Is All Intelligence The Same?

[herme3]

You probably think that different people have a different level of intelligence. When asked who the most intelligent man that ever lived was, most of you might say Einstein, or some other scientist.

 

Einstein used his intelligence for scientific purposes. Therefore, it is much easier for scientists to call him a genius. However, artists can also be extremely intelligent, but they choose to focus on their art and not science.

 

Intelligence is difficult to define. In high school, I failed the Algebra exam multiple times. However, I had perfect scores in both History and English. My History teacher told me that I was the only student he ever had that did that. He had been teaching for almost 20 years. I also received very advanced scores in Science classes, except Chemistry which had lots of math.

 

I am really bad at math, and even looking at an equation can give me a headache. I'm also really bad at putting puzzles together. However, most people say I'm very intelligent. Even though I can't solve puzzles with more than a few pieces, I could probably take a computer completely apart and put it back together with my eyes closed.

 

Intelligence can't really be defined by category.

 

Perhaps all people have the same intelligence. When somebody is really bad at one subject, they are that much smarter in another subject. Could all human minds have the same capacity for intelligence, but the intelligence is used differently in different thinking patterns?

[radiohead]

My mom says intelligence isn't really knowledge, it's figuring out a way to solve something that no one else has thought of...

 

I don't mean to sound like the Waterboy...

[herme3]

My mom says intelligence isn't really knowledge' date=' it's figuring out a way to solve something that no one else has thought of...

 

I don't mean to sound like the Waterboy...[/quote']

 

I don't believe intelligence should be limited to simply "solving" things. Couldn't a poet have intelligence for writing a poem that requires deep thought? Or an artist for being able to come up with a unique design? (I can't draw either... ) Anyway, I believe that intelligence could be defined as creativity in any subject.

[radiohead]

Well, you have to be creative to solve something don't you?

[beachbum]

yea i've always thought of this if everyone had the same capacity for intelligence. maybe they do for genetic and interest reasons and the ability to understand some things more than others. but then how can you explain people that aren't good at anything or people that are good at everything (like da vinci for example)?

[radiohead]

Intelligence is the ability to make connections. It probably is genetic, but I really have no clue about that.

[pljames]

Dear Herme3,

Since traditional education began yes! But today we have Professor Howard Gardner of MIT. Who has now states there are multiple intelligences. To me knowledge is not general but a speciality. Knowledge is relavant to the seeker! There is no mass mind or knowledge. Unfourtunately the traditional education systrem of today will NEVER accept his theory,hypothosis, or opinion. He is on the web let me know what you think! pljames

[Bluenoise]

I believe it's all the same. From my personal experience it's all based on attitude towards the subject. If I convince myself that I'm good at something and that I enjoy it my abilites improve vastly. If I become bored with something then they decrease. I've never really found any sort of learning to be different from any other. I work hard to never memorise something and to understand it logically, so you can't attribute too that. If you feel that you are bad at something you make an effort to find ways around doing it. Sure why not take the quicker way around it's more efficient, but it turn that avoidence reduces your ability. It's a vicious circle. You're brain looses what it doesn't use.

 

Sure they maybe a few individuals with an amazing capacity for one particular function, but I'd say these are few and far between.

[herme3]

yea i've always thought of this if everyone had the same capacity for intelligence. maybe they do for genetic and interest reasons and the ability to understand some things more than others. but then how can you explain people that aren't good at anything or people that are good at everything (like da vinci for example)?

 

I'm sure Da Vinci wasn't good at everything. Intelligence should not be limited to scientific or artistic skills. What about the ability to have friendly conversations with other people? A lot of people that have a large education do not have many friends. However, some of the people you say "aren't good at anything" may be very popular. Obviously they are good at social skills if they are popular. I believe that this requires a type of intelligence.

[radiohead]

Like I said before, intelligence is the ability to make connections. These people with social skills made connections to what makes them likeable and what doesn't while people like Einstein didn't, but they make connections that lead them to think of things like E=MC^2.

 

I don't think it should be based on knowledge....

[Mokele]

"Intelligence" is just a culturally defined "weighted average" of a whole series of mental attributes, such as knowledge, problem solving, speed of learning (classically and operantly), reasoning (spatial, social, mathematical, etc), memory, communicatory ability, and more.

 

Just look into animal intelligence and you'll see how useless the term is. It cannot be defined in any formal operational sense. All IQ tests just make up a series of questions (usually based on what the culture values), test a sub-set of people, and use that group to set the averages and such.

 

For something measurable and real (rather than social fiction), focus on the sub-sets, like social reasoning or memory or knowledge.

 

Mokele

[Severian]

I suspect that the people who we call geniuses are really only 'different' from other people. Their brains are wired slightly differently and so they see things that 'normal' people might not see, but they also don't see things which seem fairly obvious to 'normal folks.

 

Einstein was a classic example of this - he appeared rather ill at ease with a lot of the more normal activities. I suspect that if we had a planet full of Einsteins, and dropped one of our average SFN members into the mix, they would regard him/her as a 'genious' too.

[Phi for All]

I am really bad at math, and even looking at an equation can give me a headache.

Part or the problem here could be your teachers. Not that they were bad, but I believe higher maths must be approached in a way that triggers learning within the individual. It may not be an intelligence question at all.

 

I was always able to add numbers in my head and envision simple maths quite easily even in grade school. But when imaginary numbers came into play in Algebra I was completely at a loss. I hated it and took the minimum maths in high school. In college I had to take Calculus twice because my first teacher was one of those fill-the-board-with-equations types who got impatient when the class couldn't copy fast enough.

 

I dropped that class so I wouldn't fail and the second time I took Calculus, the teacher had a completely different approach. I "got her" and it made all the difference to me. Perhaps a bit too late to make me love maths but I got a B and that was a lot better than I would have gotten with the first teacher.

 

I recommend you try some different tutors and see if their approaches make sense to you. I had a friend who's wife was supposed to really be good at teaching people math who couldn't grasp it from other teachers. Find someone who triggers that "Eureka!" response for you.

[brad89]

I think intelligence is not able to be rated, because some people not only concentrate theirs in different areas, such as art or sports, but because some people choose not to use theirs. I kinda think intelligence is how much people know on the spot. It is more of how they can apply things they already know to teach themselves new things.

I don't necesarily think someone can be more intelligent than someone else, but they can be not willing to use it as much as others. Some people are intellectually lazy, they decide not to use their intelligence, because they aren't in the mood, or aren't very smart, or just making it up because of whatever reason. But nobody is really more intelligent than someone else.

[DRU]

There are two theories of intelligence: Multiple Intelligences (which is quite self explanatory and its what you're promoting) and then you have General Intelligence (IQ) there is still debate and no clear winner yet. personally, i believe in MI.

[Dave0x01]

You probably think that different people have a different level of intelligence. When asked who the most intelligent man that ever lived was' date=' most of you might say Einstein, or some other scientist.

 

Einstein used his intelligence for scientific purposes. Therefore, it is much easier for scientists to call him a genius. However, artists can also be extremely intelligent, but they choose to focus on their art and not science.

 

Intelligence is difficult to define. In high school, I failed the Algebra exam multiple times. However, I had perfect scores in both History and English. My History teacher told me that I was the only student he ever had that did that. He had been teaching for almost 20 years. I also received very advanced scores in Science classes, except Chemistry which had lots of math.[/quote']

 

I would avoid drawing any conclusions concerning your aptitude for math, let alone your intelligence on the whole, based solely on the experience you describe. Intelligence has nothing to do with achievement per se, though there is no doubt correlation, at least on an aggregate basis.

 

[...]

Perhaps all people have the same intelligence. When somebody is really bad at one subject' date=' they are that much smarter in another subject. Could all human minds have the same capacity for intelligence, but the intelligence is used differently in different thinking patterns?[/quote']

 

Huh? No, not a chance in hell.

[[Tycho?]]

I make quite a clear distinction between intelligence and creativity. I see no innate intelligence in art, instead I see creativity. Intelligence in my opinion is problem solving, and application of knowledge. I would say that I lack creativity. Now most people I know would probably disagree with this, I do well in things like essay writing for english, and often come up with all kinds of new/interesting/unusual ideas. However this is more of a systematic creativity, the result of problem solving. Writing an english essay to be humerous is a problem. I solve this problem by applying what I know about humour, examples that I can think of, and combining and mixing these two to come up with something to write about. This is how I do things, and while I may have inspiration, it is the result of connecting two ideas in my mind, and is just another problem that I solved.