Basic skills and intelligence

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Simon Doyle
Basic skills and intelligence

What is intelligence?

Various authors define intelligence as "a biopsychological potential to process information, it can Activate in a certain cultural setting to sort out problems or to create products that have value for a certain culture ".

By this definition, the intelligence It is not something that we have stored and inactive, but must be fully operational to solve problems, propose solutions or generate ideas that serve to adapt and function successfully in our context.

However, intelligence is not a single element that we use in its entirety in all the situations in which we are involved. Each situation we face has unique characteristics and requires a specific action from us and, therefore, a specific intelligence. Hence, the human being enjoys, nothing more and nothing less, seven different types of intelligence:

Spatial intelligence

It is the intelligence that solve problems and create products through the use of images, shapes, points or lines. Visual information is the one that processes the best.

This intelligence helps us to do many things such as: recognizing the world around us, drawing, building, watching TV, understanding maps, playing board games, solving puzzles and puzzles, appreciating works of art, orienting ourselves, taking photographs or driving, among many other activities of our day to day.

Body intelligence

It's about the ability to carry out activities using different parts of our body. For this, it is necessary that our mind and our body are properly connected to perform a perfect physical activity. In this case, the body is the channel of expression of the mind.

Emotional intelligence

Which is divided into:

  • Intrapersonal intelligence

This intelligence refers to how we know ourselves, which allows us to detect and regulate our feelings.

  • Interpersonal intelligence

It is the ability to understand what others feel. It also refers to the ability we have to relate to them.

Linguistic Intelligence

It is about the intelligence that makes use of the words to solve problems. He uses them to think and learn.

This intelligence helps us to: know the words, read, write, accurately verbalize what we feel, understand what others are saying and solve word games, among others..

Mathematical Intelligence

It is the ability to solve problems through manipulation of numerical data and logical reasoning.

Musical intelligence

It's about our ability to hear melodies in our head, hum songs, move to the rhythm of the music, play an instrument or make up a song.

Naturalistic Intelligence

This intelligence is possessed by those people who are especially sensitive towards nature, who care about their conservation or who have a special love for animals.

In addition, some authors highlight the presence of two more guys Intelligence: the creative (characterized by fluidity, flexibility and originality) and the collaborative (typical of those people who do well working in a team).

What are competencies?

This concept has its origin in the workplace and implies the learning the necessary knowledge to adequately develop a profession, so it is closely related to intelligence.

The competencies are nothing more than a set of knowledge, abilities, skills, attitudes, learning, emotional conditions, instructions, experiences and thoughts that are used for be successful, achieve goals, perform tasks, and solve problems.

When transferring this concept to the educational field, we realize that it does not only imply make, but you also have to know how to do it (application of knowledge). Therefore, it is not worth storing knowledge, but we must have the ability to mobilize it and give it the appropriate use in each situation..

How are skills acquired?

First of all, it is absolutely necessary to meet in a stimulating environment. Receiving the appropriate level of stimulation will help us to develop our basic psychological functions (emotional, cognitive, communicative, perceptual or motor processes). In order to develop competencies, these basic psychological functions will be combined with individual psychological dimensions (motivation, commitment and participation, among others), which will lead us to the real and effective application of our knowledge.

Once we have established a direct connection between our knowledge and reality, we will be able to reinterpret the contents. In other words, this connection allows the development of our capabilities.

The manifestation of our capacities to manipulate a concrete reality will lead us to the development of our skills (ability to set in motion a set of mental and physical processes to respond adequately to specific situations).

Furthermore, to properly apply our skills we need to develop a set of strategies. These will help us to analyze each situation and consciously choose which skill is the most appropriate to achieve our goal..

Finally, if we are capable of, in the face of a real problem, mobilizing in a coordinated way the strategies we have created to solve it effectively, then we will have developed some good competencies.

However, it is not worth just developing them. All competition works thanks to socio-emotional components.

  • We must want to start them. Need be motivated to reach our goals.
  • Must act from ethical standards (developing positive attitudes towards ourselves and towards others).
  • To act competently it is also essential manage and regulate emotions appropriately, both positive and negative, that the context and other people (and even ourselves) generate in ourselves.

In sum, it seems that the various types of intelligence together with adequate skills form the perfect cocktail for the good performance of the human being in all facets of life (or almost all).


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