Fluid vs Crystallized Intelligence

1. What Is Crystallized Intelligence And How To ImproveIt? Crystallized intelligence isn’t a newly discovered term. Psychologists have been discussing it for quite some time now. However, not a lot of people are actually familiar with what crystallized intelligence is, why it matters and how to improveit. Luckily that’s what we’re here to find outabout. What is CrystallizedIntelligence? There are many people who have heard of the term but are still not sure what the true crystallized intelligence definitionis.

2. According to psychologist Raymond Cattelland his student John Horn, who developed the Cattell-Horn theory of fluid and crystallized intelligence, crystallized intelligence is what we acquire through knowledge, past experiences and culture, and it reflects in tests, quizzes, general knowledge of trivia, usage of languages, vocabulary, grammar and soon. • How is crystallized intelligenceacquired? • Crystallized intelligence is acquired through studying, learning new things, reading, and accomplishing differenttasks. • Therefore, we can measure crystallized intelligence through vocabulary, grammar, reading comprehension and other similar tests, as well as quizzes, game shows and triviagames. • There are two groups of factors that impact development of your chrystallized intelligence – external andinternal. • External factors include the culture and educational system you grow up in while internal factors include personal characteristics like curiosity and internal motivation to learn newthings. • What is an example of crystallizedintelligence? • To make things a bit clearer, let’s have a look at examples of crystallizedintelligence. • Since we acquire crystallized intelligence through learning and through our past experiences, we normally use itfor: • Solving familiar problems we’ve faced in thepast • Doingtests • Playing triviagames • Competing on game shows and soon • Here are some examples of crystallizedintelligence:

3. Knowing the exact dates of famous historicevents • Knowing the ingredients of your dish meal byheart • Learning newvocabulary • Memorizing new algebraicformulas • Remembering statistics you’ve read in the past andmore Fluid vs Crystallized Intelligence: What’s The Difference? As we already mentioned before, the theory of fluid and crystallized intelligence was first developed by psychologist Raymond Cattell and his student JohnHorn. They proposed that as we grow and develop, these two types of intelligence change along with us.

4. When we take a look at fluid vs crystallized intelligencewe’ll notice that there are a lot of differences between these two types of intelligence. They change and respond differently with age. They develop in different ways and we use them in different everyday life situations. Since you’re already familiar with the concept of crystallized intelligence, let’s have a look at what fluid intelligence actually is, and why it matters somuch. What is fluidintelligence? Before we head off to talk about what role this type of intelligence plays in our lives, let’s have a look at what fluid intelligence actually is, and what makes it so different from crystallizedintelligence. Here’s the main fluid intelligencedefinition: Fluid intelligence is the ability to face and resolve unknown, novel and dynamic problems andsituations. Think, “streetsmarts”. Now, you see how different are these two types ofintelligence. If crystallized intelligence is the ability to use previously attained information, facts, knowledge and experiences, fluid intelligence is our ability to face an obstacle without using any of those things, and without having prior knowledge or experience in the situation we’refacing. Fluid intelligence is a crucial element in our development. It encompasses the ability to think and solve problems quickly, by using reasoning, logic, pattern recognition, abstract thinking, as well as by adapting to new conditions and developing new problem-solving strategies on thespot.

5. Fluid intelligence, as the name suggests, is fluid, flexible and adaptive, and it’s all about reasoning, finding patterns and new ways to solve problems, which is a skill known as fluidreasoning. • In order to make things a little clearer, let’s have a look at a few examples of situations in which one would use fluidintelligence. • We use fluid intelligence whenwe: • Thinkabstractly • Face a novelsituation • Come up with a new problem-solvingstrategy • Solve puzzles and soon How does fluid and crystallized intelligence change with age?

6. Now that we’ve gotten more familiar with these two types on intelligence, you’re probably eager to learn how to improvethem. • Previous research suggested that we don’t have much control over our intelligence, and that it’s mainlypredetermined. • However, as we now know, both our crystallized and fluid intelligence can increase or decrease with time. The best part about it is that we have control (at least to some extent) over development of both those types ofintelligence. • Since we now know that we acquire crystallized intelligence from reading, studying and having new experiences, it’s fair to say that we can do a lot towards improvingit. • The more knowledge we acquire, either through formal or informal studies, as well as through everyday activities, the more our crystallized intelligencedevelops. • It’s not the case for fluid intelligence though, as fluid intelligence is known to decrease with age. In recent years, however, psychologists discovered that fluid intelligence isn’t set in stone, as it was previouslythought. • There are plenty of things we can do to improve our fluid intelligence. Through training and trying out new and challenging activities we challenge our brain, which helps us improve our fluid reasoningskills. • Here are a few things you can implement in your everyday lives that will help you train and improve your fluidintelligence: • Seek out newchallenges • Approach new and difficult situations using new problem-solvingstrategies • Try to learn fromothers • We’ve covered what crystallized and fluid intelligences are, how are they different and how you can improve each of them. The main think to keep in mind is that no matter what intelligence you possess and to what extent, you can always train your brain and develop your mentalskills.

7. As Jim Kwik, Author of Mindvalley’s Superbrain Questsays, “It’s not about mental intelligence, it’s about mentalfitness.” What type of intelligence do you possess and which one is your dominant? Let us know in the commentsbelow!