Serious What is 'Intelligence'?

Zeostar

Zeostar

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    From your perspective, when you think of someone as 'intelligent', how do you think of them? What makes them intelligent, and do you think intelligence has multiple forms?

    I'm pretty finicky over this. It's mentally draining to watch everybody grasp the concepts in a math or science course, while I constantly get stuck on every new thing we learn. I ended up passing all my introductory math courses, but I feel it wasn't a pass mentally, as for over a year I've thought back to those classes and felt "not smart".

    I took up chess as a hobby, but once again found the question of intelligence to be my biggest hurdle. The community can be very toxic regarding ELO. Asking for advice as a player below 800 ELO can result in comments such as "The only way you could be below 800 is if your playing badly on purpose, or lack a brain". (In turn, it causes a drop in motivation when I make a bad play).

    As another question, do you think of yourself as intelligent?
     
    Intelligent I am not. Though, for years I've tried very hard to make up for it. So far it doesn't seem to work out.

    But I have learned as well that in many aspects the concept of intelligence is really dumb. It's used to put you into a box (much like the whole binary gender thing, etc.) and then be judged on that basis. And we often times want to be judged, just to get a sort of feeling to be worth something.

    Especially nowadays when you have all the possibilities to make something out of your life; things that past generations simply had not available. The more there is the more pressure there seems to arise. You need to be a lot smarter in order to make use of all the tools. If you can't make use of it then you're stupid and you deserve getting less out of your life.

    The concept of intelligence is dumb. >_<
     
    hmm, I'd say its the sum of wisdom from experience, and inherent mental ability. But I'd also say how you think is just as important as how fast you can think.

    like a lot of people are smart but can be (and are) dumb because they're ignorant and lack wisdom.

    and yeah I'm intelligent, critical thinking is something I take pride in. But then I'd never really call someone UN-intelligent its all a scale, I'd call something or someone stupid in a second, but they still have intelligence. They just didn't use it for a second. lol

    ZeoStar said:
    From your perspective, when you think of someone as 'intelligent', how do you think of them? What makes them intelligent, and do you think intelligence has multiple forms?

    I'm pretty finicky over this. It's mentally draining to watch everybody grasp the concepts in a math or science course, while I constantly get stuck on every new thing we learn. I ended up passing all my introductory math courses, but I feel it wasn't a pass mentally, as for over a year I've thought back to those classes and felt "not smart".

    I took up chess as a hobby, but once again found the question of intelligence to be my biggest hurdle. The community can be very toxic regarding ELO. Asking for advice as a player below 800 ELO can result in comments such as "The only way you could be below 800 is if your playing badly on purpose, or lack a brain". (In turn, it causes a drop in motivation when I make a bad play).

    As another question, do you think of yourself as intelligent?
    Click to expand...

    I don't know your experience, but I'd say your "problem" (if you can even call it that) is possibly a matter of learning style, some people can learn by seeing it, other may need to have it explained one on one, sometimes a more social aspect is key. Its kind of like how you can have a conversation with someone, and in the process of talking reach an understanding, and maybe walk away feeling like you learned a lot, or just feeling fulfilled.

    That's the social aspect; the back and forth of conversation, exchanging ideas is the most basic of basic methods of learning, but instead of that most classrooms are like an assembly line, do the same thing and expect everyone to get it.

    Using the same analogy its like having a conversation with a person that only talks and never listens, its stifling, if you need clarity you can't get it, so you're just stuck there struggling till you can get away.


    Yeah and the chess thing just sounds like a bad community, you need to find a better place if one is available.

    Don't know if you're into anime but check out 3 gatsu no lion, aka march comes in like a lion, its not exactly chess but its very close, so you can kind of see from that , that there are a lot of different types of players, and they shape the environment. From what you said that really sounds like a place you don't need to be.


    and maybe check out this vid, I haven't been there myself but the hosts seem pretty cool, so I'm thinking that may be a better site for you to try chess.

    after you finish the vid head to their youtube channel home page, they've got a good promo vid right at the top. (or you know just watch the promo vid)

    It sounds like it may be right up your alley.




    p.s. posted that vid because its to my knowledge the only one with censoring in case swearing bothered you.
     
    Last edited by a moderator:
    It's more than math and reading. It depresses how being good in the arts isn't seen as intelligent, and has contributed to my low self image. There are multiple ways to be intelligent.

    I'm good in some subjects and terrible in some, so I wouldn't call myself especially intelligent.
     
    Meister_anon~Master_o f_None said:
    I don't know your experience, but I'd say your "problem" (if you can even call it that) is possibly a matter of learning style, some people can learn by seeing it, other may need to have it explained one on one, sometimes a more social aspect is key. Its kind of like how you can have a conversation with someone, and in the process of talking reach an understanding, and maybe walk away feeling like you learned a lot, or just feeling fulfilled.

    That's the social aspect; the back and forth of conversation, exchanging ideas is the most basic of basic methods of learning, but instead of that most classrooms are like an assembly line, do the same thing and expect everyone to get it.

    Using the same analogy its like having a conversation with a person that only talks and never listens, its stifling, if you need clarity you can't get it, so you're just stuck there struggling till you can get away.


    Yeah and the chess thing just sounds like a bad community, you need to find a better place if one is available.

    Don't know if you're into anime but check out 3 gatsu no lion, aka march comes in like a lion, its not exactly chess but its very close, so you can kind of see from that , that there are a lot of different types of players, and they shape the environment. From what you said that really sounds like a place you don't need to be.


    and maybe check out this vid, I haven't been there myself but the hosts seem pretty cool, so I'm thinking that may be a better site for you to try chess.

    after you finish the vid head to their youtube channel home page, they've got a good promo vid right at the top. (or you know just watch the promo vid)

    It sounds like it may be right up your alley.




    p.s. posted that vid because its to my knowledge the only one with censoring in case swearing bothered you.
    Click to expand...

    It's quite ironic, because the class was set up like a social experiment.

    Instead of an assembly line, every single thing was a group effort with people you didn't know. Almost always leading to me being the one behind in the group.
     
    It's quite interesting! I am of the belief that intelligence takes on many forms and being logically minded, or good at maths, or solving the problems that earn you a high IQ in tests - while rightly valued - are not the be-all and end-all of what it means to be intelligent. As an aspiring early childhood teacher, I recognise that people can, for example, have intelligence over: emotions/social situations (intra- and interpersonal intelligence), sound (musical intelligence), movement (bodily-kinesthetic intelligence) etc. You may have noticed I am taking these from Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, because I am quite fond of it.

    I myself have a fairly good grasp of my own intelligence. I am terrible at maths, downright terrible, I hate it. I don't think logically and math puzzles frustrate me to the point of wanting to cry. On the other hand, I have been told that I am very good at writing and I'm well spoken, I am naturally decent at art, I'm a good cook, I'm very aware of people and emotions, and my self-concept (or my understanding of myself) is very clear to me.

    There's a short test you can take to see where you place on the list of Gardner's intelligences, just for fun. Have a go! https://personalitymax.com/multiple-intelligences-test/

    Here's mine:

    https://personalitymax.com/personality-test/

    Spoiler:
     
    ZeoStar said:
    It's quite ironic, because the class was set up like a social experiment.

    Instead of an assembly line, every single thing was a group effort with people you didn't know. Almost always leading to me being the one behind in the group.
    Click to expand...

    dang, but to me people just need different things, whenever there's only one option some people are going to be put on the outs regardless, so you shouldn't put yourself down imo.
    &
    Hope that chess site works out for you.
     
    Hyzenthlay said:
    ,
    Click to expand...

    From the results that looks like a really good personality test, I was going to recommend myers briggs, (think that's what its called) but that one may be better.
     
    I love these!

    Here's mine. For a depressing story, I had to try three times to be able to subtract correctly, that's how bad at math I am. :<

    Spoiler:
     
    i find it hard to come up with an answer for the main question, so i just decided to take the personality test linked. https://personalitymax.com/report/?...0-87-57&ls=77-67-74&bh=51&name_key=b3de33c6ce

    says here i'm an INFJ or The Confidant (apparently rare for a male), NF Temperament, Visual Learner, Left brained, and I got a 100 in Music somehow, with Intrapersonal not far behind.

    i read through a bunch of it and did agree with a large majority of them. a lot were even scarily accurate to a degree...
     
    Roni said:
    i find it hard to come up with an answer for the main question, so i just decided to take the personality test linked. https://personalitymax.com/report/?...0-87-57&ls=77-67-74&bh=51&name_key=b3de33c6ce

    says here i'm an INFJ or The Confidant (apparently rare for a male), NF Temperament, Visual Learner, Left brained, and I got a 100 in Music somehow, with Intrapersonal not far behind.

    i read through a bunch of it and did agree with a large majority of them. a lot were even scarily accurate to a degree...
    Click to expand...

    yeah personality tests can be fun and interesting like that some times. I remember my university did a whole seminar using the myers briggs test and it was really impactful to me,
    like it helped put words to my strengths as well as my personality flaws , like unconscious tendencies etc. then there was another test I really loved that contrasted the personality types with one another, like showing how the quirks of each personality type are perceived by the others, and that explained so much about certain situations in life.

    There are just certain people that you can just get on the wrong foot with almost immediately, and that's because of clashing personality types causing perceived micro aggressions and misunderstandings. Shit was crazy. And for me the lesson came just in time, because I had a tough next semester because my teacher just happened to be one of those personality types, but the lessons I learned in the test helped me manage them, so I could still get what I needed.
     
    Nah said:
    at least the test told me what I already know, that I'm not very intelligent
    Spoiler:


    Don't remember what the whole left brain/right brain thing is about though
    Click to expand...

    The assumption is left brained is more analytical and more structure focused, while the right, is the creative.

    Can't remember if this was true or not, but I believe I heard something like your dominant hand was more likely to align with the side of the brain you mostly use.

    So like if you're left brained you're more likely to be left-handed. I think.
     
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