Have you ever wondered if being smart is the same as being intelligent, or if, on the contrary, there is a difference? And, if you differ in something, what is better, being smart or intelligent?
Today we answer these questions because despite being used as synonyms, these words do not mean exactly the same thing. As you will understand at the end of the article, there are smart children and intelligent children.
What differentiates smart children and intelligent children?
Colloquially, when talking about our children, we use the terms smart and intelligent interchangeably to refer to the intellectual abilities they manifest at school or in other environments. However, there are subtleties between these two words that differentiate them, therefore being smart is not exactly the same as being intelligent.
What is a smart child like?
An intelligent child is one who generally shows high or above-average intellectual abilities. An intelligent child can shine in many facets, being very skilled in mathematics or natural sciences. He usually gets very good grades at school but it may also be the case that, precisely because of his high intelligence, he fails academically if he is not cared for properly. These are generally children with a high IQ who usually obtain scores above 115-120 on standardized intelligence tests.
What does a smart child look like?
Unlike the intelligent child, the smart child usually has normal intelligence. In the tests used to measure intelligence (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, WISC-V) he obtains average scores between 90 and 110. Scores obtained by 90% of the population.
Thus we observe that, despite the fact that his intelligence is like that of any other child his age, the smart child uses all his intellectual, emotional and social potential to the maximum to adapt to different situations and obtain the best results. The smart child will not only be able to get good school grades but will also be able to achieve great personal achievements. In short, the smart child will have a greater chance of success in all areas: family, social, academic and, in the future, professional.
What influences the development of our children's potential?
- Environmental factors: nutrition, physical health, stimulation received during the first years.
- Relatives: educational styles, family values.
- Cultural.
- Economical.
- Psychological balance : An intelligent but emotionally unstable child will not be able to get the most out of his or her abilities, since he or she can break down at any moment due to not knowing how to control emotions such as fear, anxiety or anger.
Given the difference between the intelligent child and the smart child, we observe that the concept of intelligence should not remain in the mere score offered by the IQ of standardized tests.
Intelligence must be seen as a global capacity of the child to adapt to life, achieve their goals successfully, adapt to the environment and those around them and obtain from themselves what they want to obtain.
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