Wednesday, September 9, 2009

INTELLIGENCE IS NO MORE A LEGEND

Everyone everywhere wants to be intelligent. Who doesn't want to right? Not only that our intelligence may help to discern our standing in the society but it's also valuable for our future undertakings. So, where did this intelligence thing comes from at the first place? Heredity? Fate? God? By the way, what's the true meaning of intelligence anyway? Can both you and me become somehow extra-ordinarily intelligent? Did someone who scored high during an IQ test implying an intelligent persona?




What is the sole thing that provides us with sensation, governs our thoughts and drives us to explore our desires? Lust? Determination? You bet, it is the brain. This organ is so simple and yet so complex and at the same time embodies an unsurpassed fragility. In a way, our brains govern all the activities of the mind. So, for a start, did good brain implies better intelligence? Meaning to say, those who are mentally-retarded are way to be intellectually smart?

Although in western culture we perceive intelligence to involve skill in academic subjects and science, intelligence can take on different meanings depending on the circumstances. In an urban environment, having "street smarts," the ability to get around in a city, is of utmost importance, and different cultures place emphasis on different faculties of the mind in their definition and value of intelligence.

That being said, the currently accepted all-around definition of intelligence is as follows: intelligence is the capacity to understand one's external and internal environments, think rationally, and use resources effectively when faced with challenges.

IQ tests are rarely competent in perceiving one's degree of intelligence. The only benefits of having a standard and accurate intelligence test are obvious. Placement in schools and jobs would be easily determined and everyone could justify their level of achievement according to their IQ score. However, things are not nearly so simple. Even at its current best, intelligence testing contains inherent flaws that do not allow one to simply determine intelligence from an hour-long test.

The theory behind the IQ, or intelligence quotient, is that there is an average "mental age" for people of different ages. Thus, an IQ test is a test designed to determine a person's relative intelligence using a quotient. By taking a person's Mental Age (MA) and dividing it by their Chronological Age (CA) and multiplying by 100, we get the Intelligence Quotient. Thus, a person who has a Mental Age equal to his or her Chronological Age would have an IQ score of 100. This is supposed to be the average and most common IQ score. So, peps if you are to score around 100-120 in IQ tests, be reminded that you are just mere average. Don't simply brag about something you omitted to know otherwise, the end will justify the means.

It's time for us to widen our perspectives on the matter of intelligence per say. If the society can eventually cuddled to the present IQ test method of determining one's degree of intelligence, then why shouldn't we consider other theories - which is more to life - such as The Multiples Intelligence Theory developed by Howard Gardner & The R. J. Stenberg's Triarchic Theory?

According to Gardner in his book, The Five Minds of Future, an intelligence person of the millennium has to master the 7 separate domains of intelligences in order to be justly talented. His pool of domains encompassed:

1. Musical intelligence
2. Body Kinesthetic intelligence
3. Logical-mathematical intelligence
4. Linguistic intelligence
5. Spatial intelligence
6. Intrapersonal intelligence
7. Interpersonal intelligence

R.J. Sternberg, whose interest in intelligence testing originated with his own test anxiety, is one of the foremost contemporary figures in intelligence theory. His main contribution was the triarchic theory of intelligence, which incorporates practical knowledge as a part of intelligence. According to Sternberg, the three aspects of intelligence are componential, experiential, and contextual.

1. Componential Intelligence - involves the mental components involved in analyzing, processing, and organizing information involved in problem solving.

2. Experiential Intelligence - the part of intelligence that involves the way that past experiences and knowledge affect a person's ability to solve problems.

3. Contextual Intelligence - takes into account the ability of a person to use his or her intelligence to face everyday demands. It is in some ways a measure of a person's "street smarts."

Moreover, history had shown that one did not to be specifically intelligent to become successful, it's more on how one's interact with each single essence of life. Einstein never took an IQ test before being dubbed as the greatest physicist of all time, so on with Mozart, there's no such thing as an IQ during his time yet he's the most celebrated artist ever lived and also neither did Bill Gates ever think of an IQ driven formula to be successful becoming one of the richest on Earth. All of them shared only one thing. They know the key to success and that key is way in our mind waiting for it's time to be heeded as Rene Descartes once said "I think, therefore, I am"

"life is where intelligence operates' and not in the classroom. . . . The true measure of success is not how well one does in school, but how well one does in life" - Anon.
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