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Cognitive Elite

A cognitive elite is an individual who’s intelligence levels are among the highest in society. They have the power to make smart judgements and are able to understand new concepts with ease. The cognitive elite are usually the top of the social structure and will lead others.

Does intelligence actually exist? Almost everyone uses the word intelligence but it is one of those words whose meaning is so broad that it can cover virtually any beneficial quality we choose. It is clear from the way the word is used that we think of it partly, at least, as quantitative because it can be measured. People are described as being more or less intelligent. (Bartholomew 4) Although intelligence has multiple meanings, there is some validity in determining one’s brain power through an intelligence quotient test. (Bartholomew 1) A person’s IQ score, which is based on his or her performance at an intelligence test, gives an indication of mental output. However, beginning with Charles Spearman, intelligence theorists have argued that test scores are more than mere indicators of output, and reflect some underlying quality that makes people intelligent. It must be stressed as well that IQ data is subject to variation in two ways. First, they depend on particular test protocols, and second, tests are given under varying conditions. It has been shown that different IQ tests produce different results and the same tests can produce different results when the testing conditions are varied.

Increasing cognitive ability There are different opinions regarding the ability to increase cognitive ability. According to Richard Herrstein and Charles Murray, the probability of raising a person’s IQ is very slim. In The Bell Curve, they say that the story of attempts to raise intelligence is one of high hopes, flamboyant claims, and disappointing results. IQ can be raised with existing interventions only in modest amounts, inconsistency, and usually temporarily. The qualities reflected in an IQ test score have some kind of special status, setting intelligence apart from the acquired mental skills and abilities that people gain as a result of experience and learning. It is a belief of Charles Spearman that intelligence is an inherent quality of a person, and far more than a collection of acquired mental capabilities. Other psychologists such as Perkins, Resnick and Sternberg see much of intelligence as a repertoire of intellectual abilities that can be cultivated over time. They do not deny that intellectual propensities and abilities don’t exist, but believe that intellectual abilities can grow, both through education and personal striving. (Sternberg 25)

Exercise’s effect on cognition If exercise increases the arousal level, it increases at the same time the amount of resources available to perform a concomitant cognitive task. Participants under aroused in the rest or control condition are most likely to show an improvement in performance in the arousing exercise condition. Exercise may also influence decisional processes via the effort mechanism if both the cognitive task and motor task consume mental effort. In this case, the amount of effort necessary to perform the cognitive task can be slightly insufficient and lead to a slowing of decisional processes. It is still inconclusive whether chronic exercise increases overall intelligence. Contemporary researchers continue to advance study the exercise science side but fail to fully engage the cognitive side of the exercise-cognition relationship. Human cognition reflects interactions among numerous processes; however, research on the effects of chronic exercise seems to be limited to only a few of these processes. Much needed is a theory that would help to explain why routine physical activity might benefit some processes more than others or why certain types of exercise would have more of an effect on cognitive function than others. (Audiffren 312)

Economic status and cognition Studies depict that the poor score lower than the wealthy on intelligence exams, but this doesn’t mean that the wealthy are smarter. It could be the result of a better lifestyle in which they have money to afford the best education and don’t have to worry about getting jobs to provide food for their families. The impoverished conditions of ghetto often times are characterized by urban squalor, bad housing, substance abuse, violence and massive unemployment with inadequate schooling and restricted family life. (Howe 54) All these things are detrimental to the developing brain. The social-psychological phenomenon called assortative mating suggests people of similar intelligence levels tend to select each other out and thereby reinforce, both genetically and culturally, the continuation of their kind. Oftentimes, people of the same ethnicity and economic background will reproduce together therefore further instilling this class system. This manner of passing on what can only be considered a form of wealth, education, and capital, as sociologists like Bourdieu would call it-serves in much the way inherited property has done historically to maintain the dominant position of ruling classes.

Developing Intelligence

It is the combination of nature and nurture that effects intelligence and allows a person to be cognitive elite. (Bartholomew 3)Nature includes all those inputs that are broadly biological, while those that stem from a person’s environment are said to belong in the nurture category. (Howe 141) Hardly anyone nowadays disputes that intelligence is, to some extent, handed down from parents to children. The debate is however, whether the contribution of inheritance to a person’s intelligence is a major or minor factor. For example, height might be determined by genes, but we know it can also be affected by nutrition and exercise in the early years. Some believe that as much as 80% of intelligence is attributable to inheritance, while others think it to be between 40 and 60%. Genes effect a person’s intelligence by setting the foundation for a child to learn and grow upon. Children need DNA that gives them favorable traits and hasn’t undergone mutations. If the DNA isn’t intact, they could turn out mentally challenged and not be able to learn as efficiently. Healthy parenting, positive influences and good education aid in the process of becoming a cognitive elite.

Emotional intelligence development Emotional intelligence is the competence in perceiving emotions. This competence helps regulate emotions and cope effectively with emotive situations. Emotional intelligence is important because many people fail to manage emotions successfully. Emotional intelligence may be linked to adaptation or, the person’s adjustment to external circumstances in order to minimize harm and maximize benefits. The emotionally intelligent person may be successful in adapting to circumstances that elicit emotion, either through effective regulation of emotion itself, or through application of more general coping and interpersonal skills.

Cognition and emotion The arousal of a mood or emotion spreads activation throughout a network of associations surrounding that mood or emotion. As a result, material that is associatively linked to current mood is more likely to be recalled and used, leading to a marked mood congruence in constructive associations, evaluations, and judgements. Strong emotions make it easier to recall the events that occurred in those situations. In one study, subjects were asked to record and rate incidents on their degree of pleasantness or unpleasantness. Subjects were later asked to recall or recognize the incidents. Nearly all such studies have found that participants recollections are higher for highly emotional events than for non-emotional ones. This result, of better memory for more intense emotional events, holds for both positive and negative events.

Language's Effect On Cognition There are two variants of the claim that language enables cognitive advances in other domains. The first claim is phylogenetic and ontogenetic- that language re-engineers the human mind and it has done so both in the evolution of our species and during the development of each contemporary human. Language is the vehicle for thinking and reasoning in a range of cognitive domains outside of the home domain of language.

Smart, but lazy

People can be cognitive elite, but make poor decisions which results in them looking foolish. A foolish person is a person lacking good sense or judgement, showing a lack of sense, unwise, without judgement or discretion. Smart people may do dumb thinks that cause them to fall behind intellectually over time. Some intelligent people become too cocky and don’t apply themselves because they think they are smart enough that they don’t have to work as hard as others. They think of smartness as something that they have and others don’t. As a result, they become too focused on being smart and looking smart rather than on challenging themselves, or stretching and expanding their skills to become smarter. (Sternberg 24) Many prodigies fizzle out and many of our most revered creative geniuses did not start off being particularly smart. A person who believes that their intelligence is a potential that can be developed will focus not on the short-term outcomes that might make them look good, but on the effort and strategies that will lead to learning and long-term achievement.