Be Brilliantly Smooth with Enhanced Fluid Intelligence

What’s the Capital of France?

It’s Paris.

What comes in the given Blank? A1B2C__.

3.

If you answered these questions correctly, Congratulations! You haven’t won anything, but you’ll be surprised to know that you used two different types of intelligence to answer both questions.

Interesting! Isn’t it?

If it piqued your interest, then you are about to dive deeper into the world of intelligence, and when you finish this article, you will emerge with a different perception of yourself. Let’s get started with the article.

Let’s Know About Intelligence as whole

Let me give you a clear explanation of the term intelligence as a whole, and then we will diversify the explanation. What Is Intelligence? It’s a pretty lame question to ask but is necessary to get started.

Talking about intelligence, what type of tasks comes into your mind as a way of showing that you are one of the smart people? Some people think that solving complex algebraic equations is the ultimate level of intelligence, while some people think being multilingual is a sign of smartness. What is your reason for smartness?

As per many reports, intelligence is the ability to examine a problem, solve it, learn from the experiences, think logically, and easily adapt to new situations. Intelligence is a term that has different ways of expressing itself. Now, Intelligence is divided, or let’s say categorized into two main topics, which we will be discussing now. The categories termed by a world-renowned psychologist named Raymond Cattell are Fluid Intelligence and Crystallized Intelligence.

What is Fluid Intelligence?

Do you remember the questions asked above? One of them was answered with the help of fluid intelligence.

What comes in the given Blank? A1B2C__.

This question was answered using this category of intelligence. This question demanded logic and reasoning. When you read the question, you most likely focused on the pattern to figure out the answer to be filled in the given blank. It requires observation and logic to give the correct answer.

Fluid intelligence is defined as the ability to think and solve a problem using logic very quickly. Fluid intelligence has no connection with the knowledge that has been acquired in the past.

To clear it a bit more, when you give an aptitude test, you put your fluid intelligence to work. Prior knowledge won’t help you in the aptitude exam. Solving a pattern-based or derived problem is the notion that you are using fluid intelligence.

People who solve a problem without any prior knowledge related to the problem fall into this category of intelligence, while people who solve a problem with the help of some experience or knowledge they gained in the past fall under the category of crystallized intelligence.

We often hear that with time, people feel like they are losing their intelligence. The right way to put it is that fluid intelligence in people tends to decline, but at the same time, crystallized intelligence increases with time.

Fluid Vs. Crystallized Intelligence

These two categories have major differences which we can learn and apply in our daily lives. As you are reading this article, you are strengthening your crystallized intelligence. Crystallized intelligence works on facts and experience. With age, our fluid intelligence decreases whilst our crystallized intelligence will increase. It will be at its peak in our 60s and 70s. As a child, you develop fluid intelligence, and as you get older, you rely mostly on the things you learned.

These two bits of intelligence seem to be separate, but they are closely interlinked. This statement is the basis of AI and ML in the modern world. Due to the multiplicity of tasks, we often use both of them together.

For instance, in the maths exam, we use fluid intelligence to formulate a strategy that will give us the answer, but we use crystallized intelligence to get the answer from that strategy.

In fluid intelligence:

• No Prior Knowledge is needed to solve a problem.
• It uses abstract thinking to break down a problem into small parts and puzzles to reach the solution.

In Crystallized intelligence:

• We use our previous knowledge and experience to solve a given problem.
• We take the help of the solutions of similar problems and derive a solution for the existing one.

How To Increase Fluid Intelligence?

With certain steps, you can gain upper hand and develop your fluid intelligence.

• Creative Thinking
• Exploring New Things
• Socialization
• Challenging yourself (getting exposed to problems)
• Avoid taking easy routes.

Examples of Fluid Intelligence

Reasoning, logic, problem-solving, etc., are the pivotal points that define fluid intelligence. Examples explaining this concept are also very important to understand the overall meaning.

Recently IBM started working on artificial intelligence and machine learning. They are working to incorporate these two types of intelligence into machines. They started feeding the machines with data and algorithms to make them have a database of knowledge. So basically, they are developing crystallized intelligence in a machine. They intend to develop fluid intelligence using this crystallized intelligence. Suppose they make an AI travel system. For that, they will enter certain data like travel destinations, routes, ticket booking, and vehicles available. Now AI system will make decisions based on the data provided for every query that is made on the system. This process is what we call utilizing crystallized intelligence to get fluid intelligence.

In another example, recruiters of a company take an aptitude test to judge the candidate. They could have normally asked about the things you have learned (crystallized intelligence), but instead, they ask certain questions that show how good you are at solving a problem in real-time.

There are many such examples of fluid intelligence that you can look up on the internet.

Final Words from Think with Niche

Intelligence defines how well a person is suited for a particular job. Every person is unique. Someone aces in crystallized intelligence while someone aces in fluid intelligence. The top millionaires and billionaires of today use both of these as per their requirements, and that’s why they are successful. In the future, our machines might use both types of intelligence, and we may see a digital revolution. Don’t lag, Practice, and enhance your fluid intelligence to become the person your dream of!

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