Stephen Jay Gould Intelligence Is An Abstraction

Winston Churchill states, “continuous effort-not strength or intelligence-is key to unlocking our potential”. In other words, Churchill believes that hard work is the foundation of success. Success is achieved through effort, making mistakes, choosing to learn from them, and continuing forward. Many individuals, however, have preconceived notions of intelligence and presume it is innate and fixed. On the other hand, Carol Dweck has proven these preconceived opinions to be untrue. In fact, Dweck has over thirty years of scientific research to prove that an overstatement on academic or creative tasks leaves individuals fearful of challenges, vulnerable to failure, and unwilling to remedy their shortcomings. In Dweck's article “The Secret to Raising Smart Kids” she emphasizes that praising children is essential to their

In Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, discuss that “If intelligence matters only up to a point, then past that point, other things – things that have nothing to do with intelligence – must start to matter more,” (86).

In the article, “The War on Stupid People”, Freedman depicted the emphasis the society has placed on determining or facilitating human capacity has failed the less intelligent people. Freedman detailed his argument by providing evidence on how intelligence played a huge role in employment opportunities and academic performance. Moreover, he illustrated the issue of the economically disadvantaged/less intelligent, the current approach is flawed in the favoring the intelligent. He asserted with the evolution of the view of intelligence to the point as becoming a detrimental measure for human worth. He developed his main message by first established a neutral tone by providing statistical evidence of what a significant role intelligence has played,

He mentions that just because certain jobs requires less education, does not make anyone less intelligent. “Intelligence is closely associated with formal education - the type of schooling a person has, how much and how long and most people seem to move comfortably from that notion of a belief that work requires less schooling requires less intelligence.” He points out about his mother's job as a waitress and his uncle's job are two examples where people with a lower level of education expanded their field of working and gained to be intelligent while

As a student at Catalina Foothills High School, I believe I have lived up to the tenet of service and display ideals that the National Honors Society seek for in a student and citizen in society. If I am granted membership into the society, I believe I can contribute my qualities to the community as a member of Catalina Foothills National Honor Society and demonstrate the highest standards of behavior to represent our school honorably.

There is an important theme in the story Flowers for Algernon By Daniel Keyes. It is a fiction novel about a thirty year old man who has been battling to overcome an intellectual deficit all of his life and has an opportunity to become more intelligent than he ever had imagined through an experimental operation. He takes the opportunity and in a few weeks he becomes a genius for a short time before his itelligence receded as fast as it increased. The author includes many important themes throughout the passage. Daniel Keyes develops the theme that intelligence doesn’t affect who you truly are through Charlie’s experiences both before and after the operation.

Howard Gardner (1943-current) originally identified and stated that there are 7 (later 9) specific types of intelligence. Gardner argued that students across a broad scale would retain information better if the information was displayed in a number of ways, due to the fact that an individual’s cognitive ability varies in the different types of multiple

The act of stereotyping is assuming that all members of a group have similar knowledge, behaviors, or beliefs simply because they belong to a group. Using stereotypes is one of the most common reasons why countless people are misjudged. It can occur with the person’s knowledge or it can happen subconsciously. Sometimes, in writing, authors will form stereotypes for their characters to fit into. By using a stereotype, it sets a base for the character to build off of and show change. The writers of tv’s number one hit comedy, The Big Bang Theory have included a prominent stereotype in their show that is fitting for their title. The stereotypical nerd is portrayed in many of the character’s through the way they dress, their vernacular, and their lack of social skills.

Intelligence is what gets us by everyday; it gets us jobs and helps to provide for ourselves and others. I'm not saying you need to be the smartest person ever to be successful, but you at least have to be smart enough. Gladwell mentions that "Langan’s IQ is 30 percent higher than Einstein’s. But that doesn’t mean Langan is 30 percent smarter than Einstein. That’s ridiculous. All we can say is that when it comes to thinking about really hard things like physics, they are both clearly smart enough." You can be the smartest person ever about one thing, but you have to be at least smart enough to get through everyday

If education is not teaching you how to use the knowledge, the diploma would be the most useless stuff in the world. While, the common sense of people still tend to believe education means smart, vice versa. “You got college degree, you, you must be smart!” that’s many people may say to a college graduate several decades ago. However, are the graduates really as smart as people believe? Are intelligence positively associated with education or practice? Do the blue-collar workers are more stupid than white-collar? Who told you that? In the article “Blue-Collar Brilliance”, Mike Rose believes that education is not able to bring us the intelligence, while the society and environment, where we live affect our mind the most, after combining what

In the essay “Hidden Intelligence” by Gerald Graff he argues that the intellectual world is “much like the world of team sports, with rival interpretations … rival theories… and elaborate team competitions”. He attests from his own experience that intellect does not only exist in the scholarly form of thinking which is known as academic smart, knowledge can also take the form of street smart. He also demonstrates that there are some students are not academically good at school but they are very smart (by explaining a situation about a 14 years boy who does not show intellectual side because of fear of bullying but practices hidden intellectualism). It seems that the students who

James Watson once said, “The brain is the most complex thing we have yet discovered in our universe”. It is responsible for every single movement in our body; from thinking, learning, breathing, creating memories and more. But the brain is not always perfect. We all have occasional “brain farts” or misperceptions of the world around us. Sometimes we believe that we have experienced vivid moments that we have never actually been through. The human brain is the most extraordinary thing in the universe but sometimes we create false memories without knowing.

The debate in psychology whether and to what extent our aspects of behavior are either genetic or learned characteristics has been going on for a long time. Genetic is the nature side of the argument. Learned refers to the nurture side of this long debate. Some people are so caught between the two extremes that they say it is both, but the argument of which is more important is still relevant. The first person to question this idea was Francis Galton.

Many people grow to be intelligent by studying and learning so much in school. But even at a young age, Albert was an incredibly intellectual person in a logical sense. He may not have been able to walk until three years old, but in school, he was incredibly accelerated. “By the time he was 13, Albert was reading and understanding scientific material that many adults would have found impossible to follow” (Ireland 7). This shows that Albert Einstein is intelligent because it shows how gifted he was above all people. He understood things many people older than him didn’t even understand. This is important because it shows how much potential and intelligence he had even at a young age that lead him to be so successful. Throughout his growing of age, he gained more knowledge through more studying and investigating during his off time. He began to grow so intelligent that even the most talented and famous scientist could’ve been corrected by him. “Finally, on November 6, the president of the Royal Astronomical Society of England made a public announcement that the photographic plates had confirmed Einstein‘s prediction. The rays of light were bent as they passed close to the sun” (Ireland 42). This shows that Albert Einstein is intelligent because he had figured out a flaw in an incredible scientist’s law about science. This is important because it shows how he was intelligent enough to disregard that everyone thought something was right, and still be able to prove them wrong. This shows how intelligent Albert Einstein was and how it lead him to be incredibly

In today’s society, a large amount of emphasis is placed on getting good grades. Day in and day out students are told that getting good grades is detrimental to their future. Unfortunately what many students are not told is that their intelligence is not defined by the marks they receive, but rather intelligence is defined by so much more than a letter on a report card.