Table of Contents
Intelligence is a very complex topic with many gray areas. Before answering whether intelligence can be learned, it is important to have an understanding of what intelligence is. If you already feel you have a solid grasp on the concept of multiple intelligences, feel free to use the table of contents to go straight to the answer in the conclusion.
What is Intelligence
Intelligence is a wide variety of skills used by animals to utilize information to further their survival. In humans, intelligence is often seen as a single trait, but in reality there are a large number of types of intelligences that use different mental tools to further their goals.
For example, a commonly considered type of intelligence is logical-mathematical intelligence. In this type of intelligence, a person uses abilities such as quantifying, calculating, and understanding patterns. This type of intelligence is useful as it allows for organizing resources, making hypotheses, and planning for the future.
Using logical-mathematical intelligence is very important for almost everyone in some capacity. Farmers use it to understand how many seeds to plant, when and where to plant them, and how much they can use personally and how much can be sold for profit. Logical-mathematical intelligence is also crucial for people who work with money and for scientists who have to calculate statistical information.
Another example of intelligence is social or interpersonal intelligence. In this type of intelligence, the tools used are quite different, but are extremely useful in a social species like humans. Interpersonal intelligence requires tools such as recognizing emotions through facial expressions and body language, using language effectively to grow relationships, and recognizing motivations in others’ actions.
As humans, interpersonal intelligence is vital in not only creating personal relationships, but also in business relations. Someone without interpersonal intelligence may be unable to recognize when it is a bad time to suggest a new business deal based on their business partners emotional state and receptivity to new ideas. They may also struggle with choosing the right words to be convincing and may be duped by others who are more socially intelligent into taking bad deals themselves.
There are currently nine recognized types of intelligence, but these divisions are arbitrary. Many types of intelligence have overlap between them and the divisions can be further subdivided. For example, both logical mathematical intelligence and musical intelligence require pattern recognition skills. Those skills are utilized for different reasons and purposes in the two domains, but the base skills are related. Similarly, both interpersonal and linguistic intelligence require the ability to understand the importance of word choice.
The Nine Types of Intelligence
- Logical-Mathematical Intelligence
Logical-mathematical intelligence is the type of intelligence most commonly referred to when people think of intelligence, especially in an academic context. This is largely due to its connection with logical reasoning, calculation speed, and scientific hypothesizing.
This type of intelligence is very important in the STEM fields of education and students with high levels of logical-mathematical intelligence will find it easier to score higher in science and math classes.
- Musical Intelligence
Musical intelligence is a less often considered type of intelligence, but certainly requires specific sets of skills. People with high musical intelligence will be able to quickly understand patterns, can keep a regular timed beat, and hear pitch clearly.
- Naturalist Intelligence
Naturalist intelligence is most commonly connected with an understanding of nature, hence its name. However, it can also be better understood as an understanding of types of things and understanding the significance of differences between them. This was one of the most vital intelligences in humanities past, but still plays a major role to this day.
For example, a forager who is looking for mushrooms needs to be able to identify different types of mushrooms and understand which are poisonous and which are edible. Naturalist intelligence is important for understanding which plants are weeds that need to be removed, which animals are dangerous, and also what type of soil is good for planting or building on.
In the modern day, naturalist intelligence is still useful as an understanding between different types of things can play an important role in choosing quality products. Someone with naturalist intelligence will be better at choosing healthy foods, sturdy materials, and understand other abstract desirable qualities in products.
- Spatial Intelligence
Spatial intelligence, sometimes called visuospatial reasoning, allows for a person to understand how objects take up space in three dimensions even without seeing the object. Spatial intelligence is important for understanding physics, engineering, and for playing sports.
Spatial intelligence is important for planning rooms, buildings, and even cities. Being able to see things in a person’s mind’s eye before taking action allows for better planning and fewer unforeseen problems.
- Intrapersonal Intelligence
Intrapersonal intelligence is a person’s ability to understand themselves and how their environment and other people affect them mentally. People with high intrapersonal intelligence are highly introspective and aware of their own triggers.
Having high intrapersonal intelligence allows a person to know how to be most efficient with their time and energy. They are better able to avoid negative thought spirals and are less likely to continue poor behavior patterns.
- Linguistic Intelligence
Linguistic intelligence describes a person’s ability to express themselves with words and understand others, whether that be through speaking or reading and writing. People with high linguistic intelligence will be better able to memorize words and use them effectively together to give information and tell stories.
People with high linguistic intelligence are sometimes great speakers, but other times they can be very shy, reserved, and prefer to express themselves through writing. Someone can be very well spoken and bad at writing or write beautifully and convincingly yet stumble through a speech. This shows an easy way that this type of intelligence could be further subdivided and how it connects and overlaps with interpersonal intelligence.
- Kinesthetic Intelligence
Kinesthetic intelligence is the ability of a person to control their body. People with high kinesthetic intelligence are often good at dance, sports, and fighting. Kinesthetic intelligence often goes well with spatial intelligence as people generally need to not only control their own body, but use it to interact with objects or people outside themselves.
For example, while a dancer might need to focus mainly on their movements, they need to ensure they don’t run into other dancers or off the stage entirely. Soccer players not only need to know how to kick a ball, but also need to be able to visually calculate how to kick it so that it reaches the goal. Fighters need to use their bodies to inflict damage on their opponents, but also see incoming attacks and avoid them. Because of these many connections, kinesthetic and spatial intelligence are highly linked.
- Interpersonal Intelligence
Interpersonal intelligence, also called social and emotional intelligence, determines how well a person is able to understand and interact with others. People with high interpersonal intelligence are often very empathetic and understanding of others, making them comfortable to be around.
Interpersonal intelligence is vital for business and customer service as well. People who can understand the needs and desires of others are very successful at selling products and filling empty business niches.
Politics is another area where interpersonal intelligence can be very useful. Though many would argue that politicians are often heartless, interpersonal intelligence is not simply about being nice, but understanding other people and sometimes that can be used to manipulate them.
- Existential Intelligence
Existential intelligence, also called spiritual intelligence, is the most controversial of the types of intelligence. It is often debated if it can truly be called a type of intelligence as it is too abstract and lacks clear boundaries. However, because many of the other types of intelligences lack clear borders, this is not necessarily a valid argument.
Generally, existential intelligence describes a person’s ability to grapple with big “why” questions such as “why do I exist”, “why do humans go to war”, and “Is there a god?” Many of these questions could simply be extrapolated to being a more abstract form of interpersonal intelligence however, as they connect with questions of purpose and connection between individuals.
Does Genetics Decide Intelligence?
Genetics plays a major role in intelligence capacities, but is not a simple or exhaustive explanation for how intelligence develops in individuals over time. According to research done using twin studies, genetics plays a major role in all types of cognitive processes and proclivities.
They estimated that genes directly influence between 40-50% of a person’s cognitive abilities. (Davies et al.) However, this means that another 50-60% of cognitive ability is the result of other factors. Research released last month finds that another 40% of this variance comes from epigenetic changes.
What is Epigenetics?
Epigenetics refers to environmental factors that affect how a person’s genetic makeup is expressed after birth. Sometimes referred to as “nurture” to differentiate it from the genetic blueprint given by “nature” at birth, epigenetic factors play a major role in switching various genes on or off and changing how they are expressed in the body.
Long gone are the days where scientists believed that intelligences are fixed at birth and unchangeable over time. Genetic makeup can be epigenetically affected dramatically by environmental factors such as stress, nutrition, and most recently discovered, even caregiver personality.
Stress plays a major role in a person’s intellectual capacity. Though exact mechanisms and effect pathways are still being uncovered, research shows that epigenetic stress factors play a major role in a person’s development and can even lead to increased chances of depression. (Stankiewicz et al.)
Nutrition, especially at a young age, also plays a major role in a person’s abilities. Research shows that students who regularly skip breakfast score lower in several intelligence tests. (Liu et al.) This effect is compounded in students who regularly do not get healthy meals due to poverty.
Research published just last month also found that caregiver personality and the environment they create can also dramatically affect a person’s later intellectual capacities.
According to the researchers, “parental cognitive and non-cognitive skills affect offspring education through their environment: on average across cohorts and designs, indirect genetic effects explain 36–40% of population polygenic score associations.” (Demange et al.) This is to say that even when genes are not directly inherited by a child, the parents can still indirectly pass on their proclivities and personalities to their children by creating an environment and encouraging behaviors that they have in their genetic makeup even when the children lack that genetic makeup themselves.
While still in its infancy, this research suggests that caregivers play a major role in deciding how a child’s genetic makeup is expressed. While genetics at birth still play a major role in deciding what a child will be naturally adapted to, a nurturing environment that encourages a certain intelligence can cause children to be stronger in those capacities, even when they were not born with the natural inclination.
Can Intelligence be Learned?
Yes, intelligence is not fixed at birth and environmental factors including teaching from caregivers can influence a child’s cognitive abilities and IQ scores. According to a 2005 study, “Regression analysis found that much of the variance in IQ scores of 81 countries was explained by enrollment in secondary education, illiteracy rates, and by the proportion of agricultural workers.” (Barber)
This research clearly shows that IQ scores are directly related to education levels and not simply determined at birth. While IQ is only one measure of intelligence, it is often the most rigid of tests that many have considered a measure of one’s innate abilities.
While a person will absolutely be born with certain skills that are natural to them and ones they will struggle with their whole life, this does not mean that they can not be developed and improved.
Using Metacognitive Exercises to Teach Intelligence
One of the most effective ways to help students learn how to work more intelligently in any area is through the use of metacognitive exercises. Metacognition is often described as “thinking about thinking” or using the brain to understand how the brain works and acting accordingly to improve one’s efficiency or effectiveness.
Teaching students to think mindfully about how their brain functions and run experiments to test their hypotheses can give them the tools to be able to tackle any task they come across in their futures more intelligently. Rather than repeating poor habits or trying to do tasks with random approaches learned from others, teaching students to be more mindful about what works for them will help them develop strategies that work based on their individual cognitive profile.
For example, some students feel that they learn better by focusing on listening during a lecture rather than taking notes. Rather than the teacher demanding that the student take notes because they know best, the teacher should instead give the student an opportunity to do a class or set of classes focusing on listening and another where they take notes as the teacher suggested.
The teacher should give small quizzes or have the student play competitive games with the class to measure their learning in both situations. Then the student will be able to measure their performance in both conditions and see whether they were correct and they need to focus on listening rather than distracting themselves with notes or whether the teacher was indeed correct and note taking makes a significant difference in their performance.
In order to be truly valid, the student should repeat the experiment in both conditions multiple times to prevent confounding factors like one being harder or more interesting than the other from messing up the results of the experiment. The teacher should refrain from saying “I told you so” if their suggestion helped or forcing students to use the more effective strategy for the remainder of the school year. While it may be tempting to force students to do what is best in the moment, this can often create resistance and make students shut down.
Instead, depending on the relationship the teacher has with the student, teachers should let students go over their results in private and consider what the results mean for how their brain works. This allows for defensive walls to lower and for students to truly consider that they might be wrong without losing face in order to apply what they have learned for future problems.
Students can be resistant to accepting they were wrong and changing their study habits due to not valuing what they are currently learning or not wanting to admit the teacher was right. However, the seed planted by the teacher in the young student may bloom into changed behavior later in life when students encounter a challenge they truly want or need to overcome.
Teaching metacognitive strategies of learning is not necessarily about changing performance in specific tasks in the short term, but teaching students to work more intelligently for the rest of their lives. There are a vast number of creative metacognitive exercises teachers, coaches, and school counselors can devise to help students learn how their brain works. The basic principle should be to give students two approaches to problem solving and allow the student to independently test the two approaches in a variety of situations.
Instead of focusing on the problem at hand, which may be tied up in strong emotions, teaching general problem solving skills divorces the strategies from those emotions and generalizes their application to future problems as well. This way students can not only solve a single problem in school, but be more intelligent at solving all of their problems in the future and know how to devise their own metacognitive experiments when they are not sure how to proceed.
Conclusion
Parents are not the only people in a child’s life that create stimulating environments that can affect the “nurture” based epigenetic effects that control intelligence. Teachers spend a massive amount of time with their students and play a major role in stimulating their students to learn about themselves and be more intelligent in how they work.
Teachers who see students that are not naturally inclined to a certain subject should not give up on those students, feeling that it “just isn’t their thing”. While a student not born with a specific natural tendency may develop that skill more slowly, that does not mean that they can not improve or are not worth the teacher’s time.
Instead, parents and teachers should focus on developing strengths while also helping students to bolster their weaknesses. Rather than trying to completely avoid things that students seem to struggle with, help them learn new skills by learning how to learn using metacognitive strategies.
Creating an environment that is conducive to learning and helping students to learn how their brain learns will equip them to be able to learn to be more effective and cognitively adept at whatever they choose to do later in life. Metacognitive exercises are the most important tool for helping students to more intelligently tackle tasks and develop their brains to independently problem solve and learn how to learn anything they desire for the rest of their lives.
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References
Barber, Nigel. “Educational And Ecological Correlates Of IQ: A Cross-National Investigation”. Intelligence, vol 33, no. 3, 2005, pp. 273-284. Elsevier BV, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2005.01.001.
Davies, G et al. “Genome-Wide Association Studies Establish That Human Intelligence Is Highly Heritable And Polygenic”. Molecular Psychiatry, vol 16, no. 10, 2011, pp. 996-1005. Springer Science And Business Media LLC, https://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2011.85.
Demange, Perline A. et al. “Estimating Effects Of Parents’ Cognitive And Non-Cognitive Skills On Offspring Education Using Polygenic Scores”. Nature Communications, vol 13, no. 1, 2022. Springer Science And Business Media LLC, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-32003-x.
Liu, Jianghong et al. “Regular Breakfast Consumption Is Associated With Increased IQ In Kindergarten Children”. Early Human Development, vol 89, no. 4, 2013, pp. 257-262. Elsevier BV, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2013.01.006.
Stankiewicz, Adrian M. et al. “Epigenetics Of Stress Adaptations In The Brain”. Brain Research Bulletin, vol 98, 2013, pp. 76-92. Elsevier BV, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainresbull.2013.07.003.
