To boost your intelligence, learn how to self-soothe • Hacker News Board

Re: To boost your intelligence, learn how to self-soothe

#81

Post by astrange » Sat, Jul 03, 2021, 2:09 AM UTC

hollander wrote: post #47

nxc18 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Evidence?

It's generally acknowledged that IQ measured by well known IQ tests like the WAIS are fairly consistent over time. You may score a few points lower or higher, but it won't change much. Training can help a bit, but only so much. Health issues, mental problems, stress, tiredness, drugs or alcohol can all influence your score, mostly in a negative way. So I suppose that influences like these are filtered out of this res…

> It's generally acknowledged that IQ measured by well known IQ tests like the WAIS are fairly consistent over time.

This is partially because they're designed to behave that way. There is not a direct causation between your score on a test and your quality of life.

Also, how many people are actually taking IQ tests multiple times in their life? Who even takes them once unless they're being studied for a mental health issue?

> Health issues, mental problems, stress, tiredness, drugs or alcohol can all influence your score, mostly in a negative way.

… and this is a counterpoint to the one above, because removing negative contributions is the same thing as improving your test score.

Re: To boost your intelligence, learn how to self-soothe

#82

Post by astrange » Sat, Jul 03, 2021, 2:12 AM UTC

jhap wrote: post #7

king_magic wrote: post #3

The single most impactful thing you can do to boost your intelligence is learn how to effectively self-soothe This sounds like absolutely unscientific, completely unfounded, feel-good-blogspam bullshit. And hey, maybe it isn't - maybe it's legit. But I see no sources, no studies that indicate that "self soothing" does anything for boosting general intelligence. Absent sources that confirm the author's position, this…

I wonder what the actual single most impactful thing you can do to boost your intelligence is? Besides going to school for 20 years, being well-fed and rested, presumably it's taking modafinil?

Live in an area without noise and air pollution. Stay in shape. Don't eat lead paint chips. Have smarter children and train them to inherit your legacy[1].

Modafinil probably doesn't boost intelligence, but you'd have to define intelligence first. It increases "executive function" and decreases some other things like creativity and reaction times.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S09249...

[1] This is a better strategy than relying on your own intelligence, because you're only ever one blow to the head away from losing it.

Re: To boost your intelligence, learn how to self-soothe

#83

Post by Consultant32452 » Sat, Jul 03, 2021, 2:25 AM UTC

jhap wrote: post #7

king_magic wrote: post #3

The single most impactful thing you can do to boost your intelligence is learn how to effectively self-soothe This sounds like absolutely unscientific, completely unfounded, feel-good-blogspam bullshit. And hey, maybe it isn't - maybe it's legit. But I see no sources, no studies that indicate that "self soothing" does anything for boosting general intelligence. Absent sources that confirm the author's position, this…

I wonder what the actual single most impactful thing you can do to boost your intelligence is? Besides going to school for 20 years, being well-fed and rested, presumably it's taking modafinil?

Importantly, we don't know about anything that can "boost" intelligence. We only know some things that can help not harm your intelligence. Eating a healthy diet is the biggest, others have named things like avoiding pollution.

Re: To boost your intelligence, learn how to self-soothe

#84

Post by theIntuitionist » Sat, Jul 03, 2021, 2:32 AM UTC

MauranKilom wrote: post #68

theIntuitionist wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you view life as a series of problems to be solved, then life will become a bleak series of problems needing to be solved. The approach outlined in the parent comment here would fail to solve any essential human needs beyond a few of the most basic ones. Finding purpose, not burning out, nurturing family, communicating with others- even in professional settings- and so many other parts of being human require us to…

I don't think anybody is arguing against querying your emotions as part of choosing how to solve a problem. What OP specifically advised against was "wast[ing] cycles on the emotions of having problems". You will always have problems. Some worse, some nicer. Sometimes more, sometimes fewer. But your feelings about that fact won't help you move forward. That's why approaching problems with an unemotional mindset is ve…

In a post scarcity world, framing everything as a problem puts you in a needless optimization loop. Emotions tell you why, logic can only answer how, which won’t get you out of the loop.

I’m not making a point for or against employing emotions in problem solving, I’m advocating for an awareness that all “logical” thought fits into a larger emotional context- just the opposite of op who structures their process as a pure logical process. Ironically, I’d call the notion of a purely logical process devoid of emotions a fantasy.

Re: To boost your intelligence, learn how to self-soothe

#85

Post by theIntuitionist » Sat, Jul 03, 2021, 2:45 AM UTC

cartoonworld wrote: post #70

theIntuitionist wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any choice we make that is grounded in subjective decision making suffers from this reframing. And, i'd posit that the vast majority of choices are fundamentally subjective. Just take a moment when engaged in "problem solving" and ask yourself "why?", then question that answer again. You get to motivation, identity , "needs" (and not just the basic food and shelter needs) or some other emotion very quickly this way.…

The growth mindset can be summed up in one sentence: "I can become good at anything."

Yes, and emotions help you choose good “anything”s. There’s always an emotional superstructure- yours, or somebody else can choose for you, based on their own motivations.

Re: To boost your intelligence, learn how to self-soothe

#86

Post by throwaway81523 » Sat, Jul 03, 2021, 3:44 AM UTC

The medium post author posts this to HN and doesn't participate in the thread, and the post itself is membership walled. Annoying. I'll look at the archive.is link I guess, but I feel spammed.

Re: To boost your intelligence, learn how to self-soothe

#87

Post by cartoonworld » Sat, Jul 03, 2021, 4:48 AM UTC

theIntuitionist wrote: post #85

cartoonworld wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The growth mindset can be summed up in one sentence: "I can become good at anything."

Yes, and emotions help you choose good “anything”s. There’s always an emotional superstructure- yours, or somebody else can choose for you, based on their own motivations.

Ok that is a valid truth, however the growth mindset embedded in the sentence "I can become good at anything." is not that.

Its that maybe you can't become the fastest man on earth. That guy exists, his name is Usain Bolt. However, you can for sure get good at sprinting, even if you are missing parts of your legs. That guy is Oscar Pistorious. Maybe you have COPD and you can't? Well, you might need to adjust "good" to be a winnable opportunity in your capabilities. Maybe this is walking to the mailbox. If you couldn't walk to the mailbox last week, I'd call that "good".

Here is the opportunity for the emotional part you mentioned to arise, so yeah, I agree.

Emotions, sure. You can become good at managing your emotions. You can become good at navigating and integrating the superstructure of society into positive outcomes in your own life. You can become good at public speaking and swimming and programming.

You likely will not be able to become the best in the world at anything at all, but you can become good at anything.

Re: To boost your intelligence, learn how to self-soothe

#88

Post by bloqs » Sat, Jul 03, 2021, 3:24 PM UTC

astrange wrote: post #81

hollander wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's generally acknowledged that IQ measured by well known IQ tests like the WAIS are fairly consistent over time. You may score a few points lower or higher, but it won't change much. Training can help a bit, but only so much. Health issues, mental problems, stress, tiredness, drugs or alcohol can all influence your score, mostly in a negative way. So I suppose that influences like these are filtered out of this res…

> It's generally acknowledged that IQ measured by well known IQ tests like the WAIS are fairly consistent over time. This is partially because they're designed to behave that way. There is not a direct causation between your score on a test and your quality of life. Also, how many people are actually taking IQ tests multiple times in their life? Who even takes them once unless they're being studied for a mental healt…

Plenty of people, particularly people employed by large institutional bodies like the the worlds mililitaries, many participating in long term studies, people being assessed for schools and colleges for learning difficulties, people joining a variety of institutions like mensa or applying to a range of jobs

Re: To boost your intelligence, learn how to self-soothe

#89

Post by erikpukinskis » Sat, Jul 03, 2021, 3:37 PM UTC

twirligigue wrote: post #67

Xc43 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She is saying more than that. She is saying learn to confront discomfort/pain with self-soothing. Once you know how to address the pain associated with being seen as an inexperienced/disabled person, you can confront it in many situations. Be it in learning from another or from a book. Distracting emotions are part of you and have to be addressed eventually. Soothing yourself reinforces the motivation for progress an…

So the way to self-soothe is with self-talk? Are there any other ways?

Meditation? My therapist is always encouraging me in uncomfortable moments to feel my body, and widen my awareness beyond narrative, into my senses.

Not sure if that counts as “self soothing”? But it helps achieve the ends OP is seeking.

Re: To boost your intelligence, learn how to self-soothe

#90

Post by paperoli » Sat, Jul 03, 2021, 4:20 PM UTC

This reads a lot like my life too, I just play up the stupid side really, people relax and like you more. I remember teachers being absolutely flummoxed by my grades and then would treat me completely differently, suddenly like an adult, as opposed to a retarded 10 year old. I also need to ask endless basic questions to understand anything and it seems to me like other people somehow have already received and read the rules to life. My understanding seems maybe to be able to reach a deeper level but takes longer to get to an intermediate level.