Intelligence: Redux

Oct 01, 2006 19:26

I've been thinking about intelligence again. In our last little discussion, we all seemed to agree that intelligence was, at its core, the ability to learn new concepts. What we disagreed on however, was how to measure this. I may have a solution.

We learn through metaphors. Thus, would it not make sense that someone who is more intelligent than someone else is able to learn the metaphors faster, AND understand more complex metaphors. For example, when learning multiplication, some of us, people you may call 'smart' or 'intelligent,' understood the concept easily. Others, who may be called 'dim' or 'slow,' had to be told that 3 X 3 was like three piles of poop with three lumps in each pile. Does this simplification of the metaphor, from simple explanation of the concept using words, to explaining it via previously known symbols, constitute a difference in intelligence? Discuss.
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