Self Improvement Made Easy

Every day one hears the word “intelligence” being used in different situations by different people. For instance, you may have heard of an intelligent “writer”, intelligent “student”, intelligent “speaker”, intelligent “artist”, PLUS in a less acceptable sense, an “intelligent THIEF” etc ! .

In this article, I advocate the adoption of what I consider ONE all embracing, and real-world relevant definition of intelligence, which I believe will help all those who use it live more successful lives.

What Exactly Is Intelligence?

The word intelligence basically refers to some form of ability to do things. In conventional use for instance, the term typically describes a person’s (academic) aptitude regarding the use of words, figures, and various forms of computation. A broader application is inclusive of body skills(e.g. an intelligent footballer), familiarity with concrete materials, ability to adjust to new conditions and/or facilities in solving new problems etc.

“The brain can be developed just the same as the muscles can be developed, if one will only take the pains to train the mind to think” – Thomas Alva Edison

Intelligence is also used to describe how a person deals generally with people, things, ideas and events. Research has shown that about 20% variation in the Intelligence Quotient (IQ – expressed as a ratio of an individual’s mental age to her chronological or real age) of individuals is caused by factors like quality of nutrition; health; sleep; experience; social contact; drugs taken by mother and general upbringing.

But age has been found to have little influence on the level of intelligence as measured by IQ. In fact it’s been found that maximum mental growth is achievable at age 13, stabilizing at about 70. Also, and contrary to societal myth, modern brain research has now shown clearly that mental abilities of human beings do not reduce with ageing.

Tony Buzan (inventor of the world-famous Mind Maps®) who is widely regarded as a world authority on the brain, memory, creativity, and speed reading, reports – in his Speed Reading book – that Dr. Marion Diamond of the University of California confirmed via research findings that “there is no evidence of brain cell loss with age in normal, active and healthy brains”.

It was found that if a person actively uses and “trains” her brain (Buzan’s Centers and books teach HOW), there is a “biological increase in its inter connectivity complexity resulting in a significant rise in the person’s intelligence”. This explains why after people in their sixties, seventies, eighties and nineties are “brain trained” at Buzan’s centers, measurable, statistically significant and permanent improvements are achieved by the old people in every area of mental performance! By the way, one (long-discovered) way of training your brain is by frequent reading and thinking – according to geniuses like Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein.

Most debated probably has been the issue of how Sex and Race affect intelligence. It was once believed (and some still do today) that the black race was less intelligent than their white counterparts, and females less than males. There is however no conclusive research evidence to support those assumptions – especially as the contribution of culture and environmental exposure to development of an indivdual’s intelligence for the most part remains difficult to quantify.

A Definition I Advocate For Adoption(Using “Academic Performance”, “Murder Investigations”, And “Interpersonal Communication” As Case Studies)

Over the years it’s been agreed that IQ is limited as a measure of intelligence – even in the academic dimension. Intelligence has increasingly become recognized as a result of one’s total life experiences. This means intelligence tests results express how well one has learnt to achieve in the areas, which are being measured by the test. This is why I believe that Robert Kiyosaki’s father’s definition of Intelligence, as “the ability to make finer distinctions” is most appropriate for real-life use.

1. Schooling: When Robert Kiyosaki was ten years old, his friend and classmate Andy was announced to the class(after an IQ test the entire class had taken), as a “genius with a high IQ”. But Robert’s father in response to his son’s subsequent queries about the definition of intelligence simply told him it referred to a person’s “ability to make finer distinctions”.

Robert said he learnt from his Dad’s explanation that Andy his friend was smarter than him in the classroom because he could learn better there, but that did not mean Andy was smarter than Robert(THAT was the “finer” distinction”). This understanding went a long way to make him finish his schooling instead of dropping out for fear of being called stupid etc.

“A person does not need to go to college to learn facts. He can learn them from books. The value of a liberal arts college education is that it trains the mind to think…Imagination is more important than knowledge.” – Albert Einstein

2. Murder Investigations: In the society I live/work in some types of law enforcement agents are renowned for their aversion for “making finer distinctions”. For instance, when one of them sees a dead body, a knife and a man seemingly “loitering” nearby, s/he immediately decides the loitering man MUST have killed the dead person – else what could s/he be doing there at that point in time(God help us all!).

So s/he conveniently puts the “loiterer” in jail and tells his/her boss a suspect has been found. Soon (except the poor “loiterer” has providence on his side), the case is announced as solved, and a possibility innocent person sentenced to time in prison! Why do they do this? One school of thought has it that maybe because that option requires the least thinking – or quickly satisfies people that justice has been done, and frees the agency from having to answer questions about how far investigations have gone and so on.

Under different circumstances, a murder investigation would be prosecuted more thoroughly. Typically, the lead detective/investigator will go the extra mile to do some thinking. Often s/he would try to establish a “motive”, and in the process probably discover something others missed and (maybe) end up finding the “true” killer. The logic is that except a person is confirmed mad or insane, he/she would have had a “convincing enough reason”(motive) for committing a crime.

IQ test means Intelligence Quotient,with the help of IQ tests intelligence test you can measure your ability of your work in any field, if you get high IQ level in IQ intelligence test that means there is chances of highly complex jobs.