Myths about human intelligence

Human intelligence is not as abstract as some believe, today we can understand it more easily, we have even created a series of methods and mechanisms to measure and compare it. Although all the scientific information on the subject is public and available to everyone, certain myths continue to be generated around intelligence, myths that misinform and threaten the reality of this phenomenon, which although it is very complex, has a strong basis in science and is approached from a variety of fields of study.

Below we will analyze some of the most popular myths that revolve around this topic, in order to provide some clarity from the studies that have been conducted on the subject.

There is no single intelligence

The myth that there is only one intelligence is one of the myths that has been most strongly disproved in recent times. It is normal that we have generated this idea, since we always refer to "intelligence" and not to "intelligences". When the intelligence of the human being is studied, it is analyzed from a multiplicity of types of intelligences, which can be present in greater or lesser quantity in a given individual.

This is the explanation of why we can find geniuses in the arts who poorly learned to multiply and divide. It is not possible to measure the intelligence of a person from an integral point of view, but it is possible to possess a certain type of intelligence while we do not possess others. Notwithstanding the above, intelligence can be measured by IQ tests based on general patterns of the individual's ability to solve problems.

When we speak of our intelligence IQ, that which is measured by means of a test, we are referring to a singular vision of intelligence that allows us to group it into scales. The tests used to measure this intelligence are based on patterns of logic and reasoning, they are general elements, since nobody would think of measuring intelligence from the aptitude to handle emotions, talent for art or any other question that if it attends more to the intelligence from a plural point of view.

Learning while you sleep

There is a false belief that you can learn while you sleep, in fact there are entire groups that are dedicated to put this theory into practice, where they record class notes and sleep while listening to them. The same thing they usually do with the vocabulary of a new language or anything they think they can learn just by listening to it while they sleep.

There is no scientific evidence that we can memorize anything while we sleep, not even incorporate any useful element to our subconscious, while science does not make progress and can prove any relationship between sleep and memorize this is just a myth without scientific basis.

Those who claim that sleeping while listening to their recorded notes has helped them to memorize them, show a kind of placebo effect, but no one is known to have learned a language while sleeping, an element that would be decisive to support this thesis.

The percentage we use of our brain

This myth is so strong that no matter how hard we have tried to disprove it, it continues to be taken to the cinema and literature as a scientifically proven truth.

It is often erroneously believed that we only use 10 percent of our brain and that if we were to unleash our full potential we could do unimaginable things. Well, fiction aside, human beings use 100 percent of their brain, not 100 percent in every activity they perform, but in all their daily activities.

It is not that we have only a part of our brain working and the rest asleep waiting to be unlocked in the future.