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#1914 The Slippery Nature Of Intelligence - Harps · The You Project

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  Speaker 1: Get our team. So let's talk about intelligence today. What
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  Speaker 1: is it? What isn't it? And let me start by saying,
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  Speaker 1: as I always do, this is me thinking out loud.
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  Speaker 1: There's me thinking out loud, sharing thoughts and ideas. I
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  Speaker 1: think the way that intelligence is framed and explained and
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  Speaker 1: tested and portrayed is a very limited paradigm of a
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  Speaker 1: very fucking big thing. And in fact, I think the
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  Speaker 1: way that intelligence is tested is stupid. Here it is,
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  Speaker 1: I'm saying it out loud. I think the idea of
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  Speaker 1: testing people and then giving them a number on a
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  Speaker 1: given day, doing a given test, and saying you are,
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  Speaker 1: based on this number that you got, you are intelligent
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  Speaker 1: in the top whatever, or you're in the bottom whatever.
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  Speaker 1: And so what we're doing is we are giving someone
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  Speaker 1: a number or a label that then they're going to
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  Speaker 1: take out of that experience with the moving forward, which
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  Speaker 1: could be not at all indicative of what that person's
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  Speaker 1: actual potential is. It could be influenced by cultural things, emotional,
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  Speaker 1: psychological things, the good on the day, they could be tired,
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  Speaker 1: it might be written in a language that doesn't really
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  Speaker 1: work for them. It's you know, we're doing one test
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  Speaker 1: on one day, at a moment in time, we're assessing
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  Speaker 1: one aspect of intelligence, which is generally cognitive ability. There's
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  Speaker 1: cultural bias, there's language bias. There's a whole bunch of
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  Speaker 1: things that don't work about IQ tests. Yet, says the
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  Speaker 1: guy doing a pH d in psychology. Yet they are
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  Speaker 1: held in very regard, and I think in some situations
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  Speaker 1: and circumstances and contexts they have relevance. I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: say that, but I just think that, you know, when
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  Speaker 1: we have a thing called mensa, which is where the
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  Speaker 1: GENII go. If you've got an IQ or if you
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  Speaker 1: get a score I think it's one forty, doesn't matter.
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  Speaker 1: You get this certain score, and then you can be
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  Speaker 1: in this club, which is this prestigious club that says
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  Speaker 1: you're really fucking smart. You're in our super smart group.
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  Speaker 1: But the thing about this kind of language and this
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  Speaker 1: kind of assessment and this kind of psychology is that
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  Speaker 1: it discounts. It discounts a whole range of other kinds
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  Speaker 1: of intelligence. So let's talk about intelligence and not the
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  Speaker 1: ironically stupid kind of an IQ test where people are
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  Speaker 1: labeled smart, stupid, or somewhere in between. They're literally given
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  Speaker 1: a number and they're told, you know, they're told essentially,
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  Speaker 1: they're told they're pretty smart or pretty stupid, or they're
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  Speaker 1: given a number, and what could what could possibly go wrong?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, that couldn't possibly have a negative or a
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  Speaker 1: negative psychological or emotional or sociological outcome, That couldn't damage people,
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  Speaker 1: that couldn't fuck them up, that couldn't hang over their head,
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  Speaker 1: they could never Imagine a kid, imagine doing a test
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  Speaker 1: and they get a bad score and other people find
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  Speaker 1: out and that that's used as some kind of you know,
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  Speaker 1: weapon against them or bullying kind of tool or whatever.
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  Speaker 1: And I mean, these things happen. These things happen, so
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  Speaker 1: you know, I know also, and this is on no
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  Speaker 1: level meant to be any kind of brag, but I
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  Speaker 1: did an IQ test when I was young, and I
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  Speaker 1: scored quite high and not you know, not ridiculous, but
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  Speaker 1: you know high. But what's what's funny is despite the
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  Speaker 1: fact that I did okay on that test, there are situations,
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  Speaker 1: there are environments, there are problems, there are challenges where
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  Speaker 1: I am in regards to that thing and that context,
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  Speaker 1: in the context of that problem that needs to be
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  Speaker 1: solved or that need that needs to be met, or
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  Speaker 1: that conversation that needs to be had, or that whatever
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  Speaker 1: I'm I am borderline stupid, depending on the context, the situation,
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  Speaker 1: the challenge. So I want to talk about the myriad
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  Speaker 1: of intelligences, because surely it's not a single thing that
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  Speaker 1: can be measured or understood or really comprehended by a
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  Speaker 1: kid or an adult sitting at a computer answering some
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  Speaker 1: questions for thirty or forty minutes. So I really want
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  Speaker 1: to talk about I don't know how to explain this,
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  Speaker 1: but I'm just going to call it real world, practical, usable,
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  Speaker 1: demonstrable situation, improving outcome, improving relationship, improving problem solving, observable intelligence,
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  Speaker 1: not what Brian or Katie scored on a particular kind
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  Speaker 1: of test on a given day sitting in a room.
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  Speaker 1: So I guess in our culture, we really like thinking
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  Speaker 1: that intelligence is a fixed thing. Like he is not intelligent,
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  Speaker 1: she is intelligent. Well, that depends what we're going to
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  Speaker 1: ask him to do. That depends on the task or
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  Speaker 1: the challenge or the question, doesn't it Because he might
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  Speaker 1: be a genius in this room and she's not. And
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  Speaker 1: she might be a genius in the other room and
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  Speaker 1: he's not. It depends what's going on in the room.
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  Speaker 1: So intelligence is not a fixed thing. And we know
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  Speaker 1: that not only is it not a fixed thing and
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  Speaker 1: it's a multi dimensional thing, but we also know that
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  Speaker 1: individuals this is not the right word, but it kind
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  Speaker 1: of explains that individuals are smarter and dumber. Let's put
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  Speaker 1: an asterisk next to that. Depending on a bunch of variables,
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  Speaker 1: the same person doing the same test or the same
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  Speaker 1: kind of test will not always score, In fact, may
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  Speaker 1: hardly ever score the exact same outcome or score or number.
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  Speaker 1: Because our intelligence, or our aptitude, or our ability to
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  Speaker 1: figure things out or solve problems varies over the day.
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  Speaker 1: It varies day to day, and it varies over the
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  Speaker 1: day depending on a whole lot of things, like what's
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  Speaker 1: happening with our hormones, what's happening with our nutrition? Have
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  Speaker 1: I eaten? Am I hungry? Am I distracted? Am I hydrated?
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  Speaker 1: My body is mostly water, my brain is mostly water.
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  Speaker 1: So when I'm dehydrated, I literally my brain is not
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  Speaker 1: as smart. My cognitive capacity diminishes and decreases. Also when
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  Speaker 1: I'm anxious, when I'm stressed, it also is diminished. So
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  Speaker 1: if I do a test when i'm dehydrated or a
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  Speaker 1: bit drunk or kind of tired, my score is going
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  Speaker 1: to be lower. So we know that that it is
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  Speaker 1: not an absolute thing. It can be a dynamic and
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  Speaker 1: a variable thing depending on a myriad of things. So
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  Speaker 1: we like to pretend that it's fixed and it lives
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  Speaker 1: in our brain as like a single number, and you're
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  Speaker 1: either smart or you're not. You're gifted or you're not.
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  Speaker 1: But away from the theory, we know it's bullshit because
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  Speaker 1: we all recognize that that intelligence is slippery, it's multi dimensional.
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  Speaker 1: It's context dependency, suation dependent, task dependent, problem dependent. Sometimes
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  Speaker 1: it's invisible or subtle. We can't really see it, and
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  Speaker 1: it's often I think misunderstood and or miss represented. You know,
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  Speaker 1: there's the person who aces the test, who gets the
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  Speaker 1: aplaster distinction, thee hundred out of one hundred, but they
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  Speaker 1: can't hold a great conversation. You throw them a ball,
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  Speaker 1: they can't catch it. You give them a crying baby,
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  Speaker 1: they have a meltdown. They don't know what to do.
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  Speaker 1: There's the academic genius who can't manage their emotions or
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  Speaker 1: their relationships. There's the and I'm this is with a
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  Speaker 1: wink There's the dumb tradey who builds a multi million
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  Speaker 1: dollar empire because she noticed that she understands people and
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  Speaker 1: timing and risk and hustle better than the other trade
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  Speaker 1: or the other person, I should say, who's got three degrees.
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  Speaker 1: There's the dude who can't read music, who's never had
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  Speaker 1: a lesson, but nonetheless plays fifteen instruments with incredible fucking skill.
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  Speaker 1: So we love categories, we love labels, we love rankings.
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  Speaker 1: But intelligence leaks across categories. It doesn't, It doesn't fit
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  Speaker 1: in a pigeonhole. It operates and expresses differently depending on
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  Speaker 1: what's required. What's the task, what's the question, what's the role,
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  Speaker 1: and in what capacity. Someone who knows, for example, how
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  Speaker 1: to listen deeply, how to be fully present, how to
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  Speaker 1: read what's going on, how to understand the other person,
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  Speaker 1: how to ask great questions, how to know what that
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  Speaker 1: individual's saying when they're not saying anything right. That's the
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  Speaker 1: kind that's social intelligence. That's situational awareness, which is also intelligence.
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  Speaker 1: Someone who can regulate their reactions under pressure. Someone who
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  Speaker 1: can be the calm and the chaos, that thing that
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  Speaker 1: we call equanimity. Someone who doesn't lose their shit when
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  Speaker 1: other people might lose their shit under far less pressure.
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  Speaker 1: That's emotional intelligence. Someone who can adapt to change, someone
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  Speaker 1: who can unlearned bullshit, someone who can keep growing. That's practical,
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  Speaker 1: That that's fluid, that's evolving intelligence. See, the thing is
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  Speaker 1: that IQ tests don't measure wisdom. They don't measure awareness
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  Speaker 1: or kindness, or how well you're going to manage a
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  Speaker 1: breakup or handle someone that you love dying or starting
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  Speaker 1: over after going broke, or dealing with some nasty fucker
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  Speaker 1: at work. IQ tests don't measure that. They don't measure adaptability.
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  Speaker 1: They don't measure intuition. They don't measure your ability to
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  Speaker 1: understand what's not being said or to read a room.
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  Speaker 1: They don't measure humility, which, by the way, might be
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  Speaker 1: one of the smartest things a person can have. And
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  Speaker 1: the irony is the moment that you believe you're truly
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  Speaker 1: intelligent and you stop consciously learning, growing, and questioning is
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  Speaker 1: the moment that your intelligence kind of becomes rigid and
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  Speaker 1: fragile and outdated. Because real intelligence isn't a single thing,
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  Speaker 1: it's a process. It's a multi dimensional, emotional and practical
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  Speaker 1: skill set that you have that you can develop to
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  Speaker 1: help you survive and then thrive, no matter the problem
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  Speaker 1: that you need to solve. It's not a DestinE nation intelligence.
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  Speaker 1: It's kind of like a kind of like a dance
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  Speaker 1: with the unknown. How well can you do the stuff
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  Speaker 1: that you don't know, that you can't predict, that you
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  Speaker 1: can't see, that's unfamiliar, that's uncomfortable. How well can you
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  Speaker 1: deal with all of that shit. It's a willingness to
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  Speaker 1: be wrong. It's a willingness to change your mind and
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  Speaker 1: to not need to be right, to not need to know,
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  Speaker 1: to not need to be the smartest person in the room. So, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: intelligence is slippery, And anyone who tries to sell you
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  Speaker 1: on the idea that intelligence is a score or a
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  Speaker 1: number or a title or a trophy probably doesn't really
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  Speaker 1: understand it really, or maybe they don't have it. Can
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  Speaker 1: I say that