What causes people to think smarter?
I want to know how smart people think differently than the less smart people.
Some people said a smart person think tighter than less smart person. What exactly tighter means?
I have a few examples of these:
When Smart person ask a stranger to help him to find an address, the stranger says : just go down this road you won’t miss it.
The person asked: why you think I won’t miss it?
The stranger said: because the shop has a big sign with its name on it.
The person asked: “how far down the road?”
The stranger said: “about ten to fifteen miles down the road”
By now the smart person has already nailed down a section in a direction.
An average person will just nod and thank the stranger.
A smart person might ask further: how could I know if I go too far? What is the last cross road before I get there? Is that on my right side or on my left side?
The smart person’s thinking perhaps is more detail; predict the potential problem he might encounter, the mistake he might make: e.g. going too far. He tries to take precaution to prevent to make mistake. He also predicts that his attention may wax and wane, he wants to relax a bit before he really needs to pay closer attention. So he asked: the last cross road before the location.
- Smarter person think in a way that he recognize the potential of making mistake and take action to prevent making mistake.
- An address is a point in space, not a direction, nor a section. So a smart person need to pin point that point, a direction is not enough, a section is still not clear enough, it has to be a point. : down this road, is a direction, ten miles or so is a section. After certain cross road/intersection and before certain cross road, narrow down the section in a direction.
- The smarter person has a more detail schema: a shop: an address, either on my right side or left side of the street, should be on a section between two cross road, one before it, one after it. A detail schema, he needs to find data to fill in all the blanks of his schema.
Now we have GPS, you think we don’t need to ask directions. But a smart person glance the road map, he seeks for informations: how many miles, what is the cross road before and after, whether it is on the right side or the left side of the road. A less smart person probably does not seek for this information ahead of time.
A smarter person has more schemas and their schemas are more complicated. A city planner probably have a more sophisticated schema of a city than an average person. for looking an address or travel through city highway and streets. He probably would have a better ideas how to find hotels, the government center, the main street or division street, the northeast, northwest section verse the south east, south west section of the city. Which street or avenue divides the city: east from west and south from north, what highway passes through the city from south to north and what highway run east and west and what is the name or number of the highway loop the outskirt of the city. Is there a river run through the city? Where is the landmark: a tall staple of a church, or where is tallest building in that town, or is there a round-about at the center of the city, it is the streets plan like spokes of a wheel, or run perpendicular to each other. Etc.
These are the schema; with this schema in mind a person might seek information from a map differently from the person who does not have this schema in mind.
How we learn this schema? How these schemas organized in our brain? Is there some basic schema can generate new schema to meet our need whenever it comes up?
What are emotional intelligence?
The stranger said to the one who ask for direction: …………, you won’t miss it.
If the person still not clear about the direction, and the stranger already said “ you won’t miss it” What the person have to say to diffuse the statement: You won’t miss it. E.g. many times in the past year, I have missed something other thought I won’t missed it. So tell me…..what is the last cross road before I get to that shop?
In the example cited above, it is emotional intelligence or social intelligence in the area of politeness. Now to be politeness and yet be assertive.
Another example:
A friend asked his host “How to get to your house. I am at the intersection of division street and ten avenue.”
“O.K. drive ten blocks and then turn left. I am the third house on your right.”
The fact is that there is East division street and West division street, there is ten avenue south and there is ten avenue North.
The host is assuming his friend is on East division street and Ten avenue north and he is facing East.
The host assumed his guest’s location, perspective or point of view without check out whether his assumption is correct.
Smart person will notice the lacking of sufficient information and seek out the blanks in his schema. Division street, East or west? ten avenue: south or north? He is at the intersection: Is he facing south or north, east or west. Is he at the Northeastern corner or Northwest corner, South east corner or Northwest corner?
One of the schema Smart person use is dualistic thinking:
Opposite: beginning vs end: whereas there is beginning, there is an end.
Start vs finish
Right and wrong
Right and left
Up and down
Cause and effect
North vs south
East vs west
Future vs past
Present vs past
Present vs future
Time vs space
Space: border
Time: beginning and end
Events: character
Father vs mother vs children
Government vs people
Group vs member
Supervisor vs supervisee
Far vs near
What is the reference point?
Far from where
Too far, compare with what.
Part, counter part
Original vs copy
Parallel verse intersect
Analogue
Reflection
Mirror
Empty vs full
Can Schema be learned? If it could be learned, then our intelligence or smartness can be improved through strategical learning.