First Impressions, Wisdom, and Intelligence
Thesis: Wisdom is a data driven process that relies on experiences to achieve pattern recognition, whereas intelligence is a logic driven process that relies on real-time analysis to obtain reasoned conclusions.
I recently finished reading the book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point. The book is a good refresher for those of you who took Psych 101 back in college, as it applies to the real world. The author discusses the human ability to make split-second decisions and assessments of situations. Actually, the book is a good read on romance if nothing else. The author introduces the book by discussing a multi-decade study performed on thousands of married couples that predicted, with remarkable accuracy, which couples would remain married. Only a brief conversation was observed for each couple, but with enough sample data and the help of a computer, the researchers were able to isolate the key behaviors that correlated with future relationship success or failure and predict with over 90% accuracy which couples would remain together. What does all this mean?--pattern recognition is king.
The Wisdom in First Impressions
Why is it that first impressions mean so much? How is it we can often size somebody up within the first five minutes of meeting them? Why do we, the amorphous all-knowing we, insist that "wisdom" is something that comes only with age and experience? What is this "wisdom" that is apparently distinct from raw intelligence? These are some pretty big questions, but I believe the answer to all of them is pattern recognition.
A lot more goes on in our mind than you would think. When you meet somebody, and size them up, you aren't explicitly analyzing their each and every mannerism and action to draw a grand and final conclusion; rather, something is happening on a subconscious level that enables you to instantly build an "impression," which is essentially a bank of information on this person (generated from past experiences with similar seeming people) that is entirely unconfirmed but much of which will later be proven true. While your conscious faculities are busy having a polite conversation, your subconscious is taking it all in--the person's gender, height, voice, posture, mannerisms, gait, clothes, style, the context of the situation, etc..--and accessing the massive database of people you've encountered in the past to construct a set of reasonable, data-driven assumptions about the person in question. Because this occurs through pattern recognition, we become more adept as we age and accumulate more data (more experiences).
This is wisdom unpacked--the reason the elder generation always seems a little more insightful and exhibits an ability to cut through the noise and get to what's important. Often times when the young buck from the Ivy League rolls into town ready to show up his colleagues, he discovers that he's got a long way to go. He can analyze all the data points all day and all night, applying his innate intelligence, but he ultimately lacks the seasoned intuition of those more senior to him, something that can only develop with time.
Pattern Recognition, The Process Underlying it All
Pattern recognition is essentially the essence of the human intellect. It's what allows you see "dog" in 300 different fonts or hear dog in 1,000 different voices and think, "dog!"; it's also what allows you to store and recognize faces. Similarly, it's what allows a manager who's been working the factory line for 20 years to quickly assess and resolve a situation similar to those he has seen in the past.
The reason are minds are built this way is for adaptability. Nature has discovered that the best design is one that can adapt to its environment. If nature were to hard wire you with 100,000 experiences but no ability to learn, you would be a mess. You wouldn't be able to learn the language or customs of your environment. Instead, we are born into the world as a blank slate and slowly accumulate information which we can use to operate compatibly with our environment. It's the autopilot effect of sitting down at a table with plates, silverware, and a napkin and knowing step one is to put the napkin in your lap. You've seen this situation a thousand times, and as a result, your subconscious is busy recognizing it and signaling to your body some basic decorum. Conversely, if you sit down at a table with 5 plates, 3 glasses, and a dozen pieces of silverware, and you're not a regular at State dinners, the task is likely elevated to your conscious faculties for assistance in executing the proper etiquette.
How Intelligence Differs from Wisdom
So how does intelligence differe from wisdom then? Why do certain people seem to excel more than other at a given age? The example of dinner etiquette gives us some hints by demonstrating when we accomplish a task through experience-based pattern recognition versus the use of conscious reasoning. Intelligence is our real-time ability to engage in reason, draw comparisons, and develop solutions, given the information we have available to us. Think about it... how is every IQ test out there structured? Intelligence tests attempt to eliminate the need for experience or special knowledge. The puzzles you're given involve decoding sequences of numbers, analyzing basic shapes, or rearranging letters. These are very complex problems that require only basic knowledge or understandings. Generally, none of the information a 50 year old has collected over that of a 15 year old will be helpful in solving these problems; it all comes down to the person's facility with this basic knowledge to recognize a pattern and develop a solution as quickly as possible.
So, the moral of the story is, don't be afraid to sometimes rely on your gut instinct. Wisdom and intelligence are very different things. You may not be able to readily provide the reasons for a gut-induced decision, but a lot went into it as your subconscious sorted through a deep well of personal experiences to serve up an "ah ha" that may well pack quite a punch.
I recently finished reading the book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point. The book is a good refresher for those of you who took Psych 101 back in college, as it applies to the real world. The author discusses the human ability to make split-second decisions and assessments of situations. Actually, the book is a good read on romance if nothing else. The author introduces the book by discussing a multi-decade study performed on thousands of married couples that predicted, with remarkable accuracy, which couples would remain married. Only a brief conversation was observed for each couple, but with enough sample data and the help of a computer, the researchers were able to isolate the key behaviors that correlated with future relationship success or failure and predict with over 90% accuracy which couples would remain together. What does all this mean?--pattern recognition is king.
The Wisdom in First Impressions
Why is it that first impressions mean so much? How is it we can often size somebody up within the first five minutes of meeting them? Why do we, the amorphous all-knowing we, insist that "wisdom" is something that comes only with age and experience? What is this "wisdom" that is apparently distinct from raw intelligence? These are some pretty big questions, but I believe the answer to all of them is pattern recognition.
A lot more goes on in our mind than you would think. When you meet somebody, and size them up, you aren't explicitly analyzing their each and every mannerism and action to draw a grand and final conclusion; rather, something is happening on a subconscious level that enables you to instantly build an "impression," which is essentially a bank of information on this person (generated from past experiences with similar seeming people) that is entirely unconfirmed but much of which will later be proven true. While your conscious faculities are busy having a polite conversation, your subconscious is taking it all in--the person's gender, height, voice, posture, mannerisms, gait, clothes, style, the context of the situation, etc..--and accessing the massive database of people you've encountered in the past to construct a set of reasonable, data-driven assumptions about the person in question. Because this occurs through pattern recognition, we become more adept as we age and accumulate more data (more experiences).
This is wisdom unpacked--the reason the elder generation always seems a little more insightful and exhibits an ability to cut through the noise and get to what's important. Often times when the young buck from the Ivy League rolls into town ready to show up his colleagues, he discovers that he's got a long way to go. He can analyze all the data points all day and all night, applying his innate intelligence, but he ultimately lacks the seasoned intuition of those more senior to him, something that can only develop with time.
Pattern Recognition, The Process Underlying it All
Pattern recognition is essentially the essence of the human intellect. It's what allows you see "dog" in 300 different fonts or hear dog in 1,000 different voices and think, "dog!"; it's also what allows you to store and recognize faces. Similarly, it's what allows a manager who's been working the factory line for 20 years to quickly assess and resolve a situation similar to those he has seen in the past.
The reason are minds are built this way is for adaptability. Nature has discovered that the best design is one that can adapt to its environment. If nature were to hard wire you with 100,000 experiences but no ability to learn, you would be a mess. You wouldn't be able to learn the language or customs of your environment. Instead, we are born into the world as a blank slate and slowly accumulate information which we can use to operate compatibly with our environment. It's the autopilot effect of sitting down at a table with plates, silverware, and a napkin and knowing step one is to put the napkin in your lap. You've seen this situation a thousand times, and as a result, your subconscious is busy recognizing it and signaling to your body some basic decorum. Conversely, if you sit down at a table with 5 plates, 3 glasses, and a dozen pieces of silverware, and you're not a regular at State dinners, the task is likely elevated to your conscious faculties for assistance in executing the proper etiquette.
How Intelligence Differs from Wisdom
So how does intelligence differe from wisdom then? Why do certain people seem to excel more than other at a given age? The example of dinner etiquette gives us some hints by demonstrating when we accomplish a task through experience-based pattern recognition versus the use of conscious reasoning. Intelligence is our real-time ability to engage in reason, draw comparisons, and develop solutions, given the information we have available to us. Think about it... how is every IQ test out there structured? Intelligence tests attempt to eliminate the need for experience or special knowledge. The puzzles you're given involve decoding sequences of numbers, analyzing basic shapes, or rearranging letters. These are very complex problems that require only basic knowledge or understandings. Generally, none of the information a 50 year old has collected over that of a 15 year old will be helpful in solving these problems; it all comes down to the person's facility with this basic knowledge to recognize a pattern and develop a solution as quickly as possible.
So, the moral of the story is, don't be afraid to sometimes rely on your gut instinct. Wisdom and intelligence are very different things. You may not be able to readily provide the reasons for a gut-induced decision, but a lot went into it as your subconscious sorted through a deep well of personal experiences to serve up an "ah ha" that may well pack quite a punch.
posted by Clayton at 6:27 PM
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