The intelligence of an individual is the product of a genetic load that goes far beyond that of his grandparents, but that some details of the structure of intelligence can be modified with significant stimuli, applied at crucial moments in human development.
intelligence-and-its-developmentWhat is intelligence?
It has its origin in the union of two Latin words:
Inter = between
Choose = choose
Etymologically we can conceptualize intelligence then: being intelligent is knowing how to choose the best alternative among several, and also knowing how to read between the lines. In other words, an intelligent person knows: discuss, analyze, deliberate and give a verdict to produce an effective result.
R. Jensen: Information processing speed and ability to keep it active in working memory.
STERNBERG (1986): Mental activity involved in the adaptation, molding and purposeful selection of real world environments that are relevant to life itself. A type of higher mental self-government or self-management.
BINET (environmentalist): 1904
The ability to adapt and the power of self-criticism.
Developed the first intelligence tests.
HOWARD GARDNER (1943…): “Ability to solve problems or produce products that are valued in one or more cultural contexts”.
Analyzing: It is the product of a brain operation and allows the subject to solve problems and even create products that have specific value within a culture.
Intelligence is therefore: “A cerebral flow that leads us to choose the best option to solve a difficulty, and is completed as a faculty to understand, among several options, which is the best. It also helps us solve problems or even create valid products for the culture that surrounds us ”. (C. Antunes)
The intelligence of an individual is the product of a genetic load that goes far beyond that of his grandparents, but that some details of the structure of intelligence can be modified with significant stimuli, applied at crucial moments in human development.
When asked about the possibility of increasing intelligence, he emphasizes that this increase is more intense for the execution of some operations than others.
In reality, there is no "general intelligence" that grows or stagnates, but rather a multiple cast of aspects of intelligence, some much more sensitive than others to modification by appropriate stimuli.
In summary, it is possible to affirm with clear scientific evidence that human intelligence can be increased especially in the first years of life, even admitting that the rules of this increase are stipulated by genetic restrictions.
An investigation with mice, developed by Mark rosenzweig during the 1960s at the University of California, Berkeley, reveals the importance of stimuli from an environment in increasing intelligence. A group of mice was formed with abundant food but in an impoverished environment, and another similar group, with less food, although enough, but in improved cages with mazes, stairs, wheels and other "games".
After eight days, all the mice were euthanized and their brains scientifically analyzed. The result was incredibly illuminating: the brain cortexes of mice from the stimulus-poor environments weighed four percent less than mice raised in the stimulus environments. The former were fatter, but much less active and much more sleepy than the latter. In just a few days, it became clear that mice raised in stimulating environments were much better at "solving problems" posed by cage games.
The aging of the human body, the plant or the animal is an indisputable fact for Biology, and it could not be different in the matter of intelligence.
Man concentrates his brain activity on the left side, where the functions of speech, logical reasoning and spatial memory are located, which stimulates deductions, calculates risks and dangers with more certainty, and a series of other attributes that are unduly given name of "reason". The female brain has smaller volume and fewer neurons but, in compensation, it has areas in which the neurons are more concentrated than in men.
Women use both sides of the brain much more, and therefore much more than men, the right hemisphere, where emotions, familiar faces and effective memory are stored.
Aging does not occur in all intelligences at the same time and, mainly, it does not happen with the same intensity in the two cerebral hemispheres. It is produced much more for lack of stimuli - which would be the same for lack of "gymnastics" - than for reasons of a biological nature. Each intelligence, of the several that we have, has its clearly defined "window of opportunity" and, although these windows open and close, they depend a lot on each particular intelligence.
The human brain is more or less like an inherited house with nine different windows, each with a special time to open slightly and another to open fully. Some of these windows begin to open in the womb; the majority, on the occasion of birth, and others, in the first years of life. In general, they are fully open between the ages of two and sixteen. But then they close a bit and close again around the age of seventy.
The brain circuits responsible for the different intelligences mature in different periods of life, highlighting the importance of stimulation during childhood. Synapse density in the one- to two-year-old is about fifty percent greater than that of an adult, but the twenty-two-year-old college student is as easily or difficult to learn as his seventy-one-year-old grandfather. The difference between them is in knowing which of the two is more motivated and which is surrounded by more stimuli.
Synapse
What does window of opportunity mean?
A college student has a brain mass that weighs about a kilo and a half. That substance is home to a hundred trillion nerve cells, each one connected to thousands of others in more than a hundred trillion connections. We give the name of SINAPSIS to the contact relationship between these nerve cells. However. That tissue is not ready and finished at birth, a baby's brain mass stores neurons for its entire life, but the synapses are not fully finished yet. This is why the brain of a newborn weighs a little less than that of an adult. This means that the nerve fibers capable of activating the brain need to be built, and they are so because of the challenges and stimuli that the human being is subjected to.
In a newborn, the two hemispheres of the brain are not yet specialized. This will occur slowly until the age of five, and rapidly until the age of sixteen, but unevenly in each hemisphere and for each intelligence. So sixteen years is an inappropriate age to expand the capacity of speech, whose window presents its greatest opening between ten and twelve years, and much less valid even for visual function, whose partial closure occurs at two years.
Neurobiologists began to study what they called the "window of opportunity", creating a map, which has yet to be perfected, in which other intelligences also present their windows.
However, it is never excessive to repeat that the closing of the window represents only a greater difficulty in learning and not the learning impediment that, as we have seen, does not manifest itself until after the age of seventy-two. The idea of the window is positive, because, if it is “totally open”, we have a great moment for its encouragement; if it is partially closed, the stimulus is valid, but the learning will be a little more difficult.
What are the multiple intelligences?
According to Howard Gardner), it would be eight, therefore, the human being would have eight different points in his brain where different intelligences would be housed. Although this Psychologist affirms that number eight is relatively subjective, these are the intelligences that characterize what he calls multiple intelligences, which are:
Linguistic or verbal intelligence.
Logical Intelligence - Mathematics.
Spatial Intelligence.
Musical intelligence.
Body intelligence - kinesthetic.
Naturalistic
Intelligence Interpersonal Intelligence.
Intrapersonal intelligence.
The Brazilian professor Nilson Machado, Doctor of Education at the University of Sao Paulo, in his work "Education for Citizenship" (1996), adds yet another intelligence, the ninth that would be PICTÓRICA. By establishing a line of relationship between the intelligences proposed by Gardner; identifies as links of complementarity the pairs Linguistic - Logical Mathematical, Intra and Interpersonal, Spatial - Body kinesthetic and Musical - pictorial competence.
It reinforces that composition, developed before Gardner announced naturalistic intelligence, remembering that pictorial resources become fundamental elements in communication and in the expression of feelings, manifesting characteristic personalities or revealing diversified symptoms of psychic imbalances.
Multiple intelligences in practice
1. Linguistic Intelligence - Verbal
Ability to think in words and use language to understand, express and appreciate complex meanings.
Verbal-linguistic intelligence is an essential human characteristic for social coexistence and is usually described as sensitivity to sounds, rhythms and meaning of words, which on many occasions become a passion to learn to express oneself both verbally and through words. written.
The human being learns to express himself and understand others through gestures and non-verbal communications and later with words that, little by little, enrich his expressive possibilities. The acquisition of the word is the factor of change in the cognitive process of children, when they manage to go from pure and direct action to the mediation of language
Indicators that allow you to discover:
He creatively composes poetry, short stories, fables, comics.
Recite, declaim poetry.
Make up novels.
Has a good memory for names, places, dates, or general culture facts.
Enjoy reading books.
You have good spelling.
Enjoy the funny verses and tongue twisters.
He likes to do crosswords.
He likes to play anagrams.
He has a good vocabulary.
Excel in subjects that are based on reading and writing, etc.
Materials to develop this intelligence:
Reading books (implement a school library).
Writing materials.
Recorders.
Newspapers and magazines.
Crosswords.
Anagrams.
Wireless microphone.
Instructions for signing.
Ways to develop our intelligence:
Pronouncing, listening and seeing the words.
Talking to others.
Reading many books: informational and literary.
Listening to records, cassettes, spoken words.
Writing poems, stories, legends, comics, news, novels, etc.
Organizing skits (dramatizations).
Organizing evenings of storytelling.
Inventing school newspapers.
Visiting printing workshops (publishing houses).
Exercise intellectual capacity.
2. Logical Intelligence - Mathematics
The logical-mathematical intelligence is the capacity for logical reasoning: it includes mathematical calculations, numerical thinking, capacity for logic problems, problem solving, ability to understand abstract concepts, reasoning and understanding of relationships.
Indicators that allow you to discover:
Perform mental arithmetic calculations quickly.
Play precision strategy games like chess and Chinese checkers.
Solve problems using inferences: logic.
Design experiments.
Invest time in logical games such as puzzles, the cube or others.
Classify objects by categories or hierarchies.
Enjoy math and logic classes.
Master the concepts of quantity, time and cause - effect.
Employs various mathematical skills, such as estimating, calculating, interpreting statistics, and presenting information in the form of graphs.
Think mathematically by collecting evidence, stating hypotheses, formulating models, developing counter-examples, and building strong arguments.
Materials to develop this intelligence:
Calculators
Logic blocks.
Scientific equipment.
Logical games.
Money games, such as monopolies.
Toy money.
Watches
Blocks with mathematical signs.
Rules and compass.
Kipu.
Abacus and counters.
Tables of arithmetic operations.
Ways to develop our intelligence:
Forming concepts and looking for patterns and abstract relationships.
Manipulating concrete materials to compare, serialize, weigh, measure, quantify, assemble, construct, and disassemble objects.
Playing chess, with logic puzzles, computer games that include logical reasoning.
Collecting interesting objects to organize by categories, for example they can be coins, toys, stamps, bills, balls, etc.
Attending computer and electronics fairs.
Measuring various concrete objects.
3. Spatial intelligence
Visual-spatial intelligence comprises a series of skills such as: recognition and elaboration of visual images, distinguishing through sight specific features of objects, creation of mental images, reasoning about space and its dimensions, management and reproduction of internal images and external. Some or all of these abilities can manifest themselves in the same person.
characteristics
Perceive reality, appreciating sizes, directions and spatial relationships.
Mentally reproduce objects that have been observed.
Recognize the same object in different circumstances; the image remains so fixed that the individual is able to identify it regardless of the place, position or situation in which the object is.
Anticipate the consequences of spatial changes, anticipate and imagine or suppose how an object that undergoes some type of change can vary.
Describe coincidences or similarities between objects that look different; identify common or different aspects in the objects that are around the individual.
Indicators that allow you to discover:
Excels in art classes.
Design topographic plans.
Read maps, diagrams, and other geographic guides with ease.
Draw accurate representations of people and objects.
Enjoy television and film images.
Easily solve pupils.
Trace mazes with ease.
Construct three-dimensional representations.
He draws almost at all times.
Enjoy the illustrations you read.
Etc.
Materials to develop this intelligence:
Puzzle.
Globe.
Compasses
Maps.
Video game.
Lego.
Materials for drawing and cartoons.
Photo and illustration albums.
Photographic camera.
Video camera.
Microscope.
Telescope.
Labyrinths.
Colored chalks.
Rubber.
Templates to make letters or other designs.
Ways to develop our intelligence:
Watching and carefully describing objects that surround us.
Observing and creating images.
Drawing and coloring objects.
Using films, slides, videos, diagrams and diagrams.
Orienting ourselves (determining the cardinal points) in the forest or in the streets.
Properly going through mazes on paper.
Using construction sets.
Counting dreams.
Tracing terrain.
Building plans.
Visiting architectural monuments and art museums.
4. Kinetic body intelligence
Type of intelligence that stands out for the performance of motor actions. Type of intelligence that is well used by artists, bodybuilders, acrobats, martial artists, and is generally possessed by all types of sports professionals.
It consists of the ability to use body movements as a means of self-expression. This involves a great sense of timing and timing. Includes the use of hands to create and manipulate physical objects.
Indicators that allow you to discover:
He excels in sports such as football, volleyball, basketball, tennis, etc.
It moves, it squirms, it taps its fingers.
He is restless when seated.
Make time for physical activities like running, swimming, cycling, or skateboarding.
You need to touch things to learn.
Enjoy watching sports.
Demonstrates skill in manual work.
Easily imitate the gestures and behaviors of others.
Precisely mold artistic objects.
He loves taking apart and putting together artifacts.
Etc.
Materials to develop this intelligence:
Handicraft tools.
Sports equipment.
Molding pastes.
Skateboards.
Objects to throw (saucers, bullets, etc).
Dolls or puppets.
Materials for ceramics.
Gym equipment.
Dance costumes.
Bicycles, tricycles.
Jump ropes.
Hula hoop, balls. Etc.
Ways to develop our intelligence:
Touching, manipulating or handling objects.
Performing multiple physical exercises.
Participating in sports competitions.
Performing pantomime.
Imitating movements and roles of people.
Improvising theatrical roles.
Visiting playgrounds, obstacle courses, etc.
Going on walks.
Swimming, performing gyms.
Disassembling and fixing appliances.
Participating in crafts such as wood carving, clay modeling.
Certain areas of the brain play important roles in music perception and production. These, usually located in the right hemisphere, are not located clearly as is the case with language. However, despite the lack of specific susceptibility to musical ability in case of brain injuries, there is evidence of "amusia" (loss of musical ability).
Indicators that allow you to discover:
He is interested in playing musical instruments.
Remember the melodies of the songs.
Excel in music classes.
He likes to study with background music.
Collect records or cassets.
He composes songs, sings alone and for others.
It carries the rhythm of the music well.
He has a melodious voice when he speaks.
It is sensitive to the sounds of the environment.
He likes to listen to various kinds of music., Etc.
Materials to develop this intelligence:
Through rhythm and melody.
Singing
Recording.
Whistling.
Playing percussion and wind musical instruments.
Studying with background music.
Composing lyrics and music for songs.
Attending musical concerts.
Etc.
Ways to develop our intelligence:
It is described as the competence to perceive the relationships that exist between various species or groups of objects and people, as well as to recognize and establish whether there are distinctions and similarities between them.
Naturalists are often skilled at observing, identifying, and classifying members of a group or species, and even discovering new species. Their most related field of observation is the natural world, where they can recognize flora and fauna, and productively use their skills in hunting, life sciences, and nature conservation.
But it can also be applied in any field of science and culture, because the characteristics of this type of intelligence adhere to the qualities expected in people who are dedicated to research and follow the steps of the scientific method.
Naturalistic intelligence
Indicators that allow you to discover:
- He likes to observe nature such as animals, the forest, the stars, etc.
- He likes to visit zoos and recreational parks.
- Enjoy modifying nature (conducting experiments).
- Enjoy taking care of pets.
- He loves to cultivate gardens.
- Natural art museums fascinate him.
- It is arranged not to pollute nature.
- Advocates for the rights of living beings.
- Keeps records of studies on specific phenomena.
- Make herbariums, aquariums, insectaries, seed albums, etc.
- Excels in zoology, botany, geographic classes, etc.
Materials to develop this intelligence:
Magnifying glass.
Microscope.
Aquarium. Terrarium.
Insectary.
Ecological games.
Pets to care for.
Home planetarium.
Garden equipment.
Miniature toy animals and plants.
Garden, etc.
Ways to develop our intelligence:
Observing directly or indirectly nature: landscapes, animals, plants…
Having access to the forest, walking through the hills, climbing mountains, crossing fields.
Building aquariums, insectaries, herbaria, botanical gardens.
Raising pets and organizing farms.
Acting as a scientist: using language and the scientific method.
Exposing on the result of our observations.
Watching videos about natural phenomena and multiple forms of life.
In dialogue with scientists: historians, archaeologists, botanists, zoos, sociologists, chemists, physicists, astronomers.
Talking with technologists: doctors, nurses, engineers, teachers, lawyers. Etc.
Interpersonal intelligence is what allows us to understand others. Interpersonal intelligence is much more important in our daily life than academic brilliance, because it is what determines the choice of partner, friends and, to a large extent, our success at work or study.
Interpersonal intelligence is based on the development of two large types of abilities, empathy and the ability to manage interpersonal relationships.
First, try to understand the other, then try to make them understand you.
Stephen Covey
Indicators that allow you to discover:
He socializes quickly.
She has lots of friends.
Always do group work.
Enjoy group games.
It helps to solve during the debate.
Show empathy.
He is sought out by his friends to solve problems or as a counselor.
Enjoy teaching others.
Leader is shown.
Etc.
Ways to develop our intelligence:
Interacting and actively collaborating with others.
Teaching other people.
Sharing toys and games.
Participating in community activities such as clubs, committees, or voluntary organizations.
Working in a group.
Attending political rallies.
Attending social and cultural events of all kinds, etc.
The inherent capacities of this type of intelligence are what we draw upon to understand ourselves and other people; to imagine, plan and solve problems especially emotional ones.
Within ourselves we have the resources to lead a productive life, such as: motivation, decision-making capacity, personal ethics, integrity, empathy and altruism.
Interpersonal intelligence allows you to understand and work with others, the intrapersonal, allows you to better understand yourself and work with yourself. In the individual sense of oneself, it is possible to find a mixture of intrapersonal and interpersonal components. The sense of oneself is one of the most remarkable human inventions: it symbolizes all possible information about a person and what he is. It is an invention that all individuals build for themselves.
Indicators that allow you to discover:
Analyze their strengths and weaknesses.
Analyze other's points of view and give an appropriate opinion
He likes to work and study alone.
You are confident in your ability.
Advance at your own pace.
Always correct your mistakes.
Expresses your ideas accurately.
He sets goals and strives to achieve them.
Decide and carry out actions.
Has confidence in others.
You are curious about the "great enigmas" of life.
Ways to develop our intelligence:
Setting our own goals.
Choosing our own activities.
Setting our own pace on any project.
Conducting independent studies.
Performing self-learning, meta cognition, meta memory, meta attention, etc.
Working in trades that we like.
Reading biographies of scientists and heroes.
DANIEL GOLEMAN
Daniel Goleman is an American psychologist, born in Stockton, California, on March 7, 1947. He gained world fame after the publication of his book Emotional Intelligence in 1995.
He worked as a writer for the behavioral and brain sciences section of The New York Times. He has been editor of Psychology Today magazine and professor of psychology at Harvard University, where he received his doctorate.
Goleman was a co-founder of the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning at Yale University's Child Studies Center (later at the University of Illinois, Chicago), whose mission is to help schools introduce courses in emotional education.
First published in 1995, Emotional Intelligence stayed for a year and a half on The New York Times bestseller list. According to Daniel Goleman's official website, until 2006, around 5,000,000 copies have been sold in thirty languages, being a best seller in many countries.
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
Components of emotional intelligence (D. Goleman)
1. Emotional self-awareness
It refers to knowing our own emotions and how they affect us. It is very important to know the way in which our state of mind influences our behavior, what are our strengths and our weaknesses. We would be surprised how little we know about ourselves.
2. Emotional self control
Self-control allows us not to get carried away by the feelings of the moment. It is knowing how to recognize what is temporary in a crisis and what lasts. It is possible that we get angry with our partner, but if we were always carried away by the heat of the moment we would be continuously acting irresponsibly and then asking for forgiveness for it.
3. Recognition of other people's emotions (empathy)
Social relationships are often based on knowing how to interpret the signals that others emit unconsciously and that are often non-verbal. Recognizing the emotions of others, what others feel and that can be expressed by the expression of the face, by a gesture, by a bad answer, can help us to establish more real and lasting ties with the people around us. Not surprisingly, recognizing the emotions of others is the first step to understand and identify with them.
4. Interpersonal relationships (personal skills)
Anyone can see that a good relationship with others is one of the most important things in our lives and in our work. And not only treat those who seem like us, our friends, our family. But also know how to deal successfully with those who are in a superior position, with our bosses, with our enemies…
Emotional intelligence at work
Currently there are many companies that are investing a lot of money in training their workers in Emotional Intelligence. And this is so because they have realized that the key to success, the key to sales, lies in the degree to which the workers of a company know and control their emotions and know how to recognize the feelings of customers.
Imagine the case of a salesperson who lacked the skills of dealing with the public, an entrepreneur without motivation for his company or a negotiator without self-control. For these people, a Master at Harvard will not do them any good, because it will take little time to spoil their work due to a bad knowledge of their emotions.
Keep in mind that in recruitment there is an increasing tendency to put candidates in uncomfortable or stressful situations to see their reaction. The times of the simple test and curriculum have gone down in history, since it is necessary to see how the individual reacts to the key situations that they will find in their work.
Download the original file
