“AM I smart?” It’s a question that you must have asked yourself at one time or the other. Perhaps it occurred to you when you were taking a test, or when a teacher asked you a question that you couldn’t answer, or maybe when you were playing Dr Brain on your computer and you couldn’t figure out how to get past a certain obstacle.

The answer to this apparently simple question, however, depends as much on you as it does on the definition of intelligence. So, what, exactly, is intelligence?

Psychologists agree that intelligence can be roughly defined as the intellectual ability to learn new things, comprehend complex phenomena and make use of creative ways to deal with one’s environment.

IN order to measure intelligence, psychologists have invented various Intelligent Quotient (IQ) tests. Of these, one of the most famous tests is the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale which measures individuals’ reasoning, knowledge and short-term memory in verbal and non-verbal domains. However, there are still some doubts as to how accurate IQ is in predicting success in life.

Although educated people may get a good IQ score and prove themselves to be “smart”, what about, say, your grandmother, who never had any interaction with mathematics but is nevertheless highly successful in verbal reasoning? What about your best friend from school who performs poorly in logic problems but uses his excellent short-term memory to win a Spelling Bee competition with flying colours? It is therefore unsurprising that everyone agrees that IQ tests are an accurate measure of intelligence.

What factors influence intelligence?

ALTHOUGH the exact influence of hereditary and environmental factors on intelligence is still being debated, psychologists agree that both factors contribute toward determining intelligence. However, while hereditary influences cannot be altered, people can alter their environment to some extent.

One of the most important environmental influences is the family environment, especially during childhood. Supportive parents who encourage a child to explore things independently in a free manner can help their child’s intellectual proficiency.

Moreover, cultural factors also determine a person’s success. For instance, East Asian children perform relatively better in mathematics because in these cultures the importance of hard work is emphasised and greater value is placed on mathematics. No wonder in every TV show and movie there is always the stereotypical Asian kid who can solve complex mathematical problems in the blink of an eye.

Is intelligence fixed?

PUTTING aside the accuracy of IQ tests, the question that has immense significance in real life is whether intelligence is something fixed or if it can be changed. If you are smart, are you always going to remain that way? Are you born smart or can you become smart?

Without delving into the nature versus nurture debate, it can be said that, according to psychological research, IQ can change over time. For instance, if your memory declines as you age, your IQ at 60 years of age will be lower than that measured when you were 20 years old. Obviously, it does not mean that you have actually grown less smart; IQ is merely a test of various cognitive abilities, and what it does mean is simply that your memory has grown weaker.

Become smarter

SO, it appears that IQ can decline at different stages in life. But is it entirely a bad thing? Well, turns out there’s an upside to it.

If IQ can decrease over time, it means that you can also use various strategies to increase it. One of the best ways to improve your intelligence is through practice. If you are weak at verbal reasoning, for instance, you need to practice reading on a regular basis so that you can learn how arguments are made, how inference is used, or how different connections are made in a written text.

In fact, whatever skill you want to improve (even if it doesn’t relate to IQ tests), practice will make you perfect. Based on psychologist Ericsson’s findings, in order to accomplish superior performance, you need to practice deliberately and intelligently; you need to concentrate on where you went wrong; you need to consciously and continuously practice improving it. In piano playing, for example, if you are stuck at a particular note, try to practice it slowly and carefully instead of playing the whole song again.

Another great idea would be using less outside help and making greater use of your brain. If you are weak at math, try not to turn to your calculator every time you encounter a calculation. Trust your brain; trust yourself!

Intelligence and the stereotype threat

IT has been proven that if you are exposed to a stereotype threat (e.g. that your performance on a creative writing test will not be good because you are a boy), you are going to perform worse. However, researchers have discovered that if you believe that intelligence is not fixed (which is correct), you are more likely to give an improved performance on the specific task.

What you need to do is realise that intelligence is a flexible concept; even if you do perform poorly on a particular test at a particular time due to the stereotype threat, you can improve your performance on it by remembering that intelligence is not something fixed within your mind but something that can be altered and improved; this way you will be negating the existence of the stereotype and improving your chances of doing well on the task.

While intelligence is an abstract and oft-debated concept, what actually matters is not how well you do on IQ tests, but how well you do what you really want to do. Inevitably, you are going to find that other people are much better than you at various tasks, e.g. that math whiz from your class who somehow always manages to secure a perfect A and win every math competition that she participates in, or that musical genius who seems to rock every instrument that he plays.

You might envy them and think they are smarter than you, but, in reality, there is something that you too are smart at, and who knows, every time you look at them with yearning eyes, they might be feeling the exact same way about you; they might be wishing to excel at your area of expertise.

So the next time you find yourself doubting your intelligence, remember: someone out there is wishing they were as smart as you!

Theories of intelligence

THE complexity of the concept of intelligence is reflected in the sheer number of theories that psychologists have come up with. The following are three of the most famous theories, although there are numerous others:

Spearman’s General Intelligence Theory

Spearman believed that intelligence can be measured using quantitative measures such as IQ tests. His theory consists of two factors, called the general intelligence factor or the “g” factor, and the specific factor or the “s” factor. He believed that the g factor determines a person’s general success on all mental ability tasks and that is what an IQ test should measure because the s factor is too specific and only applies to specific tasks.

Gardener’s Theory of Multiple Intelligence

As its name suggests, Gardner’s theory is based on the belief that there are different kinds of intelligences (unlike Spearman’s General Intelligence Theory).

Gardner believed that there are seven intelligences: Linguistic, Musical, Logical-Mathematical, Spatial, Bodily-Kinaesthetic, Intrapersonal (self-awareness) and Interpersonal (people skills). Everyone has got these traits in varying degrees, although in general everyone is characterised by a specific combination of intelligences that are dominant in her/him.

So what is your dominant intelligence? Try figuring it out and comparing it with your friends’.

Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence

Partly agreeing with Gardener’s idea of multiple intelligence, Sternberg created his Triarchic Theory which takes into account three factors in intelligence: analytical (used to think in abstract terms to solve problems), creative (inventing new solutions and discovering the unknown), and practical (getting on with the world and manipulating one’s environment to achieve one’s goals). These were the factors, he believed, that could help people succeed in real life (as opposed to predicting success on IQ tests).

— SKB