Fixed General Intelligence vs Growth Mindset: Does School Actually Make You More Intelligent?
Brandon Stover
Founder @ Plato University - a non-profit on a mission to provide free education for the betterment of humanity.
Ladies & gents, my name is?Brandon Stover , and I’m the founder of?Plato University . Welcome to Theory into Action.
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What does it mean when somebody says that you're smart? Does education actually improve your IQ? Might a growth mindset be wrong? Can we actually learn anything?
Today we're going to break down the difference between intelligence, knowledge, wisdom, a growth mindset, and whether or not education can actually make you smarter.
To start, we're going to discuss two seminal works in the fields of human development and learning that offer distinct perspectives on how knowledge and intelligence can evolve and adapt over a person's lifetime.
Those two perspectives are going to be the research that's presented by Carol Dweck on having a growth mindset, and the research that's presented from the Bell Curve, a very controversial book from the nineties written by Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray.
Fixed General Intelligence vs Growth Mindset
Let's first start with the perspective presented by Herrnstein and Murray around the idea of general intelligence.
Richard J. Herrnstein, along with Charles Murray, co-authored the book "The Bell Curve " (1994), which argued that intelligence, as measured by IQ tests, is largely determined by genetic factors and remains relatively stable throughout a person's life. According to their theory, "g," or general intelligence, is a single factor that describes an individual's underlying cognitive ability that is believed to influence performance across a wide range of cognitive tasks. It is associated with problem-solving, logical reasoning, and the ability to learn new information.
Now let's look at the other perspective where how smart you are can change over time. This is largely presented by the work of Carol Dweck and her theory around a growth mindset.
Carol Dweck, a psychologist and researcher, developed the concept of "growth mindset ." Her research, which began in the 1980s and continued to gain prominence in the early 2000s, challenges the notion of fixed intelligence. According to Dweck's theory, individuals can possess either a fixed mindset or a growth mindset.
A growth mindset emphasizes the belief that abilities and knowledge can be developed and improved through effort, learning, and perseverance. It focuses on the idea that individuals can develop new skills and capacities over time, regardless of their starting point. People with a growth mindset are more likely to embrace challenges, see failures as opportunities for learning, and put in the effort to develop and refine their skills.
You can see in this perspective. A person can change their abilities. They can learn and adapt over time.
And during the same time as Carol dragon doing her research, there are many other neuroscientists looking at neuroplasticity. And seeing that there is actual changes that happen and occur in the brain, depending on the stimulus that you're giving in your learning.
The discrepancy between Herrnstein & Murray's view and Dweck's research lies in their fundamental assumptions about intelligence and its plasticity. While Herrnstein & Murray argued for the fixed nature of intelligence, Dweck's work emphasizes the potential for growth and development of knowledge and abilities through effort and the adoption of a growth mindset.
So, which is it, can we actually improve or not?
There's been a lot of research done since the book written in the nineties, the Bell Curve, Showing that yes, we can in fact improve. However, I think what's crucial here in both of these perspectives is defining what we actually mean by intelligence. Once you define terms, I think you'll see that both perspectives are actually right. The difference is not whether we can improve or not. The difference lies in what we are improving.
Defining Intelligence
Let's define terms. These are going to be very simple definitions so that both you and I can understand them and what the implications of them are.
To help understand these terms more, let's look at an analogy.
Let's say that your brain is a computer.
Intelligence is the processor in that computer. It's a piece of hardware that doesn't change. Depending on how big that processor is, the more information that you're able to process. The faster your computer goes, the more it's able to do.
Knowledge is going to be all the different computer programs, the different pieces of software that are on your computer. You're able to download different programs, just as well as you're able to learn different concepts.
Wisdom is knowing which program to use when you get onto your computer. Wisdom would be knowing that if you’re going to write a book, you’re not going to use the calculator program in order to do that.
Finally, a growth mindset would be the operating system, which tells you which programs you can and cannot use on your computer. Remember a growth mindset is that belief that you can get better. So if you're telling yourself “yes, I can, in fact, get better”, than you're essentially telling yourself, “I can download these programs. I can use them.”
Using this analogy will better help you understand this dilemma we have between fixed intelligence and a growth mindset.
We're seeing that intelligence is like the processor, the hardware of the computer. Hardware is pretty hard to change unless you open up the computer and physically change it.
Just like the computer, our intelligence is based on the biology of our body, the way our brain is formed. Upgrading our brain takes a very long time. Even through the process of neuroplasticity you're not going to be able to do it overnight. If you were trying to bump up your intelligence several IQ points, the likelihood of that happening is very small. You would only be able to see that change over a very long period of time or by drastically augmenting your brain, getting into the realm of science fiction and implanting devices into your brain.
So your raw processing speed is going to stay relatively stable over your lifetime.
Now a growth mindset is based on your psychology and beliefs that you hold. Upgrades to those can happen rapidly, as exhibited by the field of cognitive behavioral psychology. You are able to see that you have a belief that's not serving you anymore and turning that around into one that will serve you.
A growth mindset is focused on your ability to learn and acquire skills and knowledge. Rather than your ability to accurately process something. You can go read a book or watch a video or listen to a podcast and gain a new skill set. That's completely possible. Your speed at which you're able to do that though, does not change.
That's what these two perspectives are arguing:
Why this Matters To Individuals & Education System
Now, why does any of this matter? What does it mean to you? What does it mean for our education system?
Differences in intelligence levels exist
If we don't actually recognize those differences, then our education system is not going to be able to serve everyone. People that fall on the low end of the intelligence spectrum are going to be left behind. They're not going to be allowed enough time in order to actually grasp the knowledge and learn the skills. On the flip side, the people that are on the high end of intelligence spectrum are not going to be challenged enough. They're not going to be pushed to their full capabilities and to actually fully develop themselves. Both ends end up being less developed then if we actually realize that people have different intelligence levels and they're going to require different styles of education in order to educate those intelligence levels.
Matching intelligence levels is required for development
Additionally, if you're not truthful about where you are, about your strengths and weaknesses, about how intelligent you actually are, you're never, ever going to be able to develop yourself.
There's a likelihood that when you're going through the traditional education system, if you need more time in order to learn and acquire something, you're just going to think that you're dumb. When rather, if you were given the time and room that you needed in order to learn something, you would just pick it up just as well as everyone else.
On the flip side, if you're not being challenged by the material that's presented to you, you're going to get bored. You're going to get distracted. You're going to want to do something else. In which case you're going to be holding yourself back.
The current structure of education, alienates people because they don't fit the average intelligence level, many falling out at a lower end or a higher end of the intelligence spectrum.
But if you're truthful about where you are. You can seek out or design education for yourself that is in line with your abilities.
Determining the role of education
And this brings us to the last reason that this is so important: what the role of education actually is.
Is it to increase intelligence? To increase knowledge? To increase wisdom?
What are we focused on here?
We know that employers screen for intelligence and wisdom over knowledge. Listen to any employer. More times than not they're going to say, “I would rather have somebody that learns something quickly, rather than somebody that knows all of the skills.”
Skills become outdated, but the ability to learn those skills does not.
What's funny is we've made it illegal for employers to use intelligence tests, in order to screen for candidates. So they've resorted to using an educational degree as some sort of signal about the person's cognitive capabilities. However, education has been largely focused on filling us with knowledge or equipping us with skillsets. As a result, we get employers saying education is not serving its role very well in preparing a work force with people that can solve problems quickly.
So, what are we going to do about it? How do we actually use this information? Well, I'm going to make some recommendations for you as an individual and then recommendations for those of you that are educators and how we look at the education system.
Recommendations for Individuals for Better Learning
Have the right mindsets
First we're going to start with that operating system.
A growth mindset is still crucially important, the belief that you can or cannot actually learn something. You’re belief in you’re ability to acquire knowledge. It’s crucially important to understand that you can in fact learn things, that you can in fact gain that knowledge and be able to use it in your life.
However, I think we need to update this growth mindset.
You need to understand what you can and cannot change so that you're focused on the right things. Yes, you can acquire knowledge, but you're not going to change your processing speed. You're not going to change your intelligence level. By accepting this you can work with yourself and not against yourself, getting the resources and help that you need, depending on your processing speed.
The second mindset that you want to look at is understanding that your value as a person is not solely determined by your level of intelligence.
You are valuable as a human. You have a dozen other things to offer beside your intelligence.
A video game that I used to play when I was younger was Fallout. In Fallout when you first create your character, you add points to all these different skillsets. You have strength, you have intelligence, you have charisma, agility perception, and so on. Intelligence was only one category. You have all these other categories that make up who you are as a person. And you can add to those just as much as you can add to how knowledgeable you are. So don't weight your value as a person on your intelligence level.
Of course, when we're talking about our value as a person, we're often comparing ourselves to other people, looking at how valuable they are.
Don't compare yourself to others. Compare yourself to yourself.
This is where you're going to see that, in fact, you can learn things and you can develop yourself. What you know now, is dramatically more than what you knew when you were younger. Over time, you acquire more knowledge and skills. With those knowledge and skills, you're able to do more things in the world. Yes, maybe some things took you longer to learn than other people. That's okay. It doesn't matter. It matters what you're doing with your life. There's goals that you want to accomplish in your life and problems you want to solve. You need to learn different sets of knowledge and skills in order to do that.
Well guess what you've been doing it your entire life? You can continue to do that. Just be real with yourself about how long it'll take. Then put in the work to actually do that. Solve your problems and reach your goals.
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Maximize your intelligence
Although we can't change how intelligent we are, we can make sure that it's optimized. I'm specifically speaking about doing habits that are going to optimize your intelligence and not hurt them.
When you do things like…
You’re causing inflammation and hindering the processes that your brain naturally does. Your brain gets foggy and it's not processing things as quickly as it could.
So, no matter what your intelligence level is, we want to make sure we're doing things. that allow us to use it to the most optimal ability.
Doing things like…
These will help neuroplasticity, making more connections within the brain, allowing that raw processing power to run more efficiently.
Focus your learning on the Zone of Proximal Development
When you're learning you're trying to develop your knowledge and wisdom.
No matter where your starting point is or what you're intelligence capabilities might be, you want to put yourself in the zone of proximal development. This theory was first presented by Lev Vygotsky, and later developed in the research by Anders Ericson on deliberate practice .
In the most basic sense, the zone of proximal development is pushing yourself just right outside of your comfort zone where things are just a little more difficult than what you're capable of. This is going to allow you to learn a lot faster than if you pushed yourself really hard into something that's overwhelming and you're not learning at all. Or something that's in your comfort zone, never stretching yourself, never going beyond your current capabilities.
When you approach your learning, you need to understand what do you know, what do you not know, and what would stretch you just a little bit.
Let’s look at an easy example. You’re learning to ride a bike.
As you ride, sometimes you're going to lean to the left, where you have a training wheel on and you'll be okay, you'll still stay up. Sometimes you'll lean to the right, where you don't have a training wheel on and you'll have to start to learn what it means to balance on that bike. It'll be a little challenging, but you can always lean back into what you know on the other side having the training wheel. This is your zone of proximal development and applies to anything that you're learning.
The zone of proximal development is going to help you develop knowledge, the skills and concepts, that you can use in your life.
In order to start developing wisdom for yourself, you want to apply those skills that you're learning to the actual, real-world problems that are occurring in your own life. You're going to gain experience about when and why something should be applied and how to go about doing it. When a similar situation occurs in the future, you're wise about which knowledge set to use and how to use it.
Augment your intelligence
There's no doubt that artificial intelligence is more intelligent and knowledgeable than you. It can process things way faster than you can. It’s hooked to the internet and knows way more than you do. This means that you can use it to augment your own processing speed and your own knowledge set.
Now where artificial intelligence is going to fall short is on wisdom. It's not very good at telling you when or how or why to apply something. Those decisions are built on morals, intentions, values, and motivations that human beings have.
If you've used any popular artificial intelligence tool, like Midjourney or ChatGPT , you know that you still have to prompt the AI. You have to give it information that is relevant, presenting and framing what the problem is before it's going to give you a solution. AI has everything at its fingertips, but it doesn't know what is relevant.
To really understand why humans have a greater capability of understanding what information is relevant over what a computer does, I recommend looking at the work of John Vervaeke, a cognitive scientist from the University of Toronto, and his concept of relevance realization .
Recommendations for a Better Education System
Now let's talk about the implications of this debate between general intelligence and a growth mindset and what it means for education or you as an educator.
Accept intelligence difference exist
When it comes to intelligence abilities, not everyone is equal.
In education, equality means we all have a right to education, not that we are all created equal in intelligence and should be given the same education.
This means we need to stop the one size fits all mass education because it's only serving the middle under the bell curve, the average, not the ends or the spectrum of intelligence.
Move towards personalized education
We need to move towards personalized education, creating curriculum that's specific to that person, specific to their zone of proximal development. We need to understand what they know, what they don't know, and how we can push them just a little outside of their comfort zone.
Here’s a short story to illustrate the importance of this
When I was younger, I did very well in school with a 4.0 all the way through my educational career.
However, when I was in second grade, I was given the standard curriculum just like everyone else. I would get through my work very quickly in class. I'd blow through it. Then I would end up sitting there. And I would get bored.
So I would end up talking to the other classmates around me. We’re kids, I want to hang out with other people. I'm not doing anything. I did my work. I'm finished. I want to chat. However, this has ended up distracting other people from their work.
The teacher would often send notes home saying Brandon is doing fantastic in class. Except, he's always talking with other people. He's distracting other students. Sometimes this happens to other kids and they might get diagnosed with ADHD, put on medication just because they weren't being challenged enough, their attention wasn't being held. The teacher could have labeled may have troublemaker.
Instead my teacher said, “He's doing really well. He completes the work quickly. He needs something more challenging. He needs something in his zone of proximal development.”
So she started creating a curriculum for me with much more advanced reading that I could do when I was finished with my work.
And what do you know?! When I finished up my work I would start reading some of the books she had chosen for me and I wasn't distracting everyone else in class. Instead I went down my educational career path and excelled.
Now, obviously the hero here is my teacher for recognizing that and going through those steps. However, I understand it's difficult to create personalized curriculum for every single person. It’s was going to take a lot of time. Time is our most valuable asset and not something that we have laying around an excess.
I believe this is where we can start using artificial intelligence.
Leverage AI Tutors
Benjamin Bloom, one of America’s leading educational psychologists, showed that students who received one-on-one tutoring saw a two-sigma improvement in their educational performance.
However, giving every student their own personalized tutor is going to be pretty hard. Unless we're able to scale it and do it with technology!
With artificial intelligence, it can know your strengths, your weaknesses, the sets of knowledge that you have now, and the ones that you're trying to acquire. . It can tell exactly how quickly you're going to process different information and your intelligence level. Knowing those things, it can then present to you different problems sets, different ways of thinking, that are going to put you right inside of that zone of proximal development. It's going to know what things are easy to you, what is challenging and what's going to stretch you just a little bit.
An educational company that has just started using these is Khan Academy , which in the past has been a great place to help students get further tutoring for the different things that they're learning. They have developed an AI tutor using the same mastery-based learning that Khan academy is based on.
Move towards Mastery-Based Learning
The next major change that I think we need to make is stopping the focus on time and putting it on development. We're moving towards mastery based learning .
In mastery-based learning it doesn't matter whether it takes you two weeks or two months to learn something. What matters is that you learn the concept, you're able to apply it, then you move on to the next concept.
Doing this respects people's different intelligence levels, allowing the people that need more time to take that time to learn, while also allowing people that can process information faster to learn quickly and move on to the next concept. This means nobody's getting left behind and everybody is being challenged at their zone of proximal development.
I understand this is also difficult because all of our current systems are set up on time. You take all of your classes within one hour. That's set up inside a certain number of weeks. That makeup a quarter or a semester. That makes up the different years that you're supposed to be in school.
Reality is, some people may be better served by only having a few years of school while some people may be better served by extending the amount of time they are in school.
Put a greater emphasis on wisdom
Knowledge rapidly changes. Skill sets get outdated. Science and research and technology move things forward, and we have to learn new things. We have a greater understanding of how the world works and we must be constantly updating that.
When you go in for a college degree, by the time you get to the end of it, the world has changed so much. Half of the stuff that you learned during that time may not be applicable anymore. You still step out into the workforce unprepared.
While knowledge rapidly changes, our reasons for applying that knowledge change at a much slower rate. The different instances, the problems that occur, the morals and values that we have, all change, but it's going to take a lot of time.
So if education focuses on cultivating wisdom, helping us understand when to apply knowledge and how to apply it, we're going to be better equipped to actually face the real world.
Earlier I was speaking about artificial intelligence which is far more knowledgeable than you are and can access that knowledge a lot faster. Our students are entering into a world where they have a tool that access his knowledge quicker. Education should deemphasize the amount of knowledge they're teaching and greater emphasize teaching of when knowledge should be applied, giving them the skills to discern that and the ability to do so.
This is largely what a liberal art education does. I think people would understand the value of a liberal arts education more if they were told why it's important and how they're going to be using it in the world.
I'm not saying, throw out knowledge entirely. It's very important that you're still learning those concepts and skills. However, let's stop focusing on just teaching the what But also the why and the how.
Want to Implement these Recommendations?
At Plato University we're focused on building learning programs that turn your wisdom into actionable education. Not just what you know, but why it's important and how it's being applied. We want to help you transfer that to your students.
So if this is something you're interested in, let's schedule a free strategy call with each other. I can help you develop learning programs that are focused on this.
Let's build something great together.
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11 个月Everything about this video is top class. ???? Great insights. Would love to see more of this!