The most important cognitive skills to think and become smart 

On more than one occasion we will have heard the phrase "in addition to being smart, one must be smart to prosper in this life. Other times we will have used the words "smart" and "intelligent" as if they were synonymous, but in reality they are not. These are  the most important cognitive skills to think and become smart .

It is not a subtle nuance between their definitions, but it goes much further. Being smart and being intelligent are very different ways of being, so much so that the only thing they seem to share is that they both relate, in one way or another, to cognitive aspects.

Next we will see which are the differences between to be clever and to be intelligent, besides to understand in its maximum depth the definition of these two concepts and how they are related to each other.

The main differences between being smart and being intelligent

It has happened to all of us on more than one occasion to be using the words "smart" and "intelligent" interchangeably. Some think they know the nuance that allows them to distinguish between the two, thinking it is so subtle that it is not worth being too picky and using one or the other depending on exactly what you want to say.

Others, on the other hand, believe that being intelligent has to do with something more innate, that one is or is not, while being intelligent is something that can be learned, more related to knowledge acquired in life. And they are not misguided.

What is being intelligent?

The definition of being intelligent is quite simple at first glance. An individual is intelligent when he or she possesses an above-average intelligence quotient (IQ), especially if he or she exceeds 130 IQ points, being considered gifted or highly capable. Psychology has been investigating for years if having high IQ is a factor that determines success in life, but this seems not to be the case. Although having a low IQ predisposes to having poor quality jobs, being very intelligent is not a guarantee of success in life.

An intelligent person is the one that possesses great capacity to understand, to think and to handle the information. It has facility to solve problems of great difficulty, in which, generally, it requires a high level of logic. He analyzes by segmenting the challenges he faces, until he finds an ideal solution for them. It has a long term vision and makes the complex something simpler and more manageable. Intelligent subjects have a more long-term vision when it comes to solving their problems.

Research has tried to clarify what is understood by intelligence, a construct that has been widely in the center of the debate in psychology. Not a few theorists have considered that intelligence, far from being a single factor and generalist, can be subdivided into various specialized intelligences. There are different models, each one with its own proposal about which are the intelligences that can be found in the human being, but among them stand out, especially, that of Howard Gardner and that of Daniel Goleman.

The psychologist Howard Gardner, in his book Structures of the Mind The Theory of Multiple Intelligences (1983) states that there is not one single type of intelligence, but seven (later there would be eight), which he explains in detail in his Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Among these intelligences we find the two traditionally evaluated in the classroom, linguistic-verbal intelligence (e.g., oral and written comprehension) and logical-mathematical intelligence (e.g., mathematical, physical and chemical subjects), accompanied by the following six:

Visual-spatial: navigation and rotation of objects

Musical-auditory: musical abilities.

Corporal-kinesthetic: body movements.

Individual: recognizing one's feelings.

Interpersonal: recognizing the feelings of others, having empathy.

Naturalistic: perceiving the relationships that exist between various species.

However, Daniel Goleman went one step further than Gardner, questioning the fact that intelligence was a factor that did not predict success in life. Of course, logical-mathematical intelligence and linguistic-verbal intelligence, which are the most evaluated in schools, do not have to predict how well a person will do in everyday life. However, emotional intelligences (intra and interpersonal) as well as habits of intelligent people do seem to help in their life success.

Goleman believes that being smart also includes possessing emotional, cognitive and behavioral skills that can also be found in smart people, to a greater or lesser extent. These skills would be the common point, the ambiguous line, between being smart and being clever. Among these skills we can find the following.

1. Emotional

Identifying and labeling feelings Expressing feelings Assessing the intensity of feelings Controlling feelings Delaying gratification Controlling impulses Reducing stress Knowing the difference between feelings and actions

2. Cognitive

Talking to oneself: maintaining an internal dialogue to face a situation. Know how to read and interpret social indicators Divide the decision-making and problem-solving process into steps Understand the point of view of others Understand the rules of conduct

3. Behavioral

Non-verbal: Communicating through eye contact, facial expression, tone of voice...

Verbal: Knowing how to speak clearly, responding effectively to criticism, active listening...

What is smart?

Being smart is an ability that cannot be changed. Although scientific research has pointed out that intelligence can decrease or increase in adolescence without an external factor to explain it, that variation in intelligence has nothing to do with the effort a person has made to change it. The performance of some people increases, while that of others decreases, without following an established pattern that allows a clear explanation to be drawn from it.

Having talent for something is considered a trait of intelligent people. In the same line of the theory of multiple intelligences, having a certain intelligence more developed makes it easier to master a certain area of life. For example, having musical intelligence means having the ability to play instruments, to recognize a note as soon as you hear it, to understand scores quickly...

On the other hand, we consider a smart person to be one whose behavior leads him to tend to success in life, given his context and his starting situation. It is that person who, in front of an everyday situation, knows how to face it, getting the most out of it and obtaining great benefit. Smart people are characterized by being very aware of any new stimulus, making sure they learn from it so that, if it comes up again, they can give an efficient response. If being clever were within the theory of multiple intelligences it could be called operational intelligence.

Being smart has little to do with having a good academic performance. There are many people with this quality who, being in school or high school, did not get very good grades, but equally, they could do a little of everything and go ahead. They are more generalists than intelligent people, that is, they know about several things but without standing out naturally in any of them. If they want to stand out, they will have to put in the desire, practice and study, but they are good at learning on their own.

More than a cognitive ability, being smart is almost a personality style. Smart people have as distinctive traits to be mentally quick, intuitive, sagacious, cunning, practical, insightful, alert, subtle, attentive to what is going on and channeling information. They face daily situations very quickly, since they know how to take advantage of their knowledge and apply it to their daily life, making it much easier than the rest. In case a new situation arises, they will try to extract the maximum juice from it. Smart people usually invest their efforts in obtaining short-term results.

Being smart is an ability that can be changed. As we have mentioned, smart people are smart because they know how to respond very efficiently to everyday situations. However, those everyday situations were new at some point and the smart person had to learn everything necessary to know what to do in case it happened again. Thus, the smart person is acquiring new knowledge and strategies to be successful in life. In other words, they become smarter and smarter.

Related to this, we can say that being smart does not mean having talent for a certain skill, since talent is something innate. However, smart people, as individuals who strive to learn, if they want to excel in a certain skill, will practice and try to learn everything necessary to master it. For example, a smart person may not be good at playing the guitar at first, but through effort, will get to play the instrument better than anyone else.

Is it better to be smart or to be intelligent?

The ideal would be to be smart and intelligent, as Albert Einstein probably was. However, in this life we cannot have it all: some of us have to settle for being smart, others for being intelligent and some, unfortunately, have the bad luck of being neither. Each characteristic favors being able to deal with certain types of situations so, depending on the type of job, we should either be smart or intelligent.

Intelligent people are good in new and difficult situations. For example, in jobs like theoretical physics it is necessary to have a highly developed logical-mathematical intelligence, as well as a great capacity for inventiveness and creativity. Another example would be in the world of sports, where it is required to be very aware of body posture and how muscles work in order to make a key in martial arts or to kick the ball with the necessary strength to reach the goal.

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Smart people are more efficient in situations they already know, especially those that arise in their daily lives. If something unexpected happens, as they already have a lot of experience, they will know how to respond. Being smart is a good quality in almost any job. For example, being a high school teacher is ideal to be smart, learning and knowing how to teach the content. It is thanks to repeating the content every year that the teacher learns how to teach it according to the characteristics of the class group.

Conclusion

The differences between being smart and being intelligent are many. Being smart is more of a personality trait, typical of people who learn in new situations and who know how to respond to situations they have already experienced. It is a modifiable capacity, focused on obtaining short term results, pending any new stimulus that may appear to learn from it and constituting a factor that predicts success in life. A smart person does not have to be a good academic performer.

Instead, being smart is having talent given for one or several areas of life, being able to cope with a new situation through ingenuity and reasoning. Intelligence is not a unitary construct and neither is it an aspect that can be modified at will. Intelligent people are focused on long-term results, and although high intelligence is desirable, it is no guarantee of success in life. Being intelligent does relate to having good academic performance.