Blog Post #10 Thinking and Intelligence

One thing I read about in chapter 9 was overconfidence. Overconfidence is the tendency to be more confident than correct and to oversee the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments. Across different tasks, many people will overestimate that their performance was, is, or will be. There are many different types of overconfidence in our world. For example, presidents may be overconfident when going to war, different tests in the labortories, stockbrokers, and students in school with assignments. Many people are overconfident in their decisions with everyday things. If you fail to appreciate our potential for error, it can have different consequences but overconfidence does have adaptive value also. People who are on the side of overconfidence live more happily, find it easier to make tough decisions, and seem more credible than those who lack self-confidence. I feel that it is necessary to be overconfident in some situations but not when it involves other people and issues that affect them. In school, kids who are overconfident with their opinions and making sure everyone knows exactly how they feel about every situations is very irritating. When kids are overconfident in school work and no exactly what they are doing, it can be nice if you need help with an assignment. Overconfidence can go both ways, sometimes it pays to be overconfident and sometimes people need to know when to hold back.



Creativity is the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas. There are five different components to creativity. Expertise is a well-developed base of knowledge that furnishes the ideas, images, and phrases we use a mental building blocks. Imaginative thinking skills provide the ability to see things in novel ways, to recognize patterns, and to make connections. A venturesome personality seeks new experiences, tolerates ambiguity and risk, and perseveres in overcoming obstacles. Intrinsic motivation is being driven more by interest, satisfaction, and challenge than by external pressures. A creative environment sparks, supports, and refines creative ideas. If you are surrounded by all these things and contain all these things how can creative can one really be? There are different factors that I can be creative with and not so creative with. In school with projects, posters, and things like the yearbook, I feel I can be super creative with designing things. However, I am only creative if its on the computer or with stencils and what not. I have no artistic ability what so ever. I feel it can be an asset to have a higher creative intelligence. If you are creative in different things it allows you to broaden your horizon and be different than others. It may also allow for more ideas to be brought up that can benefit you.



I thought Sternberg's three intelligences were very interesting and the one I would probably relate too the most. He also states that there is more to success than traditional intelligence. He proposed triarchic theory which consists of analytical (academic problem-solving intelligence) intelligence, creative intelligence, and practical intelligence. Analytical intelligence is assessed by intelligence tests which presents well-defined problems having a single right answer. This is the type of intelligence I use in school and work. Creative intelligence is demonstrated in reacting adaptively to novel situations and generating novel ideas. Practical intelligence is required for everyday tasks, which may be ill-defined with multiple solutions. I use practical intelligence everyday with everyday situations and problems. I think intelligence is a measure of many different thinks not just about book smarts and your IQ.