What is intelligence?
The basic building blocks of intelligence are:
- Knowledge acquisition (perception)
- Memory
- Learning
Upgrades come in all kinds of forms e.g. associations, problem-solving, creativity, use of tools, planning and critical thinking.
As neuroendocrinologist and author Robert Sapolsky states, there was an evolutionary selection for delayed maturation of the frontal cortex. If the frontal cortex matured as quickly as the rest of the brain, there would be no pubertal turbulence, no nervous, itchy exploration, and no creativity, none of the many pimply-faced adolescent geniuses who dropped out of school and invented fire in their garages.
And for every individual who succeeded at procreation thanks to pubescent ingenuity, there were far more who broke their necks through pubescent imprudence instead.
Sapolsky does not believe that the delayed maturation of the frontal cortex evolved to allow adolescents to go overboard.
Rather, it is delayed so that the brain makes the right decisions.
We learn, change, and adapt. Nowhere is this more important than in the frontal cortex.
An oft-repeated fact about adolescents is that “emotional intelligence” and “social intelligence” predict success and happiness in adulthood better than IQ or SAT scores.
It’s about social memory, emotional perspective-taking, impulse control, empathy, the ability to work with others, and self-regulation.
How Intelligence Is Utilized In The Animal Kingdom
Raccoons prefer human food and will do anything to get it. There is an experiment in which raccoons were placed in front of a puzzle, where they have to twist, rotate and push a lock in order to get to the food.
They can even pick simple locks and remember the puzzle’s solution patterns just as quickly after a year as they did at the start of the experiment.
Squirrels bury nuts and go as far as pretending to do so when they think they are being watched. This precautionary measure has been acquired through the years and helps in the fight for survival.
Sheep for example have few survival skills but many social skills, they even remember human faces.
For them, it would be a complete mental waste to worry about the same things as squirrels.
What makes humans special, is that we have combined everything and through cooperation have accomplished a lot, but have also created a whole set of new problems with flawed solutions.
Why It Doesn’t Matter As Much As We Think
Great thinkers are built, not born. Intelligence means potential for good thinking, but many intelligent people never use their potential.
They never learn *how* to think.
“A strong car can be driven badly. A less powerful car can be driven well. The skill of the driver determines how the power of the car is used.”
In contrast, there are many people who are excellent thinkers, even without much natural talent. They had good teachers and practiced a lot.
Schools don’t teach kids *how* to think.
They teach math, history, and literature “just in case,” but all of that is useless if kids don’t know what to do with it.
Good thinking is the ability to make the best use of available information.
Good thinking is more than critical thinking, logic, and analysis.
It also includes creativity, exploration, design, and perception.
The best thinkers use a large toolbox.
They master both analytical and elastic thinking.
They also consider their emotions, evaluate positive aspects, suggest crazy ideas and monitor their entire thought process.
In other words, they build wisdom on sparks, wisdom is the goal of good thinking. It is the habit of looking at a situation in its entirety. And unlike intelligence, wisdom is not an innate talent.
We all know smart children and foolish adults, wisdom comes from deliberate practice. It requires guidance and experience in solving complex problems.
In the right learning environment, children can develop more wisdom in one year than many adults learn in a lifetime. When your brain sees that it is related to other information, it considers it more important and doesn’t try so hard to forget it.
Higher-level learning is the kind of thinking that creates relationships, meaning, structure and depth for understanding information.
—
Subscribe to my newsletter to receive similar content directly to your inbox.
I sincerely hope my posts impacted your life in positive ways!
https://robinklose.medium.com/subscribe
Since I don’t get paid by Medium directly, it would mean the world to me if you could check out https://ko-fi.com/robink1 and maybe even buy me a coffee with a small tip!
Every amount is greatly appreciated, especially if you leave a kind note at the end :)
