-
Asked by Daisy to Ed, Kerrianne, Nina, Oli, yoyehudi on 8 Nov 2017.
-
Yo Yehudi answered on 8 Nov 2017:
“Smart” is a thing that’s really hard to define, and an interesting thing to think about is the fact that people who believe they can do well or get smarter usually *do* get smarter. A lot of people may appear to be smarter because they’ve had a privileged life – if your family has lots of time to help you with homework and encourage you to do well in school, if you have enough money and educated parents – you’re usually going to appear smarter, but a lot of that is simply because you’ve had advantages some other kids might not have. That said, even if kids don’t have those advantages, sometimes they can overcome it. One way to overcome is to believe you can get smarter. “I might not be smart right now, but I will be later”. (Source: http://www.pnas.org/content/113/31/8664.full )
I guess what I’m trying to say is that *everyone* who reads this question can probably get smarter than you are today. Keep trying, keep learning. Every time you strive to learn new stuff, it helps you to get smarter. <3
Too long? Didn't read? Check out this TED talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve
-
-
Ed Bracey answered on 15 Nov 2017:
I agree with Yo.
There are many, many ways to be smart. Social and emotional intelligence, practical, mathematical, many more.
I’ve met people who have been very well educated but who aren’t smart in a lot of ways.
And I’ve met very smart people who haven’t been educated very much.
IQ tests are not necessarily a good measure at all because they only look at some aspects of intelligence, and they can also be studied for.
Also they can be changed by confidence – if you tell people they’re expected to do worse, they likely will!
As Yo says, keep learning, there’s always something wonderful to find out, keep updating your model of reality!
Comments