IQ Not Directly Related to Economic Development

Research finds that "differences in the timing of agriculture transition and the histories of States, not population IQ differences, predict international development differences before the colonial era. " Average IQ of populations seems to be related to various stages of nations' modernization, not due to economic development.

Key Ingredient for Success

Research has shown that practice is a necessary ingredient for success - but its not always sufficient.


In one study, 57 pianists - who had practiced from 260 to 31,000+ hours - had their working memory capacity (WMC) tested. WMC allows an individual to simultaneously juggle several thoughts. For example, "you arrive home and your neighbor greets you by your car in order to schedule a lunch date, on your way to add it to your calendar, you stop to turn on the lights, add bread to your grocery list, and feed the dog. WMC enables you to retain the lunch information through those unrelated task."

In the study, WMC was used to assess sight-reading skill and the ability to play without preparation. Higher WMC participants tended to outperform others - including those with extensive experience of the task.

How to increase WMC? Expressive writing (especially negative writing), Dual N-Back Training, reading, chess, various foods, and exercise.

Heavy Metal and Intelligence

A study reveals that many intelligent teenagers - 1,000+ of the smartest 5% teenagers - listen to heavy metal to deal with the self-esteem issues, social awkwardness and, in some cases, family problems.

Participants said they liked the complex, and sometimes political, nature of heavy metal music.

Talk it Out

Research finds that students who worked out math problems out loud got more accurate results, and faster. Math students solved math problems and researchers found that students who reasoned through their thinking out loud, or drew out pictures for the problem, answered questions quicker and more accurately than their counterparts

Fitter = Smarter

Research suggests that adolescent physically fit men tend to be more intelligent than their non-athletic counterparts.

Animal studies have long shown a link between physical activity and better memory. In humans, aerobic exercise can boost cognitive function in old people. Scientists found that of 1+ million men enlisted for military service @ 18, cardiovascular fitness, not muscle strength, was associated with overall intelligence (in the Swedish army). Physical fitness at 18 also foreshadowed greater academic achievement later in life for the public in general. Even among the twin pairs, the fitter brother tended to be the smarter.

Want to be Smarter? Chew Gum

A study examined the effects of the timing of gum chewing on cognitive function. Chewing gum was associated with performance advantages on multiple measures when gum was chewed for 5 minutes before, but not during, cognitive testing. Benefits last for the first 15-20 minutes of the test, and are limited to cognitive domains.

Time-limited benefit can be attributed to "mastication-induced arousal." Lack of improvement in cognitive function when gum is chewed throughout testing may be because of an "interference effect" of sharing of resources between cognitive and masticatory processes - meaning its hard to chew gum and think at the same time.

Nice People Can Be Brainy

Research shows that people view competence and warmth as inversely related - i.e. intelligent people don’t need to be nice and nice people are judged less competent than they really are. Research found that humans value warmth over competence when judging others but when judging ourselves, we value competence over warmth (we want others to see us as competent, not just nice).

The research explains why many are dismissive of elders but kind to them, why managers trust unworthy employees, why many women are denied employment upgrades.