Divergent Intelligence

I prepared a little post for a time like this, when I'll be on vacation and not as sharp for writing. I hope you'll enjoy it.

If you search what are the types of intelligence that exist, you will likely find this answer in a form or another (quote from Wikipedia):

musical-rhythmic,
visual-spatial,
verbal-linguistic,
logical-mathematical,
bodily-kinesthetic,
interpersonal,
intrapersonal,
naturalistic
Existential (2009 update)

I don't have an issue with that way to categorize intelligence, it makes sense.

Jimi Hendrix was a guitar genuis, so he had a high musical-rhythmic intelligence -- to say the least -- but I doubt he would have won a Nobel in Chemistry (I guess that falls under logical-mathematical intelligence?).

And we can find examples for each of these types of intelligence.

At the same time, without discarding the above types, we can also categorize intelligence in a different way.

For a long time, Intelligence Quotient (IQ) has been measured for people, and the ones with the highest IQ were deemed as most worthy for the best educational programs, best jobs etc.

Those IQ tests are closely linked to the logical-mathematical intelligence, so the tests favor those who posses a high logical-mathematical intelligence, and not so much the rest.

Nowadays, Emotional Intelligence seems to be favored, as it is highly useful in social environments. A high EQ means definitely a high interpersonal intelligence, but to understand and control their own emotions, one would need a high intrapersonal intelligence. Also, to be able to communicate socially and express emotions, a verbal-linguistic intelligence might be helpful.

But that's not it.

Have you seen the movie Divergent? If you haven't, I think you should...

From its presentation on IMDB:

In a world divided by factions based on virtues, Tris learns she's Divergent and won't fit in.

I don't know what you feel about those "divergents" :), but the divergent intelligence is as real as it can be.

For example, I'm reading now a translation of the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, which I picked up from my sister's bookcase.

And there are ways to test the divergent intelligence, which is the capacity to find multiple creative solutions / answers to one problem. All good answers, because there is no UNIQUE answer which is valid, and the rest are wrong.

Want to try out your divergent capacity?

Think of as many uses as possible for:

1. a brick
2. a blanket

Write down your answers on a piece of paper. Go! (normally there's a 10 minutes time limit, so don't cheat!)