Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Intelligence




3) You have now read several views about intelligence. What do you think about intelligence?
Is it one trait or many? more heavily influenced by nature or nurture? a fixed capacity or a
modifiable ability?

I think that intelligence is an extremely vague term to try to describe or define, per se. I think intelligence is the combination of multiple traits. I think it is influenced by both nature and nurture, but more heavily by nurture, in my opinion. I believe there are various pieces of research that show that intelligence is somewhat inherited; however, if you are not in an environment that supports and expands that intelligence, it can go undiscovered. For instance, I think that you are born with a certain capacity to fill, but you must actively be thinking and learning to attempt to fill this intelligence "void." We kind of see this idea with synaptic pruning - the synapses you do not use get severed. This particular concept, though, is complete around the age of adolescence. I believe that you can still expand your mind as an adult - it just may be more difficult to absorb information than as a young child. In short, I think everyone has an inherited capacity that is never fully met, but can be filled more greatly in certain environments and conditions. 


1 comment:

  1. Well said Kelsey! I definitely agree that intelligence is hard to define. I also agree that it is made up of multiple different traits. Nature vs. Nurture is always hard but I think you really said it well. It definitely has a lot to do with nurture. Without effort and support people are less likely to enhance their understanding of anything.

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