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To boost your intelligence, learn how to self-soothe
- pmoriarty 5y ago"To keep reading this story, get the free app or log in."
- king_magic 5y agoThe single most impactful thing you can do to boost your intelligence is learn how to effectively self-soothe This sounds like absolutely unscientific, completely unfounded, feel-good-blogspam bullshit. And hey, maybe it isn't - maybe it's legit. But I see no sources, no studies that indicate that "self soothing" does anything for boosting general intelligence. Absent sources that confirm the author's position, this feels like a pretty intellectually dishonest piece.
- Consultant32452 5y agoPeople are willing to believe all sorts of unscientific nonsense about general intelligence because the science gives us inconvenient conclusions.
- hpoe 5y agoThe wonderful quote that appears halfway through supports your conclusion "There are many theories about the connection between sensory processing and intelligence but my personal belief having lived it is"
- jhap 5y agoI wonder what the actual single most impactful thing you can do to boost your intelligence is? Besides going to school for 20 years, being well-fed and rested, presumably it's taking modafinil?
- Theizestooke 5y agoTwenty years ago I heard stories about people taking Piracetam, but afaik it's for Alzheimer patients and not healthy individuals looking to boost their intelligence.
- astrange 5y agoLive in an area without noise and air pollution. Stay in shape. Don't eat lead paint chips. Have smarter children and train them to inherit your legacy[1]. Modafinil probably doesn't boost intelligence, but you'd have to define intelligence first. It increases "executive function" and decreases some other things like creativity and reaction times. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0924977X20302145?via%3Dihub https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S09249... [1] This is a better strategy than relying on your own intelligence, because you're only ever one blow to the head away from losing it.
- Consultant32452 5y agoImportantly, we don't know about anything that can "boost" intelligence. We only know some things that can help not harm your intelligence. Eating a healthy diet is the biggest, others have named things like avoiding pollution.
- frumper 5y agoI read this as learn to reign in your extremes so you don't stop yourself from learning. Extreme distractions, emotions, actions all will pull you away from what you'd like to accomplish or learn. Soothing the anxiety that prevents you from doing something, or calming the anger that blinds you to reason are effective ways of getting through challenging times to help you do what you originally set out to do.
- toomanyducks 5y agoThis may be true, but it's important to recognize that science isn't exhaustive, and it's frequently conflicting. It's also not definitive, and when there's a complex issue, science, a form of inductive reasoning, can only answer narrow questions. Broad questions require personal experience, and that's what this is. Unsourced means unscientific, not worthless.
- kqr 5y agoWell, maybe not exactly the same as what this person is talking about, but in general a calm and secure brain is wildly more capable of rational thought than a stressed or anxious brain. This link between stress and cognition is well established, famously in our circles by that Google study that revealed psychological safety as one of the best indicators of performance in their teams. Of course, it's more complicated than that, but for a first-order approximation, calming yourself down will allow you to use more of your brain for rational thought.
- nostrademons 5y agoThe author's sensory processing disorder is showing through in the writing, but there's an important insight there. People see through their emotions. Not just ones with sensory processing disorders or ADHD, but everyone. Emotional states influence what sensory information is able to enter our consciousness, and hence our decision-making process. Change how people feel and you can influence what they believe. If you want the scientific background for this, you can Google something like [effect of emotional states on cognitive processing], and it'll take you to articles in neuroscience journals like [1][2]. This is also the principal by which therapy leads to better life outcomes. Learn to manage your emotions, so that your baseline emotional arousal goes down, and you'll have a clearer picture of the world around you and will be better equipped to make rational decisions. It's also spawned a whole multi-trillion-dollar industry (advertising & media), which is all about increasing your emotional arousal so you're more receptive to certain messages. Sex sells and if it bleeds it leads, because that's what generates heightened arousal states that make you more receptive to product messaging. [1] https://direct.mit.edu/jocn/article-abstract/28/3/446/28496/The-Impact-of-Emotional-States-on-Cognitive https://direct.mit.edu/jocn/article-abstract/28/3/446/28496/... [2] https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01454/full https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.0145...
- king_magic 5y agoAnd that's cool and all, but - again: The single most impactful thing you can do to boost your intelligence is learn how to effectively self-soothe That's a pretty big statement to make. The single, most impactful thing, eh? Reaaaaallly? I don't doubt that there might be some scientific background, particularly for folks with sensory processing disorders - but to phrase this like the author did - as though it applies to general intelligence for pretty much anyone - just feels very intellectually dishonest.
- sergioisidoro 5y agoI tend to agree with your statement, but I have to acknowledge that emotional intelligence is massively important for what we consider "intelligence" Recognising when you are in "defensive" mode in an argument, when you're just defending your pride instead of reason, is one of the most valued skill you can learn. So I can get behind the statement that self-soothing, and being able to put your ego in the passenger seat is indeed something that can boost your "intelligence" (as in, capacity of acting on reasoning and logic).
- Xenograph 5y agoThe first step in conducting scientific inquiry is formulating hypotheses, which are typically based on intuition and anecdote. This blog post is clearly telling an anecdote from the author's own personal life experience. From these experiences they have formed their hypotheses about behaviors that may affect intelligence. This blog post presents their experiences and conclusions. There's nothing unscientific about this. Perhaps you think that it is important for the author to attach a disclaimer that this blog post is not asserting definite scientifically proven truths about reality. But it's fairly obvious to me that the author was speaking from their own experience and opinions rather than attempting to share scientifically proven facts (why even write a long blog post to do that? The research would speak for itself).
- dang 5y ago"Please don't fulminate." "Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something." "Have curious conversation; don't cross-examine." "When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. 'That is idiotic; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3' can be shortened to '1 + 1 is 2, not 3." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html If we control for those guidelines, your comment reduces to a verbose, and frankly rather nasty "citation needed," which is a shallow dismissal in its own right (not to mention an internet cliché), so in fact it reduces to nothing. Please don't post like that in HN threads. There's nothing at all wrong with someone writing a speculative blog post based on their personal experience. There's lots of curious conversation to be had about such things. If it doesn't gratify your personal curiosity, that's ok—there are lots of other links to look at—but please don't post like this. It ends up poisoning the conversation for others, especially once it attracts the swarm of upvotes that angry rants usually do. I'm sure that wasn't your intent, but it happens all too easily anyway.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- king_magic 5y agoFair enough, feedback taken.
- dang 5y agoAppreciated!
- lyx0 5y agohttps://archive.is/s7DuX https://archive.is/s7DuX
- throwaway98797 5y agoAcknowledge problem. Accept problem. Attempt to solve problem. Accept outcome. Rinse and repeat. Don’t waste cycles on the emotions of having problems. (not saying that emotions don’t matter, often times they distract one from making progress)
- dwaltrip 5y agoMy initial reaction to the idea that emotions can distract one from making progress is that there may be unaddressed issues present. Emotions are bodily signals. You could say they are the result of information processing. They don’t come from nowhere. Emotions need to be processed and responded to. Maybe we can find common ground with the idea that some emotional issues take a long time to resolve, and, in the meantime, one needs healthy coping tools which may include different ways of soothing / calming down the emotional response when one needs to be functional.
- Disruptive_Dave 5y agoNot OP, but I would hope the original comment was intended to imply that emotions should be _responded_ to (as you noted) and not _reacted_ to. Responding involves understanding, "naming your enemy," and contextual consideration. Reacting is thoughtless, immediate, animalistic.
- wintermutestwin 5y agoGreat answer! I'll post some notes I have on responding vs reacting: Reactions limit choices. Responses give choices. Reactions are unconscious, automatic, and based on negative emotions which stem from unmet needs. Responses are conscious, considered, and based upon the actual needs underlying the negative emotions. Reactions often move us further away from getting our needs met. Responses usually move us towards getting our needs met.
- marcusestes 5y agoYou say thoughtless, immediate, and animalistic as if it’s a bad thing;) Sometimes it’s exactly the right strategy for decision making and almost always for creativity and play.
- armatav 5y agoIs everyone an ‘eccentric genius’ with some magical disorder these days? Or just bloggers? And where’s the source for the white matter structural deformity “delaying” signal processing by “a fraction of a second”, I’m very interested in how that works since it makes no sense that a signaling channel in the brain would suffer a large delay like that.
- falseprofit 5y agohttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213158213000776 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221315821... “Microstructural abnormalities of fibers in primary sensory tracts and/or in tracts connecting multimodal association areas may result in loss of the precise timing of action potential propagation needed to accomplish accurate sensory processing and MSI.” They’re measuring properties of this microstructure, not the delay it supposedly is responsible for. But I’d point out that calling “a fraction of a second” “large” is making a big assumption about the fraction.
- username90 5y agoThere are by definition many millions of people in the top 2% of intelligence and that is enough to be called a genius at school.
- smoldesu 5y agoI too am tired of reading about self-proclaimed geniuses on Substack/Medium, calling out to their (oftentimes paying) followers, and throwing up another invisible goalpost that represents intellegence. It's all so tiring.
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- sensorsbroken 5y agoThis describes me well. As a kid, I scored off the charts in math but was decidedly average in verbal. I can read technical literature all day long, but most works of fiction, historical writings, etc, are lost on me completely. I was in G&T throughout grade school, anyway, since I was among the top students in math. My learning disability was unidentified until adulthood, unfortunately. Now, as a middle aged adult, I'm broken, homeless, and destitute, socially and reputationally ruined, and a bit beyond the level of youthful neuroplasticity needed to engage in meaningful continued education, contemplating suicide day in and day out for years and decades on end. It's a miracle I'm still here. The takeaway here is to take to heart the idea that such early disparities are indicative of a learning disability. Please address the child's disability concurrent to nurturing the child's talent.
- Aulig 5y agoWow, it sounds like you've been through a lot. I hope things get better for you somehow.
- rendall 5y agoHeartbreaking to hear. I hope you can find peace, shelter and safety. Hang in there, please.
- jjeaff 5y agoI hope things get better for you. And while everyone is different, a lot of studies these days are leaning towards neuroplasticity actually continuing pretty strongly even into old age. So don't give up. You may need to find good treatment for any learning disabilities, but you can always learn more.
- elcritch 5y agoThere’s also data to indicate that SSRI’s working mechanism is actually by stimulating neuro-regeneration meaning they can help restore some neuroplasticity. They can be worth considering. Or more extreme treatments like ketamine research that appears to promote neuroplasticity. Both of those require some changes in cognitive behaviors. CBT appears the best technique. The best thing about universities is that they normally offer excellent mental health services for free (or part of tuition). To the OP: hang in there!
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- TedDoesntTalk 5y agowhat is this author's experience and reputation to make such a claim on intelligence? Does she work in this field as a neuroscientist?
- username90 5y ago> The single most impactful thing people can do to improve their intelligence is to learn how to soothe the shame and anxiety that comes from confronting the possibility that the world is not how you see it and experience it. This includes learning from criticism even when it doesn't come in a neatly packaged easy to digest form. Dismissing feedback just because it wasn't what you wanted to hear is the best way to never learn uncomfortable truths, and the more you do it the harder going back and fixing it gets.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- alexanderdmitri 5y agoThis implies the baseline intelligence to learn to distinguish valuable criticism you didn't want to hear from useless criticism you shouldn't heed.
- haswell 5y agoOne strategy is to listen/comprehend the criticism, but then immediately file it away as information. Do not take it to heart, do not implement immediate change. If you start to see corroborating evidence through introspection or similar feedback from multiple sources, then start really paying attention. Change if appropriate. In the workplace, I’ve received criticism for purely political reasons - and these are criticisms I’ll happily rebuff. But as long as it was delivered in good faith, establish a simple system to collect, observe, prioritize. Bringing a more structured/scientific approach also helps reduce some of the sting that comes with that criticism.
- qwerty456127 5y agoThe article describes my actual life precisely. Yet it's kinda clickbait. I forced myself to read it carefully from top to bottom (which is hard when you have ADHD) in hope of finding advises on how to actually do that but didn't find any.
- MonaroVXR 5y ago>"...in hope of finding advises on how to actually do that but didn't find any." because it's difficult and for everyone different.
- bloqs 5y agoIn case anyone is wondering, there is no way to boost IQ. Whatsoever. You can obviously remove things harming cognitive ability, but that's the extent of it.
- nxc18 5y agoEvidence?
- hollander 5y agoIt's generally acknowledged that IQ measured by well known IQ tests like the WAIS are fairly consistent over time. You may score a few points lower or higher, but it won't change much. Training can help a bit, but only so much. Health issues, mental problems, stress, tiredness, drugs or alcohol can all influence your score, mostly in a negative way. So I suppose that influences like these are filtered out of this research. They are interesting to research, to see what their influence is, but to study the consistency in test results over time, they should be left out.
- astrange 5y ago> It's generally acknowledged that IQ measured by well known IQ tests like the WAIS are fairly consistent over time. This is partially because they're designed to behave that way. There is not a direct causation between your score on a test and your quality of life. Also, how many people are actually taking IQ tests multiple times in their life? Who even takes them once unless they're being studied for a mental health issue? > Health issues, mental problems, stress, tiredness, drugs or alcohol can all influence your score, mostly in a negative way. … and this is a counterpoint to the one above, because removing negative contributions is the same thing as improving your test score.
- bloqs 5y agoPlenty of people, particularly people employed by large institutional bodies like the the worlds mililitaries, many participating in long term studies, people being assessed for schools and colleges for learning difficulties, people joining a variety of institutions like mensa or applying to a range of jobs
- flylikeabanana 5y agoShowed this to my partner, who I find pretty intelligent but struggles with a lot of the symptoms the author presents in this piece due to dealing with a variety of medical trauma in her youth. The relation to anxiety rings especially true, in that she's perceiving herself to be failing at a simple task but in reality she's working with a model she can't trust - inherently very difficult! To her it just adds fuel to the anxiety and the problem gets worse and her performance suffers more, etc. I agree with the author that tackling the cycle at the anxiety - being able to self soothe - seems to be the ticket to not only finding a card in her purse or whatever minor task a sensory processing disorder makes tougher but also to success in general. Being able to name our demons is helpful for contextualizing our experience. This is not a country that keeps people sane, so having alternative explanations beyond "I guess it's ADHD, try some speed" is great.
- loceng 5y agoIt's complex, can be multiple differing sources/causes individually or compounding, and what most of the world does is to follow a protocol of experimentation and practices for people to go through on their own to see what alleviates different dis-ease states - or where at least there is a net benefit found/experienced. The "solution" of psychiatry to deal with mental health IMHO is pure regulatory capture, a cheap, lazy solution requiring little to no skill or deeper understanding or experience by the administrator - and providing a recurring revenue model that seems to most often cause dependance.
- phlofy 5y ago> One school board member remarked to my mother that my high IQ and learning disability would just cancel each other out over time Yikes
- hinkley 5y agoI've met some pieces of work in my time. One class that stands out is the people who, on purpose or subconsciously, will hammer on someone, manipulating there sense of rightness (and often lack of self-soothing skills) to extract... I don't know what. Overtime? Self-esteem/aggrandization? Something else? I have a vivid recollection of a moment where I was explaining how we were actually going to fix a deep problem while in the corner of my vision I watched the face of the person who brought it up fall like a rock. He was clearly expecting a dodge, and I pulled some sort of 5 Why's judo move on him with a, "yes, and...". Incidentally, one of the superpowers of being someone that people can have a frank and potentially confidential conversation with is that people will bring you 'maybe problems' that sometimes turn out to be nothing (teach them how to do it themselves next time) or a potentially very bad situation. Having even a half hour head start on people to start thinking about a big problem makes you look a hell of a lot smarter in the OMGWTF meeting that follows. If you save people from looking or feeling stupid in front of others, they will pay you huge dividends, including Right of First Refusal on all sorts of things.
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- torginus 5y agoFor the sake of the argument, I'm going to take the authors appraisal of her own impressive intellect at face value, however I'd like to add that I have met a few 150IQish individuals who had a far more modest view of their mental abilities. My interpretation is that she was a genuine genius who, for whatever reason, had some learning disabilities/behavioural problems that prevented her from taking advantage of her own gifts. While I congratulate her for overcoming these challenges, I can't help but feel that an intellectually more average person, who also doesn't share her difficulties, would get far less out of the methods she describes in the article, or someone else who also has the same learning difficulties as her wouldn't get to join the intellectual elite just by following in her footsteps.
- stkdump 5y agoI can't say I know that you can improve your own intelligence. But it does seem to help better understand the world when you try to be open to the idea that you might be wrong in your opinions, if just for the fact that you haven't (yet) experienced what others have. And I think the personality trait openness (which to me seems to be connected) has a relatively strong correlation with intelligence.
- bitshiftfaced 5y agoHonest question: does "sensory perception disorder" come out of evidence-based science? Is it diagnosed just based on symptoms, or can they actually tell something's going on with the brain specifically? I ask because isn't it possible that this could be a sort of "vanity disorder"? Not saying it's good to have it, but people might be tempted to think they do.
- DangitBobby 5y agoI have to say I strongly disagree that there's no genetic cap on intelligence. I have met people that I would consider to be geniuses. The level of intelligence they displayed just absolutely blew me away. There was no comparison between them and myself. Not to say I don't think I'm smart, but I'm not a genius, and no amount of self soothing will unlock that in me.
- throwaway81523 5y agoThe medium post author posts this to HN and doesn't participate in the thread, and the post itself is membership walled. Annoying. I'll look at the archive.is link I guess, but I feel spammed.
- paperoli 5y agoThis reads a lot like my life too, I just play up the stupid side really, people relax and like you more. I remember teachers being absolutely flummoxed by my grades and then would treat me completely differently, suddenly like an adult, as opposed to a retarded 10 year old. I also need to ask endless basic questions to understand anything and it seems to me like other people somehow have already received and read the rules to life. My understanding seems maybe to be able to reach a deeper level but takes longer to get to an intermediate level.