How to Increase IQ? How to Improve Intelligence? Trust the Science, Not Google
As a cognitive neuroscientist with an interest in how brain training and brain nutrition can help improve intelligence and cognitive function, I recently set myself the following exercise.
First, I imagine to myself that I am a student trying to prepare for a SAT exam in a few weeks, or a graduate faced with the prospect of having to take a challenging job aptitude test to be considered for a competitive job.
Or closer to home I imagine myself as a professional dealing with the pressures of a demanding career who feels the need to sharpen his cognitive performance.
In short I imagine myself as someone who has a pressing need for a high level of intelligence.
I go to the Web for help and Google the keyword phrase: 'how to improve intelligence?' What do I find? The top ranking site advises the following: watch less TV, read more, use your nose and take a whiff of rosemary, listen to music with a good rhythm and beat, eat carbohydrates and proteins and believe in yourself because "if you believe you are more intelligent, you become more intelligent.
" Site number two offers no less than '70 ways to improve brain power', including inhaling the scent of rosemary, writing, listening to Mozart, speed reading, talking, doing something you enjoy, and -- once again -- "believe you are smarter, and you'll become smarter.
" Although these recommendations may sound reasonable, the reality is that they are not based on fact.
Listening to music does not improve your intelligence or your score on a standardized IQ test that measures your intelligence.
Nor does smelling rosemary or eating more protein or carbohydrates, nor does reading, writing or talking, nor doing something you enjoy, nor watching less TV, and nor does simply believing you are smart end up making you smarter.
There isn't any evidence for any of this.
Of course eating protein is important for brain function just as it is vital for any structure in the human body, but eating MORE protein doesn't improve your IQ.
Confidence and belief in yourself is important for taking intelligence tests because anxiety can impair your performance, but increasing your self-belief doesn't make you more intelligent.
From a scientific point of view, I can vouch for the fact that of the top 10 sites for the keyword phrase 'how to increase IQ', not one provides entirely accurate information about the nature of intelligence and how it might be improved.
So what advice can I give you if you have a genuine desire to improve intelligence and increase IQ? Start off your inquiries on the Web with a skeptical attitude and look carefully for the science that backs up a claim.
Consider adopting the following information processing strategies.
Five strategies to help you steer clear misinformation while looking for techniques for increasing intelligence.
1) Self belief and positive thinking is a double edged sword.
Be a bit careful about a recommendation shared by many of the misinformed websites on increasing IQ: namely, believe in what steps you are taking to become smart, and you'll become smarter.
Why, because in the wrong hands this recommendation is a classic formula for the gullible.
The more you uncritically believe you are becoming more intelligent as a result of some technique or practice, the less critical you may become in the face of evidence that you are not.
You may be looking for signs of your improved intelligence, ignoring evidence to the contrary.
Your positive thinking may - unless you are careful - distort your objectivity.
Don't get caught up in a wave of positive enthusiasm for the latest IQ increasing tool without applying critical thinking to what is being offered.
Yes - positivity, confidence and a 'can do' attitude is very important for intellectual work, but it is not effective in itself for improving IQ.
You need a lasting change in your brain circuitry to actually increase your intelligence, not self belief.
2) Facts first, recommendations second.
Be suspicious where the main selling point of an IQ increasing technique or practice is its recommendations.
Many 'IQ improving' exercises and supplements are promoted through enthusiastic recommendations.
Recommendations grab our attention and can appear persuasive and trustworthy.
But they can also mislead us.
How can you tell that the recommendations are genuine and not made up? And many recommendations are simply the result of an uncritical positive thinking and self belief.
Yes, recommendations can be a good source of information in investigating the question 'how to increase IQ?' - but only after you are convinced by the hard facts underlying someone's claims.
And what substantiates those facts? Science does.
3) Where are the scientific journal articles behind the claims? Always ask yourself: where are the scientific journal articles that an 'increase your intelligence' claim is based on? Where are the references to the research articles on the site? If there is no reputable journal article backing up an IQ related claim, then don't trust it.
It probably has no real scientific credibility.
4) Who is the author and what are his or her credentials? If you have difficulty determining what is a genuine scientific publication from one that is not (and some sites base their IQ boosting products on fake science), check up on who is responsible for the website promising ways to 'improve intelligence' or 'increase IQ'.
Is the information written anonymously or by someone who is prepared to put their name to it? And is the author a qualified cognitive psychologist or neuroscientist with a PhD, working at a reputable university? If the author is not a professional scientist -- not an expert -- why trust the claims he or she makes? The science is hard to get right.
It takes years of training, and years of painstaking research.
5) Intelligence, or something else? Does the technique being promoted to improve intelligence target intelligence specifically or some other cognitive skill -- like attention, or memory for a list of words, or the ability to do arithmetic? Vitamin B6 helps with some cognitive functions but it does not increase intelligence.
There are lots of 'brain training' exercises on the market that improve performance on just the task that is practiced -- but not intelligence which can be applied to any task or any problem.
Intelligence is very hard to change.
Conclusion.
With the desire to improve something as empowering as your intelligence -- your 'cognitive capital'-- ensure that you find information that is accurate and products that work.
Take the time to research the topic with a skeptical attitude.
Value scientific facts over personal recommendations, look for reputable journal articles, be suspicious if the author is not a brain scientist or psychologist, and try to determine exactly what cognitive skill the recommended technique is claiming to improve.
First, I imagine to myself that I am a student trying to prepare for a SAT exam in a few weeks, or a graduate faced with the prospect of having to take a challenging job aptitude test to be considered for a competitive job.
Or closer to home I imagine myself as a professional dealing with the pressures of a demanding career who feels the need to sharpen his cognitive performance.
In short I imagine myself as someone who has a pressing need for a high level of intelligence.
I go to the Web for help and Google the keyword phrase: 'how to improve intelligence?' What do I find? The top ranking site advises the following: watch less TV, read more, use your nose and take a whiff of rosemary, listen to music with a good rhythm and beat, eat carbohydrates and proteins and believe in yourself because "if you believe you are more intelligent, you become more intelligent.
" Site number two offers no less than '70 ways to improve brain power', including inhaling the scent of rosemary, writing, listening to Mozart, speed reading, talking, doing something you enjoy, and -- once again -- "believe you are smarter, and you'll become smarter.
" Although these recommendations may sound reasonable, the reality is that they are not based on fact.
Listening to music does not improve your intelligence or your score on a standardized IQ test that measures your intelligence.
Nor does smelling rosemary or eating more protein or carbohydrates, nor does reading, writing or talking, nor doing something you enjoy, nor watching less TV, and nor does simply believing you are smart end up making you smarter.
There isn't any evidence for any of this.
Of course eating protein is important for brain function just as it is vital for any structure in the human body, but eating MORE protein doesn't improve your IQ.
Confidence and belief in yourself is important for taking intelligence tests because anxiety can impair your performance, but increasing your self-belief doesn't make you more intelligent.
From a scientific point of view, I can vouch for the fact that of the top 10 sites for the keyword phrase 'how to increase IQ', not one provides entirely accurate information about the nature of intelligence and how it might be improved.
So what advice can I give you if you have a genuine desire to improve intelligence and increase IQ? Start off your inquiries on the Web with a skeptical attitude and look carefully for the science that backs up a claim.
Consider adopting the following information processing strategies.
Five strategies to help you steer clear misinformation while looking for techniques for increasing intelligence.
1) Self belief and positive thinking is a double edged sword.
Be a bit careful about a recommendation shared by many of the misinformed websites on increasing IQ: namely, believe in what steps you are taking to become smart, and you'll become smarter.
Why, because in the wrong hands this recommendation is a classic formula for the gullible.
The more you uncritically believe you are becoming more intelligent as a result of some technique or practice, the less critical you may become in the face of evidence that you are not.
You may be looking for signs of your improved intelligence, ignoring evidence to the contrary.
Your positive thinking may - unless you are careful - distort your objectivity.
Don't get caught up in a wave of positive enthusiasm for the latest IQ increasing tool without applying critical thinking to what is being offered.
Yes - positivity, confidence and a 'can do' attitude is very important for intellectual work, but it is not effective in itself for improving IQ.
You need a lasting change in your brain circuitry to actually increase your intelligence, not self belief.
2) Facts first, recommendations second.
Be suspicious where the main selling point of an IQ increasing technique or practice is its recommendations.
Many 'IQ improving' exercises and supplements are promoted through enthusiastic recommendations.
Recommendations grab our attention and can appear persuasive and trustworthy.
But they can also mislead us.
How can you tell that the recommendations are genuine and not made up? And many recommendations are simply the result of an uncritical positive thinking and self belief.
Yes, recommendations can be a good source of information in investigating the question 'how to increase IQ?' - but only after you are convinced by the hard facts underlying someone's claims.
And what substantiates those facts? Science does.
3) Where are the scientific journal articles behind the claims? Always ask yourself: where are the scientific journal articles that an 'increase your intelligence' claim is based on? Where are the references to the research articles on the site? If there is no reputable journal article backing up an IQ related claim, then don't trust it.
It probably has no real scientific credibility.
4) Who is the author and what are his or her credentials? If you have difficulty determining what is a genuine scientific publication from one that is not (and some sites base their IQ boosting products on fake science), check up on who is responsible for the website promising ways to 'improve intelligence' or 'increase IQ'.
Is the information written anonymously or by someone who is prepared to put their name to it? And is the author a qualified cognitive psychologist or neuroscientist with a PhD, working at a reputable university? If the author is not a professional scientist -- not an expert -- why trust the claims he or she makes? The science is hard to get right.
It takes years of training, and years of painstaking research.
5) Intelligence, or something else? Does the technique being promoted to improve intelligence target intelligence specifically or some other cognitive skill -- like attention, or memory for a list of words, or the ability to do arithmetic? Vitamin B6 helps with some cognitive functions but it does not increase intelligence.
There are lots of 'brain training' exercises on the market that improve performance on just the task that is practiced -- but not intelligence which can be applied to any task or any problem.
Intelligence is very hard to change.
Conclusion.
With the desire to improve something as empowering as your intelligence -- your 'cognitive capital'-- ensure that you find information that is accurate and products that work.
Take the time to research the topic with a skeptical attitude.
Value scientific facts over personal recommendations, look for reputable journal articles, be suspicious if the author is not a brain scientist or psychologist, and try to determine exactly what cognitive skill the recommended technique is claiming to improve.
