[hitmanrva1]

intelligence can be measured in many ways, but how do we determine who is truly smart, a genius, and full of intelligence?

academic ability?-many people who excel in school are considered geniuses. of course getting a 4.0 gpa can be a measure of something being intellligent, but a person that is not very smart can do good in school through very hard work and short time memorization...ive known people that have a 4.0 and lack simple common sense and most of the time don't know much about anything..i personally have a 3.6 gpa and have an easy time in college thus far..

Iq test?-although it can be a good indicator of who is smart, it has aso been found to be very biased....i have never taken a REAL iq test, but i have taken online ones and have gotten anywhere from 140-160...although these online ones arent very reliable

musical ability-many people consident musical ability a sign of intelligence....mozart and beethoven were able to do things none of us can do...i personally can't play an instruments

Atheltic ability- a lot of sports require some sort of intelligence....many times ive heard athletes such as steve nash and brett favre been called geniuses for what they do in the field...someone like bo jackson excelled at every sport he tried....a lot of athletic ability does have to do with genetics though...

other "sports"-being a grappling master, being a master of poker, or being a master of chess......are people like bj penn,stu ungar, or bobby fisher intelligent? they are able to do things most of will never be able to do, although a lot of it has to do with practice, these guys were known for being quick learners and beating people that had been around for many more years than them....i personally excel at every sport i practice, but i have never mastered a sport....but im able to learn sports quicker than most, and able to play them better than most with my experience...

knowing a lot of facts-"jeopardy" knowledge-being able to know almost everything about everything....knowing geographical stuff, historical stuff, sports stuff, science stuff...ect.....basically knowing a lot of facts and being able to converse about almost any subject and being well read on any subject....this is the one that i personally fit the most, so obviously its the one i would consider the biggest indicator of intelligence, but thats just my opinion....

so what do u guys think are good indicators of intelligence, do u agree with me?which are u guys good at?....srry for the spelling, my keyboard sucks

[magicman531]

There are many kinds of geniuses. Whether it be in business, acting, sports, writing, singing, math, science, or what have you.

Some people are really smart at tests and are called geniuses. But for the most part their knowledge is unapplicable to their life, at least in doing anything meaningful with it.

IMO a genius is anyone with well above average ability in any given area who applies it to something. Sure some people can be geniuses without doing anything great in particular, but to me, that's not true genius.

[6StingHero]

This will probably be a pretty good thread.

I think the only true way to measure somebody's intelligence is the have them run through everything you just named and rate their overall score according to each subject based on other scores of people who have excelled in that area of expertise.

Kind of like in Billy Madison at the end where Billy and Carl compete in the various things one would learn throughout high school. Just a thought. I know if a test like this were available I would certainly be interested to see how I did.

[omgitsrick]

The way I though of a true genius is someone who thinks very quickly and logically. Or an "outside the box" thinker if you will, that is also a measure of intelligence imo.

[Theprospect26]

I consider someone to be a genius when they have amazing creativity and imagination and put it to use.

For example: an artistic genius, an amazing singer, or actor.

[magicman531]

Originally Posted by Theprospect26

I consider someone to be a genius when they have amazing creativity and imagination and put it to use.

For example: an artistic genius, an amazing singer, or actor.

That's what I was saying. Unapplied knowledge is useless.

[Happy Boy]

The term "intelligence" is very ambiguous in the way its commonly used, and determining it is nigh impossible. As pointed out, there are many types of intelligence, but mostly when people speak of intelligence they are referring to academic ability.

Appraising each individual type of intelligence, and more over appraising how the person can command each of them accordingly and use them exactly, is the best way rather than focusing on just academic ability and information processing. Individual aptitude tests is the way for each area.

How to go about this is in practicality is something I have no idea about!! Very difficult Im sure.

[Steve Dougson]

I like Howard Gardner's theory on intelligence which divides up smarts into different categories such as:

Visual/Spatial Intelligence
Musical Intelligence
Verbal/Linguistic Intelligence
Logical/Mathematical Intelligence
Interpersonal Intelligence
Intrapersonal Intelligence
Bodily/Kinesthetic Intelligence
Naturalist Intelligence
Existentialist Intelligence
Spiritual Intelligence

Some of these intelligences are more marketable, like mathematical and verbal which makes people smarter in our society but not necessarily others.

I also like Sternberg's Triarchic Theory of Intelligence which gives creativity some importance.

[hitmanrva1]

Originally Posted by Theprospect26

I consider someone to be a genius when they have amazing creativity and imagination and put it to use.

For example: an artistic genius, an amazing singer, or actor.

i would have to disagree with an amazing singer...i will never be a good singer because i wasnt born with a good voice and theres no way i can ever have a voice like mariah carey

[Fahrenheit1221]

Originally Posted by magicman531

That's what I was saying. Unapplied knowledge is useless.

That is a great quote. I, for a long time now, have left my knowledge unapplied, I had a, for a lack of a better phrase, had an educational relapse and dropped out of college but through the miracle of Financial Aid, I'm going back this coming fall in hopes of funneling my interests into something useful and enjoyable so I don't have to settle for some second-rate cubical of a lifestyle.