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Is It Possible To Increase Your IQ?

When The Limits Of Our Intelligence Make Life Difficult, Some Say There's Room For Improvement

E-mail the columnist Jacqueline Tresl, R.N., gives tips on coping with stress
September 27, 2000, 12:55 p.m. EDT

Author's note: There may be readers who disagree that we can increase our intelligence. Some scientists believe we can, and some believe we can't. The available data is not definitive. But from my extensive research and personal and professional experience, I do not believe that our intelligence is necessarily "fixed." Admit it, you're no Einstein

If you had your choice between being beautiful or smart, which would you choose?

I asked some people I know. Most chose smart. Surprised?

One nurse said, "The only way I'd choose beautiful is if I was so dumb I didn't realize how dumb I was."

Intelligence -- possessing it and using it -- is of great importance to most of us. Butting up against the limits of one's own intelligence can be a source of stress. Yet it's a topic rarely discussed.

Feeling like a dunce? Illustration by Troy Larson for IBS

No one wants to feel second-rate or inept. Those kinds of feelings can make you want to stop taking chances. You lose trust in your abilities to succeed, and your self-respect suffers. This overload of negative emotions will affect your mental well-being. And that old, familiar "I'm-not-good-enough" voice will lead to chronic, unrelenting stress.

Having average intelligence can be bothersome -- especially for those of us that are just intelligent enough to know that IQ really does count.

But there's nothing much we can do about it because we can only be so smart -- right? After all, intelligence is genetic, isn't it? Either we've got it or we don't?

Not so, say brain experts.

Can You Think Yourself Smarter?

According to Earl Hunt, a professor of psychology at University of Washington, "People can make a huge increment in their cognitive competence.

"Social variables and intelligence are closely intertwined, but major investments in training and education have been shown to increase competence levels for all citizens," Hunt says.

Click here to read an article by Hunt on whether intelligence is inherited and whether IQ determines one's success in life. Hunt analyzed the theories that Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray offered in their 1994 book, The Bell Curve. That provoked controversy and charges of racism with its suggestion that for groups of people, racial inequalities could be linked to inherited intelligence. But the writers also argued that for an individual, "even the highest estimates of heritability leave 20 to 30 percent of cognitive ability to be shaped by the environment. In principle, intelligence can be raised environmentally to unknown limits."

According to Win Wenger, a former college educator who believes the mind has more capabilities than it's usually credited with by traditional science: "The only apparent limit on how successfully you can raise your own IQ, given presently available techniques, is your will to do so."

So why would you want to raise your IQ? Will you be happier and less tense if you are smarter? Will smartness afford you new opportunities?

Smarts And Personal Freedom

Let's say you have an IQ of 135. That means you're smart enough to choose whether to be a garbage man, a waitress, a doctor or an engineer. Whereas a person with an IQ of 90 has many fewer choices -- even if he wanted to, he probably could not become a doctor or an engineer.

He'd have to raise his IQ significantly to increase his occupational options.

Having lots of options in life, being free to make choices, to leave unsatisfying jobs or form new, more self-actualizing relationships: That power reduces the stress that results from feeling entrapped by our present-day circumstances.

"Raising your own intelligence may not solve all your problems, but it should increase your ability to do so," says Wenger, who spelled out his unconventional beliefs in his book How To Increase Your Intelligence.

The theory is not just in the realm of pop science. Psychologist and educator Jean Piaget believed the human mind is a tool that man uses to adapt to the world around him. If we can teach ourselves how to be smarter, we are more apt to find success, which may, in many cases, reduce our feelings of tension, isolation and stress.

So what can we do to grow smarter brains?

Begin by taking an IQ test.

How Smart Do You Need To Be

The General Intelligence Quotient measures a person's cognitive abilities, especially those abilities that relate to probable academic potential. Although IQ measures only a few specifics of our mental abilities, the measurement does tell a lot about how well we learn, think, reason and function cognitively. According to Professor Hunt, "Truck drivers average slightly under 100, while high-paid professionals, such as doctors and lawyers, have averages of 125 or above."

If you're ready to take an online IQ test, be sure to take several. The 'Net is chock full of IQ tests: Several are linked at the bottom of this article. But beware: Different tests give uneven results. Three different IQ tests can give one test-taker a wide range of scores, like 124, 133 and 148.

Taking several IQ tests over a couple of days will give you a more averaged-out score. But the real benefit of taking the online tests is to point out your cerebral weaknesses.

For example, if you scored highest on the IQ tests dominated with vocabulary questions and you scored lowest on tests weighted heavy in logic puzzles, you'll know what specific parts of your intellect need work. And then you can begin a disciplined program designed to maximize your intelligence.

"Today many, if not most, researchers in the field believe that (intelligence) is malleable," writes Yale University Psychology Professor Robert Sternberg, author of Successful Intelligence. "Available evidence suggests that we can, in fact, teach people to think better."

Next Stress Busters: What You Can Do To Increase Your Brain Power
IQIQ Tests: Fun Brain-Puzzlers

--Jacqueline Tresl, R.N., a coronary intensive care nurse and nursing supervisor for over 20 years, writes about health and happiness for newspapers and magazines. She recently published her first book, "Whoever Heard of a Horse In The House?"

First published July 5, 2000


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