How to Raise Our I.Q.
nytimes.com
How to Raise Our I.Q.
1–10 of 65 posts
Re: How to Raise Our I.Q.
#2Publisher's description page for the book under review:
Re: How to Raise Our I.Q.
#3The most important part to me :
That’s particularly true of girls and math, apparently because some girls assume that they are genetically disadvantaged at numbers; deprived of an excuse for failure, they excel.
Our conditionment plays a very important role in limiting or improving our abilities. Doing maths is solving problems. During this process, having empowering believes about oneself is crucial.
I remember when I learned how to dance. The first thing I had to fight was my own belief that as a geek, I was good at maths but supposed to be akward at dancing. Not giving up is much difficult in this condition, but the reward is of a greater kind when you fight this particular demon. Believing in yourself is first and foremost refusing to let the outside world determine your idendity. Reality is complex and we are too multi dimensional to be fit in one category or another.
Instead of focusing on abilities, I prefer to focus on the center of interests of someone. Passion is the master, ability is the servant. While it's true we don't have the same potential in every area, we never know what we are capable of until we try it. And trying is precisely to challenge our inner beliefs, daring to face the unknown.
Re: How to Raise Our I.Q.
#4This doesn't really apply in the western world, but interestingly enough, one of the cheapest ways to raise an society's IQ is by introducing the use of iodized salt:
Re: How to Raise Our I.Q.
#5This doesn't really apply in the western world, but interestingly enough, one of the cheapest ways to raise an society's IQ is by introducing the use of iodized salt: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/16/health/16iodine.html
I've often wondered how much diet plays a role in "mental acuity." When he referred to poor children being adopted into upper middle class families that was the first thing that came to mind.
Re: How to Raise Our I.Q.
#6This doesn't really apply in the western world, but interestingly enough, one of the cheapest ways to raise an society's IQ is by introducing the use of iodized salt: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/16/health/16iodine.html
I've often wondered how much diet plays a role in "mental acuity." When he referred to poor children being adopted into upper middle class families that was the first thing that came to mind.
It's a very big role, especially in early childhood. As the parent points out iodized salt is a big one, another is omega 3 oils.
Re: How to Raise Our I.Q.
#7"If intelligence were deeply encoded in our genes, that would lead to the depressing conclusion that neither schooling nor antipoverty programs can accomplish much."
More optimistically, it means that they're already working pretty well. In a chaotic environment where smart people are likely to be randomly struck down, most variation in intelligence is environmental: The smartest are those who avoid malnutrition, neonatal infections, mothers with drug addictions, etc. In a utopia where everyone receives perfect education and lives up to their full innate potential, all variation is due to genetics, because we're holding everything else constant.
Edit: Less optimistically, it also means that there are no additional gains to be had at the margin. Maybe the benefit of public schooling has been just to sort smart-student pegs into high-paying-job holes, and now that most of that sorting is done there's nothing left for schools to do.
Re: How to Raise Our I.Q.
#8The easiest way to improve I.Q. scores is probably to take practice tests.
Re: How to Raise Our I.Q.
#9Wait, is IQ important or not?
Re: How to Raise Our I.Q.
#10The most important part to me : That’s particularly true of girls and math, apparently because some girls assume that they are genetically disadvantaged at numbers; deprived of an excuse for failure, they excel. Our conditionment plays a very important role in limiting or improving our abilities. Doing maths is solving problems. During this process, having empowering believes about oneself is crucial. I remember when…
If you are looking for practical advice remember the big 4:
Diet: Specifically micro-nutrients and more generally a healthy diet.
Sleep: Vastly underrated, sleep deprivation is on par with getting drunk. Consider, long term sleep deprivation can kill you.
Mental Activity: Consider, Solitary confinement can quickly lead to long term mental issues.
Exercise: It's frighting how important this is.
PS: I suspect sleep and diet account for most of the differences in measured IQ in the french study.