Thinking styles changed during the twentieth century.

Thinking based on practical use has given way to abstract, symbolic, and scientific thinking.

Wouldn’t we all like to be smarter? No matter how intelligent we actually are, we always know someone who at least appears to be smarter than we are (or so we believe).

Whether or not intelligence can be increased as one matures has long been the subject of speculation and controversy. Is intelligence something we are born with, like eye color, which cannot be changed? Or is intelligence modifiable and, if so, how does one go about increasing intelligence?

Prior to answering these two questions, it’s useful to ask a more fundamental question: What is intelligence?

According to one not very helpful definition, “Intelligence is what intelligence tests measure.” But defining what you are trying to measure by referencing the measuring instrument is a circular and flawed approach. Nonetheless, estimating a person’s intelligence based on their performance on IQ results remains firmly entrenched in our culture, where we’ve been conditioned to believe that:

IQ scores determine intelligence, with the environment only playing a secondary role

Individual IQ gains over an individual's lifespan tend to be modest.

To what extent can lifestyle modifications actually make a person smarter? Of course, a person can learn more, attend school longer, and associate with highly intelligent people in the hope that some of it will “rub off.” But do these lifestyle modifications actually make a person any smarter?

One of the ways to explore this is to identify traits commonly recognized to be associated with........

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