Mark Ashton Smith - What is Being Smart

8/10/2019 Mark Ashton Smith - What is Being Smart

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What Is Being Smart?

Why Do We Value It?

Mark Ashton Smith Ph.D.

2014


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CONTENTS

Defining Smart. 3

How Smart Am I? IQ Test Scores. 4

SmartIs Trending. 6

Why Is SmartTrending?

1. Educational and Cognitive Capital 8

2. Self-Improvement and Self-Optimization 13

3. Maintaining Cognitive Ability and Brain Health with Aging 16


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Being smart is increasingly a highly prized attribute. How many times have you

heard someone introduced in glowing terms as:

x is one of the smartest people I have ever met

How many times have you heard it said that employees are looking for smart,

motivated students who are willing to learn, rather than students with specific

skill sets? Or the recommendation that we work smarter and faster, not

harder? And how many times have you heard of someone in a top position, with

significant strategic, political or theoretical impact on the world, described as

very smart or brilliant?

Defining Smart

Psychologists, AI researchers, research organisations have all come up with

definitions of being smart using the term generalintelligence.An excellent

compilation of definitions of general intelligence can be found here.I have

cherry picked a few that capture underlying commonalities of most of these

definitions:

thatfacet of mind underlying our capacity to think, to solve novel

problems, to reason and to have knowledge of the world.M. Anderson

Intelligenceis a very general mental capability that, among other

things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think

abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from

experience.L. S. Gottfredson
http://arxiv.org/pdf/0706.3639.pdfhttp://arxiv.org/pdf/0706.3639.pdfhttp://arxiv.org/pdf/0706.3639.pdfhttp://arxiv.org/pdf/0706.3639.pdfhttp://arxiv.org/pdf/0706.3639.pdfhttp://arxiv.org/pdf/0706.3639.pdf


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abilityto adapt effectively to the environment, either by making a

change in oneself or by changing the environment or findinga new one.

Encyclopaedia Britannica

thecapacity to reorganize onesbehavior patterns so as to act more

effectivelyand more appropriately in novel situations theability to

learn theextent to which a person is educable theability to carry on

abstract thinking theeffectiveuse of concepts and symbols in dealing

with a problem to be solved W. Freeman

intelligenceis the ability to solve problems, or to create products, that

are valued within one or more cultural settings.H. Gardner

Achievingcomplex goals in complex environmentsB. Goertze

How Smart Am I? IQ Test Scores

Your IQ is a measure of how smart you are.

A persons IQ (intelligence quotient) refers to a standardized test score

measure of general intelligence on anIQ test. Standardized means scored

relative to others in the general population, so you know what percentage have

higher IQs and what percentage have lower IQs.

IQ test scores arent a perfect measure of how smart you are. For instance, they

are arent designed to measure what is known as executive functioning self-

monitoring, goal prioritizing and attention control. But IQ tests are the most

consistent, meaningful and predictive type of psychometric test that

psychologists have devised and make use of. IQ test scores can be used to

predict achievements in a wide range of activities outside the classroom,

including creativity, dietary preference, educational attainment, health,

breadth and depth of interests, leadership, longevity, professional achievement

and income. IQ tests are widely used in our institutions and organisations

because of their consistency and validity. Schools and universities use IQ tests(or aptitude tests) to select and stream students, companies use IQ tests to


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screen applicants, with estimates of 80% of Fortune 500 companies HR

departments using these kinds of tests for recruitment.

IQ tests are designed so that the average IQ score is 100. IQ test scores have a

distribution in the general population that looks like a symmetrical bell which

is why the IQ distribution is often called a bell curve. You can see this bell in

the figure below:

In this graph, you can see that the majority of people - nearly 70% - have an IQscore around the average, between 85 and 115. Around 2% have an IQ greater

than 130 which is a very superior intelligence or gifted intelligence. This is

the IQ score needed to joinMensa.

Here is a table that helps us interpret what IQ scores mean:
http://www.mensa.org/http://www.mensa.org/http://www.mensa.org/http://www.highiqpro.com/iq-tests/what-does-my-iq-score-mean/attachment/what-is-an-iq-score-3http://www.highiqpro.com/iq-tests/iq-testing-science/attachment/iq-bell-curve-5http://www.mensa.org/


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How stable are IQ scores over time? After childhood a persons IQ test score is

typically quite stable over the decades. IQ scores have been estimated to be

50% heritable due to genetics. The remaining influence on IQ level is

environmental - education, diet, general health, cultural complexity, training

and so on.

Smart Is Trending

Here is a demonstration of global interest in the search term smarton Google

trends. You can see that interest is growing.

Economically and educationally advanced countries show this search trend

even more strikingly. Here is the UKsinterest in smarton Google:


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Or take Finland. Finland has among the highest educational outcomes in the

word. Here we compare the search term smartwith leadershipto

demonstrate the search priorities:


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Why Is Smart Trending?

1. Educational and Cognitive Capital

Being smart is cognitive capitalin our complex, high tech, knowledge economy

in education, training and employment.

Numerous studies show a clear link between IQ level and income or wealth.

Here is some data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. For this sample the

lowest decile (1/10) is people with I.Q below 84, and the highest decile above

116.

Inrapidly changing, unpredictable, and complex, learning intensivework

environmentsIQ is increasingly viewed as valuable cognitivecapital

,and


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there is pressure to accumulate this capital, much like social or financial

capital.

This is one good reason why being smart is widely valued.

But theres more to it than this. Due to the dynamics of our current economy

and institutions, we live in a time that tends topolarizethe impact of IQ as

cognitive capital. We live in -

a period of growing equality of access to education and increasing

stratification of marketplace rewards, both of which have increased the

importance of human capital. One element of human capital is cognitive

ability: quickness of mind, the ability to infer and apply patterns drawn

from experience, and the ability to deal with mental complexity. Another

is character and social skills: self-discipline, persistence, responsibility.

And a third is actual knowledge. All of these are becoming increasingly

crucial for success in the post-industrial marketplace.(Professor Jerry

Muller,Capitalism and Inequality,March 2013, Foreign Affairs)

A central thesis of The Bell Curve, a seminal workon IQ and its impact in society published in the

90s, is that that those with very high intelligence

- the cognitive elite- are becoming increasingly

separated from those of average and below-

average intelligence and that this has important

economic and social implications.

This claim finds support if we look at bell curve

data on college students. Going back to 1930 the

average IQ of all college graduates in the US was

111. The average IQ of the elite top 12 Ivy League

colleges such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton &

Stanford was 120. Thats notthatbig a

difference. (In the bell curve shown below, we calculate the IQs knowing that 1

standard deviation = 15 IQ points, and the mean is 100).
http://www.thegreatcourses.com/professors/jerry-z-muller/http://www.thegreatcourses.com/professors/jerry-z-muller/http://www.thegreatcourses.com/professors/jerry-z-muller/http://www.thegreatcourses.com/professors/jerry-z-muller/http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/138844/jerry-z-muller/capitalism-and-inequality?page=6&cid=emc-mar13promob-content-02192013http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/138844/jerry-z-muller/capitalism-and-inequality?page=6&cid=emc-mar13promob-content-02192013http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/138844/jerry-z-muller/capitalism-and-inequality?page=6&cid=emc-mar13promob-content-02192013http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/138844/jerry-z-muller/capitalism-and-inequality?page=6&cid=emc-mar13promob-content-02192013http://www.thegreatcourses.com/professors/jerry-z-muller/http://www.thegreatcourses.com/professors/jerry-z-muller/


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If we jump forward to 1990 we can see a very different picture.

While the average IQ of all college graduates in the country has barely changed

(from 111 to 113), the average IQ of Ivy League college graduates the elite 12

universities in the US - has increased from 120 to around 140. Thats alarge difference, and demonstrates a dramatic polarization effect in education.


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Elite educational institutes whose students have considerable impact in shaping

society, are increasingly made up of super smart individuals.

Here is a rigorous 2011studylooking at the earnings of the cognitive elite(in

the US) where the sample is entirely of men with an IQ above 135.

The earnings figures starting at $2,100,000 are predictions of lifetime earnings

based on current earnings data. Lifetime earnings are the per-person sums of

earnings from age 18 to 75.

And on the theme of cognitive elites heresan interesting international study

on the IQ-wealth link.Researchers in 2011analyzed IQ test scores from 90

countries and found that the intelligence of the people especially the smartest

5 percent made a big contribution to the strength of their economies.
http://www.iza.org/conference_files/SUMS2011/gensowski_m6556.pdfhttp://www.iza.org/conference_files/SUMS2011/gensowski_m6556.pdfhttp://www.iza.org/conference_files/SUMS2011/gensowski_m6556.pdfhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956797611407207http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956797611407207http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956797611407207http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956797611407207http://www.iza.org/conference_files/SUMS2011/gensowski_m6556.pdf


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For each one-point increase in a countrys average IQ, the per capita gross

domestic product (GDP) was $229 higher. For the smartest 5% of the

population in each country the cognitive elitesit made an even more

dramatic difference to salary: for every additional IQ point in that group, a

countrys per capita GDP was $468 higher. In other words, the IQ level of e.g.

Lichtensteins cognitive elite is much, much higher than the IQ level of

Burundis cognitive elite.

Why are cognitive elites important for economic productivity? The authors of

the study offer some explanations:

IQ is relevant for technological progress, for innovation, for leading a

nation, for leading organizations, as entrepreneurs, and so on

this [high IQ] groups cognitive ability predicts the quality of economic

and political institutions, which further determines the economic

affluence of the nation

In summary, not only is IQ level an important lever for earnings and measures

of professional success, it is also cognitive capital that is increasingly

concentrated in a cognitive elitewith IQs over, say, 125.

I think in the modern economy, human capital and cognitive ability are

more important than economic freedom.(Dr. Rindermann)

This is one very good reason why smart is trending.


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Another good reason is for self-improvement under the understanding that

cognitive ability can be enhanced.

Self-Improvement

and Self-Optimization

There is an increasing understanding that many aspects of ones life in

resilience, health, productivity or performance at work or in other areas of

activity, skill and interest are full of untapped potential can be improved by

learning about and applying the right strategies. We live in an age of self-optimization and self-actualization more than at any other time in history. The

envelope of human potential is being pushed out everywhere in advanced

economies, with an increasing interest in lifestyle design to borrow a term

fromTim Ferriswho encapsulates the self-optimizing philosophy.

How smart you are your cognitive

ability and performance - can

potentially be improved by a number

of engaging strategies, including

working memory training, learning

new thinking skills, nootropics

(phytochemicals, supplements and

smart drugs), exercise, intermittent

fasting, meditation, ketogenic

adaptation, and tDCS.

These cognitive interventions are all hot topics in scientific research and many

have robust evidence-based support.

Here is the growing Google search interest in brain training over the past five

years.
http://fourhourworkweek.com/blog/http://fourhourworkweek.com/blog/http://fourhourworkweek.com/blog/http://fourhourworkweek.com/blog/


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Here is the interest in working memory.


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And here is the interest in nootropics phytochemicals, supplements and

smart drugs to improve brain functioning.

Self-improvement in cognitive ability and brain functioning is highly satisfying

in itself, resulting in better mental clarity and focus, better comprehension,

more efficient learning, and often more insights and ideas that have

consequence in your life. Improving your own cognition using interventions is a

highly effective way of opening up many areas for personal growth and self-

improvement whether for successfully attaining important life goals, further

educating yourself, succeeding professionally, cultivating beneficial habits, or

learning new skills such as additional languages.

Improving IQ figures strongly in the self-quantificationmovementin which cognitive

and biological capacities such as IQ and general

health are measured and improved through

positive feedback loops in a very systematic

approach to optimizing personal performance and

potential both physically and cognitively.
http://www.iqmindware.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/mindhack-potential.png


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A thinker sees his own actions as experiments and questions--as

attempts to find out something. Success and failure are for him answers

above all.

Friedrich Nietzsche

3. Maintaining Cognitive Ability and Brain

Health with Aging

Another reason why smart istrending relates to aging and brain functioning

more generally. The demographics of the world are changing fast, with greatly

increasing proportions of older people.

Here is one graph showing this trend in the European Union, showing that now

nearly 20% of the population is over 65, compared to 10% in 1960.

Aging entails many physical, biological, chemical, and psychological changes.

The brain is no exception to this phenomenon. As we age, particularly beyond

our 50s there is a general drop in cognitive performance in processing speed,


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problem solving and reasoning ability, spatial ability, as well as working

memory. This graph shows IQ test performance over the lifespan.

With an aging population and increasing proportion of the population suffersfrom dementia. The most common type of dementia is Alzheimers. In 2006,

there were 26.6 million sufferers worldwide. Alzheimers is predicted to affect

1 in 85 people globally by 2050.

Given these data, its clear that tackling different forms of aging-related

cognitive decline is a pressing concern, ensuring that brain health and

performance has become a major cultural priority.

Summary

We should now have a good grasp of what being smart is, why being smart is a

trending, and principle reasons for why it is trending. In subsequent eBooks, I

shall be looking at a number of evidence based strategies for improving IQ.
http://www.iqmindware.com/

Mark Ashton Smith - What is Being Smart

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