In this article I will guide you through some simple steps to develop and improve intelligence in children, adolescents, adults and the elderly. Yes, even if you are an adult you can continue creating brain connections that make you smarter and more creative.
Newton's biography is full of very important discoveries and contributions to science that, although we currently think of them as simple and essential, they occurred to no one but him. How is it possible that no one thought of them before the seventeenth century?
The answer is intelligence, a characteristic that goes far beyond the word ability. Something so difficult to define and conceptualize, that psychology has been pursuing this goal for two centuries and continues without achieving consensus.
For many years the claim that intelligence is a static characteristic has been considered dogma. This has led to atrocities and scientific errors such as the eugenics movement. Fortunately, today we know that intelligence is malleable (it can be improved and worked)3.
With what type / s of intelligence do you feel identified?1 Which / which ones would you like to promote?
All the intelligences discussed above have been shown to be rooted in human biology as means of problem solving. They are also interrelated with each other (Frames of Mind, 1983)two.
Take a few minutes to make an outline that includes those experiences in your life, hobbies or interests that could be related to any of the previous intelligence categories..
You probably fit into several categories or include the same item in different categories; first step to realize that, in reality, they are not independent of each other.
"Genius is 99% perseverance " (Thomas Edison).
In his book "Outliers: The Story of SuccessMalcolm Gladwell proposed the 10,000 hours of practice rule. He established this number of hours as necessary to achieve mastery in a specific domain.
Although it sounds unrealistic, practicing a skill will develop automation skills in problem solving and reasoning skills that go far beyond the task at hand..
This is why, for example, it takes a computer with great power in brute force of calculation to beat a human being playing chess. This has been possible in 1996, although yes, with a slow pace of play.
The mind of an expert does not work by brute force, but uses strategies that require little cognitive effort and that can only be acquired with the continuous learning and exercise of a skill..
Pick one of the hobbies, interests, or experiences from your list. Now think about the activities you could carry out to exploit your full potential..
An example could be reading. Do you like to read? What kind of books?
Reading will allow you to work on several dimensions of intelligence at the same time depending on the theme you choose. Saving learning time is also a skill included in the category of logical intelligence..
Self-efficacy refers to self-reported judgments of ability to perform a specific behavior or action5.
According to Albert Bandura, the first author to discuss this concept in 1977, self-efficacy is the perceived ability to get ahead in specific situations, the conviction that one can successfully carry out the necessary behavior to produce the desired results..
It has been shown that people with the same objective capacity for a task present different performances depending on whether they are judged capable or not of carrying it out5, being this one better in the first.
However, in another study it was shown that self-efficacy in very complex tasks does not predict differential performance6. From this it is concluded that self-efficacy is of great help but, if we talk about complex tasks, training and practice are the key.
Again, to practice constantly and not give up the first time, self-efficacy will help you develop internal motivation to achieve everything you set your mind to..
Anecdotally, I will refer to the powerful role of self-efficacy propaganda in, for example, the Spanish soccer team. Everyone cheered "we can" and the success was imminent and indisputable. Another example is the slogan "Yes we can" in Obama's electoral propaganda.
Bandura listed the conditions necessary to increase self-efficacy:
Self-efficacy beliefs influence thoughts, motivation, performance, and emotional state (Pervin, 1998).
Different studies have proven that working memory training contributes to the improvement of intelligence7.8. In addition, Jausovec has been able to demonstrate in the year 2000 the brain changes underlying this improvement7.
Working memory is a theoretical construct related to cognitive psychology that refers to the structures and processes used for the temporary storage of information and its manipulation.
The results of the aforementioned study and others agree that there is a negative correlation between intelligence and brain activity. This means that the higher the intelligence, the lower the recorded brain activity..
How can this be possible?
Less brain activity means less effort and fewer cognitive resources needed to perform a certain task.
As Jausovec has indicated, one of the keys to improving your intelligence is working memory training..
Currently there are numerous apps and games that are aimed at exercising working memory. An example of this is the popular game "Brain Training" for Nintendo DS, although there are many more free online options.
Attractive right? Having fun while improving your intelligence is an ingredient that, without a doubt, you cannot ignore.
Here are several practical activities:
Human beings cannot live without music, something has to seduce and attract us. We can adopt two positions in the face of music, listen to it passively or produce it actively by playing an instrument..
Now, did you know that it only takes 20 days of training with a musical instrument to improve your intelligence??9
This is precisely what Moreno and collaborators have shown in 2011. 90% of the people who participated in the study improved in different measures of intelligence and various cognitive abilities that had nothing to do with music after a musical training of just 20 days.
As if that were not enough, they also managed to prove an improvement in brain plasticity in the participants.
Now one can only wonder,… What instrument do you like the most? In this article you can see more benefits of music.
From psychology it is defended that intelligence and creativity go hand in hand since there is always a correlation between the two: the most creative are more intelligent and vice versa.
But what is the reason for this correlation?
In 2014, Benedek and colleagues found the answer: innovation10. These authors understand innovation as renewal, that is, being creative does not imply having incredible ideas but consists of accepting all your new ideas without fear of failure..
The innovation of the openness factor of the personality, explained most of the correlation between creativity and intelligence.
A powerful tool that you could implement is known as "brainstorming" or brainstorming. Every time you want to carry out a task, start by putting your mind to create and put on paper all those ideas that occur to you, no matter how absurd they may seem..
You could set yourself a time to do it or just exhaust all your possible ideas. Once you finish, do a rereading of your options, you will surely find new relationships between them and new possibilities arise..
We are all creative, what sets us apart are the limits we set ourselves.
In this article you will learn to be creative.
According to Hurleyeleven, prolific author and researcher in the field of intelligence, "the ability to focus and turn off the world is very important".
This author proposes mindfulness meditation to achieve the mental state that, he claims, "allows physicists to make incredible advances and solve complex problems".
The author proposes the following routine:
Sit back, relax, and focus on your breathing. When your thoughts start to skyrocket, gently make them disappear.
When you start to remember those things you need to do, refocus on your breathing. If you do this for 20 minutes a day you can see incredible results.
As a note of humor, he adds, "this will have especially dramatic results if you are an office worker who checks Facebook every 20 minutes".
Another tip that Hurley describes in his book "Smarter: the new science of building brain power"eleven, consists of exercising your body progressively thanks to cardiovascular exercise to expand the limits of your mind.
The idea is to get your mind used to exceeding the limits of what it is used to doing. Thus, if you always do the same amount and type of exercise, you will fall into conformity, the worst enemy of your intelligence and open-mindedness..
An automatic human tendency is to worry about problems when they arise (or even before!). However, as you may have already seen, worrying is never a solution in itself but leads to frustration and mental blockage.
Whenever a problem appears in your life, force your mind to search for solutions effectively. Ask yourself 5 times why and find 5 possible solutions to the problem.
Some of the most influential people today like Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Warren Buffett and many others are great readers, not only of fiction books (novels), but also non-fiction books; science, technology, history, etc.
No matter how good genes you have, if you do not read you will not be able to acquire new knowledge, relate to each other and have new ideas.
Here is a list of books of all kinds that you can start reading.
Probably like you, I am a big fan of technology and it accompanies me in every second of my life.
Technology makes the world much easier and tasks simpler. However, as my father always tells me "that is going to rot your brain." And he's right.
For example, try going on a trip without using a GPS (spatial intelligence) or perform your daily calculations without resorting to the calculator (mathematical intelligence).
The first psychological theories about intelligence, conceived it as a unique and measurable ability. The definition of intelligence was alluded to as that which is measured by the IQ tests, the g factor or general intelligence factor.
Despite satisfaction with the measure, alternative theories soon emerged that alluded to the fact that not only does a general intelligence exist, but in reality, there are multiple intelligences and each person possesses one or the other (Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligencestwo).
A third conceptualization of intelligence distinguishes between crystallized and fluid intelligence. While the first refers to the knowledge acquired, the fluid implies the use of our resources for problem solving, adaptation to the environment or decision-making.
While I consider that all conceptions of intelligence are important and informative, if the goal is to improve intelligence in a practical way, the best option is to focus on exercise fluid intelligence and be based on the pragmatic theories of multiple intelligences.
Why? Every person is a world.
"If someone is not keeping up with their peers, perhaps it is because they are hearing a different beat. Let him be governed by the type of music he listens, be it measurable or not”(Henry David Thoreau).
And what are you doing to develop your intelligence? Comment below please, that way we can know what works and what doesn't. Thanks!
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