Hey everyone, and welcome to TopThink. Today, we are going to learn about 10 psychological
tricks to boost your IQ. Now, let’s begin.
1. Cognitive Innovation Intelligence can be a challenging
subject to define or categorize. You rely on a myriad of cognitive faculties to solve problems,
understand language, and adapt to change, but we know very little about what makes
one person “more intelligent” than another. There may not be an all-encompassing theory
of intelligence, but psychologists like Robert Sternberg have created useful models, which help
people like us understand where intelligence comes from and how it grows over time.
Sternberg divides intelligence into three categories: analytical intelligence,
practical intelligence, and the category we’re going to focus on now: creative intelligence.
Creative intelligence describes your ability to discover new solutions to familiar problems.
For example, if you don’t have a toothbrush handy, how do you brush your teeth? Solving this kind of
problem requires a creative mind, out of the box thinking, and a willingness to break the rules.
But here’s the problem. Very few people exercise their creative intelligence on a regular basis.
In other words, most people do things the way they’ve always known, so they
rarely challenge themselves to think differently. To sharpen your creative intelligence, we’re going
to look at a real technique called the Alternative Uses Task, developed in the 1960s for a real
psychologist experiment. Choose a simple problem, like putting on your shoes or pouring milk into a
bowl of cereal. Next, imagine as many unusual or alternative solutions to that problem as you can.
Your solutions don’t have to be world shattering breakthroughs. They don’t even have to make sense.
But each problem should push you to think outside the box. That way, your creative intelligence,
put on full display, can grow and improve. 2. Tacit Intelligence
Tacit intelligence is another powerful, intellectual skill,
describing your ability to apply old knowledge and experiences to new situations.
Let’s say you just got a new job, doing something you’ve never done before.
You’ve never worked this specific job, but that doesn’t mean you lack experience. Someone with
tacit intelligence knows that valuable lessons can be learned from unsuspecting places.
Unfortunately, tacit intelligence doesn’t come naturally to most people. In fact,
most of the population struggles to connect past experiences with new challenges, especially in the
workplace. But the problem has nothing to do with their IQs. The problem… is the way they think.
When you face a problem, you, like many people, may get distracted by
external qualities. For example, imagine you’re selling a car for the first time in your life.
You feel inexperienced and confused because you’ve never sold a car before, but the truth is…
you have more experience than you realize. Maybe you’ve bought a car before,
exposing yourself to the tactics of other, successful salesmen.
My point is you’re never 100% out of your element. When facing a challenge, ask yourself,
“have I done something similar in the past? If so, how can I apply lessons from my past
to challenges in the future?” If you think hard and reflect on your accomplishments, there’s a
good chance you know more than you think. 3. Novel Stimulation
Increasing your IQ is more than academic rituals and daily exercises. In fact, one
of the easiest ways to increase your IQ requires nothing more than a simple change in lifestyle.
Many people spend the bulk of their lives immersed in boring, repetitive routines. Every day, you
turn off your brain and submit to activities that don’t stimulate your mind. While no one can escape
bits of monotony, it’s critical to engage your brain with new projects, hobbies, and adventures.
Otherwise, your brain, like any other muscle, will grow weaker and more lethargic over time.
4. Natural Connection Psychologist Howard Gardner describes
another unique category of intelligence, which he calls Naturalist Intelligence. People with high
degrees of naturalist intelligence have a strong connection with the natural world. They enjoy
studying, exploring, and spending time in nature, and they care deeply for other living things.
But naturalist intelligence, like any other category of intelligence,
is a cognitive skill you can improve over time. Think of your connection with nature like a bond
with a close friend. You strengthen that bond by enjoying each other’s company, discovering common
ground, and exposing deeper vulnerabilities. Creating the same connection with nature may feel
strange or uncomfortable, but regular excursions into nature, like walks, hikes, and other outdoor
activities, can foster deeper, emotional bonds and increase your understanding of the natural world.
Naturalist intelligence may make you environmentally friendly, but it also impacts
several other cognitive skills, like memory, creativity, and problem-solving. Walking through
a forest or hiking up a mountain may not seem like intellectual activities, but the truth is… your
connection with nature often reflects your general intelligence. Discover more about the world… and
you might discover more about yourself. 5. Visual Entertainment
Many of the most intelligent people are strong, visual thinkers. They can easily picture complex
objects in their minds and manipulate those objects to solve complex problems.
For example, architects rely on visual intelligence to design large structures,
like buildings and bridges, capable of supporting heavy burdens for hundreds of years.
Visual problem-solving is an essential skill, and a prominent
sign of intelligence, but few people spend time practicing visual thinking. Luckily,
there are dozens of activities designed to improve your visuospatial reasoning.
Take origami, the art of paper folding. Origami poses a basic yet infinitely complex challenge:
how do you transform a simple sheet of paper into a complicated shape, like a dragon or a
crane? Origami continuously challenges you to solve visuospatial problems, enhancing your
creativity while challenging your mind to think in geometrical forms, like lines, angles, and shapes.
Around the world, students, teachers, and professionals use origami to improve their visual
thinking and problem-solving skills. In fact, a 2000 study found a strong correlation between
visuospatial brain-games, like origami, and higher scores on standardized tests.
So, grab a piece of paper and get folding. With a little practice, you can sharpen
your visual thinking, increase your IQ, and stimulate your creativity while you’re at it.
6. Physical Intellect Motor functions, like movement,
balance, and coordination, are often neglected in conversations surrounding intelligence,
but each one plays a demanding, cognitive role, unlocking sophisticated abilities like
social coordination and emotional expression. For instance, many meditative practices use a
combination of physical and mental exercise to stimulate your mind and inspire complex thought.
You don’t need to run marathons or bench-press three hundred pounds to be
a confident intellectual, but, if you want to achieve intellectual growth, you should
get in touch with your body and cultivate a physically engaging routine. For example,
playing sports once a week can teach you a wide variety of skills, from teamwork and coordination
to patience and self-control. You don’t have to be the fittest person on the planet, however
exercising your body… often exercises your mind. 7. Emotional Perception
Many of the smartest people are keen, perceptive individuals with a sharp eye for social nuances.
They pick up on physical and emotional cues that the rest of the world ignores, giving them an edge
in most social situations. But how do you train your brain to perceive these subtle signals?
Before you can understand a person’s thoughts or emotions, you need to observe
sensory information, like body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice.
Each piece of sensory information helps you draw conclusions about a person’s mood,
attitude, or character, all of which influence the way they act and speak.
People-watching is a fantastic way to sharpen your observational skills.
Sitting in a public space exposes you to a wide array of physical cues, emotional states, and
social pairings, giving you real-world experience and a fuller knowledge of how people interact.
Over time, you’ll develop a sharp eye, not only for physical cues, but also for the many meanings
behind them. You’ll be surprised how much you can learn simply watching the world go by.
8. Challenging Discussions
Life is full of elaborate mysteries, many of which humans will never solve. But attempting
to understand those mysteries can be one of the most powerful exercises for your brain.
If you want to increase your intelligence, sit down with a friend,
and try to discuss one of the universe’s many mysteries. Along the way, challenge
your ideas. Explore your uncertainties. Pose unsolvable questions and give impossible answers.
You don’t need to conclude your discussions with concrete or specific answers. In fact,
you may be more confused at the end than you were at the beginning. But that’s okay.
Because contemplating life’s mysteries, even if you get them wrong, grows your intelligence
in a way nothing else can. 9. Linguistic Excellence
Do you want to be a more articulate speaker? What about a detailed and eloquent writer?
Linguistic intelligence is a rare intellectual skill that allows you to express yourself
in unique and powerful ways. For example, a fiery speech can inspire large groups of people
while emotional pieces of fiction can ignite the imaginations of readers around the world.
The easiest way to achieve linguistic excellence is to engage with language as often as you can.
Read every day. Write stories or poetry. Speak to as many people as you can. Learn a new language
if possible. The more often you exercise these skills, the stronger they’ll get. Eventually,
if you work hard enough, those fiery speeches and powerful fictions will come naturally
10. Scientific Development Our society is intellectually impatient. When
we want to answer a question, we rarely stop to think through the possibilities. Instead, we type
that question into our smartphones, and we find the correct answer in seconds. But the immediacy
of that information dulls your scientific mind. If you want to increase your IQ, here’s
an exercise you can use almost every day. Whenever you pose a question or a problem,
don’t look up the answer. Instead, make an educated hypothesis. Write your best guess
down on a piece of paper then, and only then, can you open your phone and browse the Internet.
This may feel like a pointless exercise, but it teaches you a critical skill set.
Making hypotheses encourages you to draw meaningful conclusions from limited information.
That way, you can make smarter decisions, draw sophisticated conclusions, and identify meaningful
patterns in the world around you. Thank you for watching TopThink,
and be sure to subscribe, because more incredible content is on the way.