Collins English Dictionary defines the term “intelligence” as “the ability to think, reason, and understand instead of doing things by instinct.” In other words, intelligence is the ability which allows us to react soundly when navigating our world in every aspect: relationships, situations, etc. Intelligence is a big part of what makes us who we are; human beings have more developed brains than other organisms; therefore, our capacity to learn and reason is bigger.
However, there are a lot of debates when it comes to intelligence. Why some people seem so dim-witted or idiotic at times? Why can’t everyone learn at the same rate or at the same way? Why are some people excelling at some activities, but underachieving at others?
Jason Moser, from the Department of Psychology at Michigan State University, conducted an experiment with 25 students- He glued electrodes to their skulls to monitor their brain activity during the process of an identification task; what the students had to do was to identify the central character in a group of 5, with the groups changing and alternating constantly.
As expected, all 25 students made a lot of mistakes. The exact results of the experiment we will never know…and they are not important. What Moser identified from this experiment was something called ERN; this is short for error-related negativity, and was the answer to Moser’s question, “what do people think when they make mistakes?”
Error-related negativity is an electrical brain signal detectible and monitored through an electroencephalogram. It is a marker thought to reflect changes in dopamine (the hormone of pleasure) when participants make errors or give maladapted responses in cognitive tasks. All 25 students had a surge of this signal .0050 seconds after making a mistake in the test.
Moser believes ERN is an involuntary response of the brain, which could be identified with that feeling of shame or frustration whenever we make a mistake or mishandle a situation. But that is not the only way the brain reacts to cognitive tasks. .050 seconds after making a mistake, the opposite reaction happens: error-related positivity (ERP). When this happens, the brain is able to shift gears and see the error or mishandling as something natural, focusing on the part of their process they need to set right.
What Moser’s experiment proved is that we are all prone to making mistakes, and way before you realize it, two opposite reactions happen in your brain very quickly: first, you feel ashamed or frustrated for your mistake; then, you set out to correct it. Mmm, clearly that’s just the tip of the iceberg, because not everyone reacted in the study group reacted the same way when they failed to identify the central character. There is something bigger behind this.
The true purpose of the experiment was not to determine the rate at which students make errors; but rather was intended as an analysis of their mindset.
Carol Dweck from Stanford identified two types of mindsets related with learning and intelligence: fixed mindset and growth mindset. A fixed mindset sees intelligence and talents as factors which are inherent and fixed, which cannot be improved or modified; therefore, people with fixed mentality believe that, if they are not good at something, they will never be good at it. The opposite is a growth mindset, which sees intelligence and talents as factors in constant evolution, something which can be improved or modified through practice, analysis, and patience.
Moser found out that the students with a growth mindset showed a higher incidence of ERP; they were able to recognize the mistake they made and through the rest of the session, tried to improve themselves. Meanwhile, students with a fixed mindset failed to show ERP; one mistake and they were ready to give up in their intelligence, believing they could never do better the next time. Of course, those who believed they could do better did, and those who did not believed they could do better did not.
The reason I find this experiment so interesting is in the conclusion at which Moser arrived. Intelligence is a factor all human beings share, but not all people think of their intelligence the same way; hence, not everyone reacts the same way when their cognitive abilities fail them. There are those who trust their abilities and upgrade them constantly, and those who lack the self-confidence to improve themselves, believing their abilities will remain fixed and constant.
Therefore, we can conclude, the rate at which we perform in our daily tasks and the skills we acquire is not a matter of how intelligent we are, but rather how motivated we are. Motivation is the factor which truly determines how successful we will be. Think about it: it is useless to be intelligent if you don’t think we are intelligent. Similarly, it doesn’t matter how quickly we learn or how quickly we understand things; if we don’t motivate ourselves to keep upgrading said “gifts” constantly, we are just being cocky and pigheaded.
Fear of failure is one of the worst advisors to let into your life. That “inner voice” which predates your mind holds you back in many areas, and if you don’t stop it, you will become the living image of your worst fantasies. The biggest mistake you can make is to be afraid to make mistakes. You learn as much as failure as you learn from success. Keep failing, keep learning from failure and lifting yourself from it; before you know it, you’ll do so much better at areas you previously thought you were terrible at!
This is the best time to analyze yourself and decide how “fixed” or “growth” you are. You may be surprised by the results!
Comments