MYTHS EXPOSED
Nowadays, simply with common sense, an internet connection and a thirst for knowledge, everyone can educate themselves, seek truths and find multiple contradictory answers. We all have a natural intelligence to educate ourselves about anything we put our minds to and make conscious decisions instead of just assuming the ones we are told to believe.
In this age of technology exists infinite resources to enable you to access an abundance of information, but this can be overwhelming; it is not an easy task to differentiate lies from myths especially on the internet. Thankfully, there are concrete facts and logical proofs out there for you to decide how to increase the intelligence you already possess in the best possible manner.
Intellect Realities
Myth 1: A person who is “left-brained” is often said to be more logical and analytical, while a person who is “right-brained” is said to be more intuitive and creative.
Reality: The right brain and left brain work together so a person can be logical and creative at the same time; creativity requires a bit of logic.
“If one considers the right hemispheric creative and emotional thinking style, there is no scientific evidence that supports a correlation between creativity and the activity of the right hemisphere, let alone evidence for a correlation between the degree of creativity and the use of the right hemisphere. Similarly, a recent analysis of 65 neuroimaging studies on emotion found no scientific support for the hypothesis of an overall right hemispheric lateralization of emotional function. There is no direct scientific evidence that supports an analytical, logical thinking style for the left hemisphere, which predetermines the left hemisphere for mathematical tasks, or reading and writing.” Source: www.oecd.org
Myth 2: People remember 10% of what they read, 20% of what they hear and 30 % of what they see. This is a rather rigid, patronizing unfounded myth. We are all unique beings with unique minds and different abilities, so these types of numbers are unrealistic.
Reality: “That information and similar pronouncements are fraudulent. Moreover, general statements on the effectiveness of learning methods are not credible—learning results depend on too many variables to enable such precision. Unfortunately, this bogus information has been floating around our field for decades, crafted by many different authors and presented in many different configurations…” Source: www.worklearning.com
Myth 3: Some believe that we only use 10% of the brain, this seems to be an obvious myth because it’s easy to imagine what would happen if 90% of your brain got removed. This myth says that most of our brain is paralyzed or perhaps only there to decorate the empty space?!
Reality: There is no scientific evidence to support that statement and no one seems to know where that belief first began. Let’s suppose that the false idea has been spread by fake news or by internet trolls. However, real scientists do prove and thus, do believe that we use 100% of our brains. Further Reading: Do We Use Only 10% of Our Brains?
Myth 4: It’s often said that listening to classical music especially Mozart increases intelligence. The first question that comes to mind is: if that myth is true then why doesn’t electronic, rock or hip hop music increase intelligence too? The truth is that Mozart created genius symphonies but listening to those won’t make geniuses.
Reality: “any cognitive enhancement is small and does not reflect any change in IQ or reasoning ability in general, but instead derives entirely from performance on one specific type of cognitive task and has a simple neuropsychological explanation, called ‘enjoyment arousal”. Source: TodayIFoundOut.com
Helpful Links:
6 Intelligence Myths Exposed
Five Myths About Genius
Do We Use Only 10% of Our Brains?
Myth 5: Let’s think of this logically, is it the gum or chewing it that makes people smarter? The gum itself has no benefits, except for providing an extra dose of saturated sugar; the myth is well a myth?
Reality: The effect of chewing anything is mild exercise, it might increase your heart rate which increases blood flow to the brain, which then increases brain activity for a short period of time but this does not increase intelligence and memory in the long term. That’s right, even though it may be useful to warm up your brain and increase blood before exams, the gum itself does not increase intelligence and neither does chewing it. This myth is still unsolved. Further Reading: Forbes.com
Conclusion: No matter if developing your mind is your hobby or not, many myths and true methods on how to increase one’s intelligence exist.
