, in an openly behaviorist manner, reduced intelligence to the ability to operate life experience, that is, an acquired set of stimulus-reactive connections. However, this idea was supported by few. In contrast to his other, later idea of the combination of verbal, communicative (social) and mechanical abilities in the intellect, which many followers find confirmation.
Until a certain time, most testological research, to one degree or another, gravitated towards the theory proposed back in 1904 by Charles Spearman. Spearman believed that any mental action, from boiling an egg to memorizing Latin declensions, requires the activation of a certain general ability. If a person is smart, then he is smart in every way. Therefore, it is not even very important with the help of which tasks this general ability, or G-factor, is revealed. This concept was established for many years. For decades, psychologists have called intelligence, or mental ability, precisely Spearman's G-factor, which is essentially an amalgam of logical and verbal abilities measured by IQ tests.
This idea remained dominant until recently, despite individual, often very impressive, attempts to decompose intelligence into so-called basic factors. The most famous such attempts were made by Gilford and L. Thurstone, although their work does not exhaust the opposition to the G-factor. Using factor analysis, different authors identified different numbers of basic factors in the structure of intelligence - from 2 to 120. It is easy to guess that this approach greatly complicated practical diagnostics, making it too cumbersome.
One of the innovative approaches was the study of so-called creativity, or creative abilities. A number of experiments have found that the ability to solve non-standard, creative problems is weakly correlated with intelligence measured by IQ tests. On this basis, it has been suggested that general intelligence (G-factor) and creativity are relatively independent psychological phenomena. To “measure” creativity, a series of original tests, consisting of tasks that required unexpected solutions. However, supporters of the traditional approach continued to insist, and quite convincingly (certain correlations were nevertheless identified), that creativity is nothing more than one of the characteristics of the good old G-factor. To date, it has been reliably established that with a low IQ creativity does not manifest itself, however, a high IQ does not serve as an unambiguous correlate of creative abilities. That is, a certain interdependence exists, but it is very complex. Research in this direction continues.
Research on the correlation between IQ and personal qualities has become a special area. It was found that personality and intelligence cannot be separated when interpreting test scores. An individual’s performance on IQ tests, as well as his studies, work or other activities, is affected by his desire for achievement, perseverance, value system, ability to free himself from emotional difficulties and other characteristics traditionally associated with the concept of “personality”. But not only personality traits influence intellectual development, but also the intellectual level influences personal development. Preliminary data confirming this connection were obtained by V. Plant and E. Minium. Using data from 5 longitudinal studies of college-educated young adults, the authors selected the 25% of students who scored the best on the tests and the 25% who performed the worst on the tests based on their intelligence test scores. The resulting contrast groups were then compared based on the results of personality tests administered to one or more samples and including measures of attitudes, values, motivation, and other noncognitive qualities. Analysis of these data showed that more “capable” groups, compared to less “capable” groups, are significantly more susceptible to “psychologically positive” personality changes.
The development of an individual and his use of his abilities depends on the characteristics of emotional regulation, the nature of interpersonal relationships and the formed image of himself. The mutual influence of abilities and personal qualities is especially clearly manifested in an individual’s ideas about himself. The child's success in school, play and other situations helps him create an image of himself, and his image of himself at this stage influences his subsequent performance of activities, etc. in a spiral. In this sense, self-image is a kind of individually self-fulfilling prediction.
More theoretical include K. Hayes's hypothesis about the relationship between motives and intelligence. Defining intelligence as a set of learning abilities, K. Hayes argues that the nature of motivation affects the type and volume of perceived knowledge. In particular, the strength of “motives developed in the process of life” affects intellectual development. Examples of such motives include research, manipulative activity, curiosity, play, baby babbling and other internally motivated behaviors. Referring primarily to studies of animal behavior, Hayes argues that “lifelong motives” are genetically determined and provide the sole heritable basis for individual differences in intelligence.
One way or another, the concept of general intellectuality remained the standard of culture and education until its appearance at the turn of the 70-80s. a new generation of theorists who have made attempts to dismember the G-factor or even abandon this concept altogether. R. Sternberg from Yale University developed an original three-component theory of intelligence, which claims to radically revise traditional views. G. Gardner from Harvard University and D. Feldman from Tufts University went even further in this regard.
Although Sternberg believes that IQ tests are "a relatively acceptable way to measure knowledge and analytical and critical thinking abilities," he argues that such tests are still "too narrow." “There are a lot of people with high IQs who make a lot of mistakes in real life,” Sternberg says. “Other people who don’t do so well on the test do well in life.” According to Sternberg, these tests do not address a number of important areas, such as the ability to determine the nature of the problem, the ability to navigate a new situation, and solve old problems in a new way. Moreover, in his opinion, most IQ tests focus on what a person already knows, rather than on how capable he is of learning something new. Sternberg believes that a good benchmark for measuring intelligence would be immersion in a completely different culture, because this experience would reveal both the practical side of intelligence and its ability to perceive new things.
Although Sternberg essentially accepts the traditional view of general mental development, he modifies this concept to include some often overlooked aspects of mental ability. He develops the “theory of three principles”, which according to; posits the existence of three components of intelligence. The first covers purely internal mechanisms of mental activity, in particular a person’s ability to plan and evaluate a situation to solve problems. The second component involves human functioning in the environment, i.e. his capacity for what most people would call simply common sense. The third component concerns the relationship of intelligence with life experience, especially in the case of a person’s reaction to new things.
Professor at the University of Pennsylvania J. Baron believes that the disadvantage of existing IQ tests is that they do not assess rational thinking. Rational thinking, i.e. deep and critical examination of problems, as well as self-esteem, are a key component of what Baron calls "the new theory of the components of intelligence." He argues that such thinking could easily be assessed using an individual test: “You give the student a problem and ask him to think out loud. Is he capable of alternatives, of new ideas? How does he react to your advice?
Sternberg doesn't entirely agree with this: "Insight is part of my theory of intelligence, but I don't think insight is a rational process."
Baron, in contrast, believes that thinking almost always goes through the same stages: formulating possibilities, evaluating data, and defining goals. The only difference is what is given greater value, for example, in the artistic field, the definition of goals rather than the evaluation of data predominates.
Although Sternberg and Baron attempt to dissect mental abilities into their component parts, the concept of each of them unequivocally includes the traditional concept of general intelligence.
Gardner and Feldman take a different direction. Both are leaders of the Spectrum Project, a collaborative research effort aimed at developing new ways of assessing intelligence. They argue that a person does not have one intelligence, but several. In other words, they are not looking for “something”, but for “multiplicity.” In his book Forms of Intelligence, Gardner proposed the idea that there are seven inherent in man sides of intelligence. Among them are linguistic intelligence and logical-mathematical intelligence, assessed by an IQ test. He then lists abilities that traditional scientists would never consider intellectual in the full sense of the word - musical ability, spatial ability, and kinesthetic ability.
To the further indignation of supporters of traditional tests, Gardner adds “intrapersonal” and “interpersonal” forms of intelligence: the first roughly corresponds to a sense of self, and the second to sociability, the ability to communicate with others. One of Gardner's main points is that you can be “smart” in one area and “stupid” in another.
Gardner's ideas developed through his studies of both brain-impaired individuals and child prodigies. The former, as he established, were capable of some mental functions and incapable of others; the latter showed brilliant abilities in a certain area and only mediocre abilities in other areas. Feldman also came to his ideas about multiple intelligences in connection with the study of child prodigies. He pushes main criterion: The ability being researched must correspond to a person’s specific role, profession or assignment in the adult world. He says that “this limitation allows us not to increase the number of forms of intelligence to a thousand, ten thousand or a million. One can imagine hundreds of forms of intelligence, but when you are dealing with human activity, this does not seem to be an exaggeration.”
These are just a few of the many diverse approaches that today make up the motley mosaic called “theories of intelligence.” Today we have to recognize that intelligence is more of an abstract concept that combines many factors, rather than a concrete entity that can be measured. In this respect, the concept of “intelligence” is somewhat similar to the concept of “weather”. People have been talking about good and bad weather since time immemorial. Not long ago they learned to measure temperature and humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind speed, magnetic background... But they never learned to measure the weather! She remains in our perception as good or bad. Just like intelligence and stupidity.
Such reflections are prompted by acquaintance with one of the recent issues of the American popular science magazine Scientific American, which is entirely devoted to the problem of intelligence. Special attention attract several policy articles written by leading American experts on this issue. R. Sternberg's article is called "How intelligent are intelligence tests?" G. Gardner’s article entitled “Diversity of Intelligence” has a lot in common with it. A striking dissonance sounds in an article by a less eminent specialist, Linda Gottfredson (University of Delaware), in which the author defends traditional testing and, in particular, the much-criticized G-factor (the article is called “General Intelligence Factor”). Staff Writer Scientific American Tim Beardsley reviews the acclaimed book “The Bell Curve” by R. Herrnstein and C. Murray - a somewhat belated review (the book was published in 1994, and one of the authors, R. Herrnstein, has already left this world), but always relevant due to the acute relevance of the topic itself. The journalistic pathos of the review is reflected in its title - “For whom does the bell-shaped curve toll?”
Herrnstein and Murray's book, The Bell Curve, describes the normal statistical distribution curve of IQ measured in a fairly large group of people. In a random sample from the entire population (for example, the US population), the average value (, or the top of the bell) is taken as one hundred, and the extreme five percent on both sides have the lower IQ values - 50-75 (mentally retarded) and the upper ones - 120-150 (highly gifted). If the sample is specially selected, for example, it consists of students from a prestigious university or homeless people, then the entire bell is shifted to the right or left. For example, for those who, for one reason or another, were unable to graduate from school, the average IQ is not 100, but 85, and for theoretical physicists, the top of the curve is 130.
Journalists usually begin their criticism of the book with doubts that IQ really characterizes intelligence, since this concept itself is not strictly defined. The authors understand this well and use a narrower, but more precise concept - cognitive abilities (cognitivability), which they evaluate by IQ.
Hundreds of studies have been devoted to what is actually measured, in which, in particular, a high correlation was clearly identified between the IQ of schoolchildren and their academic performance and, most importantly, their further success. Children with an IQ above one hundred not only do better academically on average, but they are more likely to continue their studies in college, get into more prestigious universities and graduate successfully. If they then go into science, they receive higher degrees, achieve higher ranks in the army, become managers or owners of larger and more successful companies in business, and have higher incomes. On the contrary, children who had an IQ below average were subsequently more likely to drop out of school without completing their studies, a higher percentage of them got divorced, had illegitimate children, became unemployed, and lived on benefits.
Whether someone likes it or not, it should be recognized that IQ testing is a method that allows you to assess mental or cognitive abilities, that is, the ability to learn and do mental work, as well as achieve success in a lifestyle and according to the criteria that are accepted in developed democratic countries such as modern America. Of course, survival in the Australian desert or the Guinean jungle requires abilities of a different kind and is assessed by different criteria, but we and those like us live, thank God, not in the desert or jungle; hundreds of generations of our ancestors took care to provide us with something more complex than rock scribbles and stone chopper.
It is important to remember that correlations between IQ and social success or failure are statistical, meaning they relate not to individuals but to groups of individuals. A particular boy with an IQ=90 may learn better and achieve more in life than another boy with an IQ=110, but it is certain that a group with an average IQ=90 will do worse on average than a group with an average IQ=110.
The question of whether abilities measured by IQ tests are heritable has been hotly debated for several decades. Nowadays, the discussion has somewhat subsided due to the presence of reliably established patterns confirming the fact of inheritance, as well as due to the obvious unfoundedness of the arguments of the opposite side. Hundreds of serious works have been devoted to the transmission of IQ by inheritance, the results of which sometimes differ significantly from each other. Therefore, it is now customary to rely not on just one, perhaps very thorough, work, but to use the results of each study only as a point on the graph. The dependence of the similarity of IQ in two people on the degree of relationship between them, that is, on the number of common genes, is expressed by correlation and heritability coefficients (this is not the same thing), which can vary from 0 in the absence of any dependence to 1.0 in absolute dependence. This correlation is quite significant (0.4-0.5) between parents and children or between siblings. But in monozygotic twins (MZ), in whom all genes are identical, the correlation is especially high - up to 0.8.
However, with a strict approach, this does not yet allow us to say that IQ is entirely determined by genes. After all, siblings usually live together, that is, in the same conditions, which can influence their IQ, bringing their values closer together. Decisive are observations of separated twins, that is, those rare cases when twins were raised in different conditions(and not just apart, since conditions in families of relatives may differ slightly). Such cases are carefully collected and studied. In most dedicated to them scientific research the correlation coefficient turned out to be 0.8. However, Herrnstein and Murray, out of caution, write that IQ depends on genes by 60-80 percent, and on external conditions by the remaining 20-40 percent. Thus, a person's cognitive abilities are predominantly, although not exclusively, determined by his heredity. They also depend on environmental conditions, on upbringing and training, but to a much lesser extent.
I would like to discuss two fundamental issues in more detail. One is about ethnic differences in IQ, which has caused the greatest stir. The second question is about the isolation in American society of two extreme groups with high and low IQ. For some reason, this issue - important and new - is almost not mentioned in reviews, although the book itself is dedicated to it.
The fact that people belonging to different races and nations differ in appearance, frequency of blood groups, national character, etc. is well known and does not give rise to objections. Usually they compare the criteria for the normal distribution of quantitative characteristics that different nations overlap each other, but may differ in average size, that is, the top of the “bell”. Average cognitive ability, as measured by IQ, while it has been convincingly proven to be predominantly hereditary, can serve as a characteristic of a race or nation, such as skin color, nose shape, or eye shape. Multiple IQ measurements across different ethnic groups, mainly in the United States, showed that the largest and most reliable differences are found between the black and white populations of America. Representatives of the yellow race - immigrants from China, Japan, and Southeast Asia who have assimilated in America - have a significant, albeit slight, advantage over whites. Among the whites, Ashkenazi Jews stand out somewhat, who, unlike the Palestinian Sephardim, lived for two millennia in dispersion among the European peoples.
If the entire population of America has an average IQ of 100, then for African Americans it is 85, and for whites it is 105. To put an end to the demagogy that often accompanies the publication of these figures, it must be clearly understood that they do not provide any basis for racism, nor to accuse psychologists of bias.
Racism, that is, the assertion that one race is superior to another and as a result they should have different rights, has nothing to do with the scientific discussion about IQ. The Japanese's higher average IQ does not give them an advantage in rights, any more than their rights are diminished by their average smaller height.
Nor are the objections of biased critics who say that the lower IQ of blacks is explained by the “white mentality” of the test writers very serious. This is easily refuted by the fact that, given equal IQ, blacks and whites are the same according to the criteria by which we generally judge what is measured by intelligence tests. A group of African Americans with an average IQ of 110 (their proportion among blacks is noticeably smaller than among whites) does not differ from a group of whites with the same IQ in either school and university success or other manifestations of cognitive ability.
Belonging to a group with a lower average IQ should not make an individual feel doomed. Firstly, his own IQ may be above the average for his group, and secondly, his personal destiny may be more successful, since the correlation between IQ and social success is not absolute. And finally, thirdly, his own efforts, expressed in obtaining a better education, play, although not a decisive, but quite a definite role.
However, being part of a group with a lower average IQ creates serious problems that are difficult to ignore. The proportion of unemployed, low-paid, poorly educated and living on government benefits, as well as drug addicts and criminals is significantly higher among the black population of America. To a large extent this is determined by the vicious circle of social conditions, but cannot help but depend on their lower IQ. To break this vicious circle, as well as compensate for natural “injustices,” the American authorities introduced a program of “affirmative action” that provides a number of benefits to blacks, some Latinos, the disabled and some other minorities who might otherwise be discriminated against. Hernstein and Murray discuss this difficult situation, which is often perceived as racism in reverse, that is, discrimination against whites based on skin color (as well as gender, health status, and non-membership of sexual minorities). A bitter joke is popular among Americans: “Who has the best chance of getting hired now? One-legged black lesbian!” The authors of the book believe that artificially attracting people with insufficiently high IQ to activities that require high intelligence does not so much solve as create problems.
As for the second question, it seems even more significant. Around the beginning of the 60s. In the USA, the stratification of society began, the separation of two slightly intermixing groups - with high and low IQ. Herrnstein and Murray divide modern American society according to cognitive ability (IQ) into five classes: I - very high (IQ = 125-150, there are 5% of them, that is, 12.5 million); II - high (110-125, 20% of them, or 50 million); III - normal (90-110, 50% of them, 125 million); IV - low (75-90, 20%, 50 million) and V - very low (50-75, 5%, 12.5 million). According to the authors, in last decades from the members of the first class, a separate intellectual elite was formed, which increasingly occupies the most prestigious and highly paid positions in government, business, science, medicine, and law. In this group, the average IQ is increasingly increasing, and it is increasingly isolated from the rest of society. The preference that carriers of high IQs show to each other when marrying plays a genetic role in this isolation. With a high heritability of intelligence, this creates a kind of self-perpetuating caste of people belonging to the first class.
Distorted mirror image The privileged group in the USA looks like a group of “poor”, consisting of people with low cognitive ability (V and partly IV classes, having an IQ = 50-80). They differ from the middle classes, not to mention the upper classes, in a number of respects. First of all, they are poor (by American standards, of course). To a large extent, their poverty is determined by social origin: children of poor parents grow up to be poor 8 times more often than children of rich parents. However, the role of IQ is more significant: children of parents with a low IQ (V class) become poor 15 times (!) more often than those of parents with a high IQ (I class). Children with low IQs are significantly more likely to drop out of school without completing their studies. Among people with low IQ there are significantly more of those who cannot and those who do not want to find a job. Mostly people with low IQ live on government benefits (welfare). The average IQ of those who break the law is 90, but that of repeat criminals is even lower. OQ is also associated with demographic problems: women with high IQ (classes I and II) give birth less and later. In the United States there is a growing group of women who are still school age have children out of wedlock, do not look for work and live on benefits. Their daughters tend to choose the same path, thereby creating a vicious circle, reproducing and increasing the lower caste. It is not surprising that in terms of IQ they belong to the two lowest classes.
The authors of the book draw attention to those negative consequences, which results from the increased attention of the government and society to the lower strata of society. In an effort to achieve social justice and reduce differences in levels of education and income, the American administration directs the main attention and taxpayer funds to the strained and hopeless pull of the lower to the higher. The opposite trend exists in the system school education, where programs are aimed not at the best or even at the average, but at the laggards. In the United States, only 0.1% of funds allocated for education goes to training gifted students, while 92% of funds are spent on catching up those who are lagging behind (with low IQ). As a result, the quality of school education in the United States is declining, and math problems questions that were asked to fifteen-year-old schoolchildren at the beginning of the last century, their peers today cannot solve.
Thus, the purpose of the Bell Curve is not to show ethnic differences in cognitive ability, nor is it to demonstrate that these differences are largely genetically determined. These objective and repeatedly confirmed data have not been the subject of scientific discussion for a long time. A seriously valid and alarming observation is the separation of two “castes” in American society. Their isolation from each other and the severity of their differences increase over time. In addition, the lower caste has a more pronounced tendency towards active self-reproduction, threatening the entire nation with intellectual degradation (which is something worth thinking about for advocates of increasing the birth rate at any cost).
Popular psychological encyclopedia. - M.: Eksmo. S.S. Stepanov. 2005.
Intelligence
Despite early attempts to define intelligence in so-called general factor terms, most modern definitions emphasize the ability to function effectively in the environment, implying the adaptive nature of intelligence. The concept of intelligence in psychology is inevitably combined with the concept of mental development quotient (IQ), which is calculated based on the results of mental development tests. Because these tests measure adaptive behavior in a specific cultural context, they are almost always influenced by cultural preferences; in other words, it is difficult to measure the degree of adaptability and effectiveness of behavior outside a given culture.
Psychology. A-Z. Dictionary reference / Transl. from English K. S. Tkachenko. - M.: FAIR PRESS.
Psychologists have named 13 scientifically proven signs of high intelligence. They are published by Business Insider.
Secrets of IQ: About intelligence quotient and related nonsense
1. The ability not to be distracted by outside things. A sign of high intelligence is the ability to focus attention on one thing for a long time... This was confirmed by a small study conducted in 2013. During the experiments, it turned out that people with high IQ (intelligence quotient) find it more difficult to notice how large image the background changes slowly - because they concentrate on smaller details.
2. They go to bed late and get up late. Owls are smarter than larks. This controversial statement is confirmed by two scientific works 1999 and 2009, in which a total of thousands of people participated. People who go to bed late and wake up late, both on weekends and weekdays, have higher intelligence.
3. Easy adaptation. Intelligence is inextricably linked with the ability to change one's behavior in order to act most effectively in a given situation, or to change the situation.
4. Know that you don’t know much. Smart people are not afraid to admit that they don't know something - because they can easily learn it or learn it. Research shows that the lower a person's intelligence, the more he tends to overestimate it, and vice versa. An experiment was conducted in which a large number of students took the same test. Those who did it the worst thought that they wrote it one and a half times better than they actually did, and those who were in the lead when calculating the results, on the contrary, believed that they failed.
5. Curiosity. Albert Einstein himself said that he was not very gifted, but very curious. Scientists say that curiosity is a sign of high intelligence. “Ordinary” people take “ordinary” things for granted, while intellectuals can admire exactly the same things. In 2016, an article was published based on the results of a study in which thousands of people participated. Those whose IQ was higher at age 11 were more curious at age 50.
6. Openness to new ideas and opportunities. People who consider all alternatives, weigh and think about them, rather than fail to evaluate them, are, on average, smarter. Openness to new ideas and the ability to determine, based on facts, which one might be in the best possible way used - a sign of high intelligence.
7. Feeling comfortable being alone. People with high intelligence often have strong personalities, and recent research suggests that smart people enjoy socializing less.
8. Good self-control. The smartest people are those who are good at planning, assessing alternative strategies and their possible consequences, setting specific
goals. In 2009, experiments showed that people with higher intelligence are more likely to choose from two options the one that will bring greater profit, although it will take longer - and this requires self-control. Such people are not prone to impulsive decisions.
9. Great sense of humor. High intelligence is often associated with a sense of humor. Studies have shown that participants who drew funnier comics had higher IQs, and that professional comedians also perform better than the average person on intelligence tests.
10. The ability to put yourself in another person’s place. Empathy is part emotional intelligence, and some psychologists believe that those people who can understand how another person is feeling are more intelligent.
11. The ability to see connections and associations that others do not see. This is also characteristic of highly intelligent people. For example, they can immediately tell what watermelon and sashimi have in common (both are eaten raw and cold). The ability to see parallels and general patterns is inextricably linked with intelligence, and this also includes creativity as the ability to present the old with the sauce of the new.
12. Frequently postponing things “for later.” People with higher intelligence are more likely to do routine things, putting off more important ones for later. At this moment they are simply thinking about this important thing. This action can also manifest itself in the work itself on something important: it is the key to innovation.
13. Thoughts about the meaning of life. Thinking about global topics, such as the meaning of life or the existence of the universe, can also be an indicator of intelligence. Such people often wonder why or why something happened, and these existential thoughts often increase their anxiety levels. On the other hand, people with high intelligence are always prepared for the possibility that something will not go as expected.
Earlier, Pravda.Ru reported that American psychologists at the Georgia Institute of Technology conducted a study on the subject. Data analysis suggests that dreamy people have higher intellectual and creative abilities.