Individuals differ in their levels of overall intelligence, and their specific cognitive abilities. The American Psychological Society gives the following definition for this:

Individuals differ from one another in their ability to understand complex ideas, to adapt effectively to the environment, to learn from experience, to engage in various forms of reasoning, to overcome obstacles by taking thought.

David Wechsler, originator of WAIS IQ tests, defined intelligence simply as:

A global concept that involves an individual’s ability to act purposefully, think rationally, and deal effectively with the environment.

There are three aspects of intelligence that can be picked out from these definitions. In scientific research each tends to be studied independently, but all three are critical to living an intelligent life.

1. IQ . General intelligence as measured by IQ tests, also called ‘psychometric G’ or simply ‘G’.  This involves abstract thinking and reasoning skills, ability with language, general knowledge, and information processing efficiency.
2. Strategy. Skill in flexible managing and planning to attain long-term ends. This is the ability to adapt flexibly to circumstances, responding to opportunities, while moving effectively towards long-range goals and objectives in a purposeful way. Being strategic in life means you are not simply ‘coasting’ on automatic pilot, but are living purposefully with long-range vision. Much of this kind of effectivness is social and cultural.
3. Expertise. Skill, knowledge & mastery in particular areas or domains. Expertise is acquired slowly, through experience and deliberate practice, over many years. It accounts for many of the extraordinary feats that humans are capable of – whether an intellectual or artistic ‘masterpiece’ or an amazing pitch of performance. It also accounts for the peaks of professional expertise.

Mindware

Each of these three facets of intelligence is greatly enhanced by the ability to utilize ‘mindware’. Mindware can be thought of as a type of ‘embedded cognition’ or ‘embodied cognition’ in which we intelligently make use of technologies, systems and  networks (e.g. computers, the Internet, databases, software applications, expert networks, etc) to support these 3 aspects of our intelligence. Without effective use of the technologies and networks that are available to us, our intelligence is bounded in a way that will handicap us greatly. The more effectively and extensively we use  mindware , the more powerful our intelligence may become.

In addition to these three traditional aspects of intelligence of the ‘embedded mind’, there are two dimensions of being intelligent that are not considered in most scientific accounts:

4. Mind hacking

There is another aspect of being intelligent that is not directly investigated by scientific research: the ability to resist being ‘mindhacked’. Mindhacking occurs where other agents (individuals, groups, organisations, etc) bypass your critical faculties, and make you an intrument of their purposes. Advertisers, governments, PR agencies, and professional agencies -  as well as persuasive personalities – may induce preferences, beliefs, attitudes and ideologies without a person’s awareness and critical judgment playing a role in the process. İt is known that humans are naturally impressed by charisma and power, and susceptible to the influence of authority and the pressure of conformity.
An intelligent individual, compared to a less intelligent person, is not as susceptible to mind hacking. Intelligent minds are ‘strong’ minds, alert and independent, and able to judge for themselves, even if they arrive at beliefs, preferences or values shared by others.

5. Mindfulness

Scientific research shows that people can be highly intelligent in sense above but egoistic and biased in their attitude to life. We know that ‘myside bias’ is as likely among those with very high IQs as though with low IQs. Machiavellians with little regard for interests other than their own can be highly intelligent according to traditional scientific definitions. Similarly, ambitious individuals who have never reflected on the meaning of what they do, but unthinkingly adopt conventional goals and values, becoming agents and mouthpieces for their ‘interest group’ (perhaps a religious group, or professional group, or political group), can be highly intelligent.

But lifelong reflection on and scrutiny of, the ‘ends’ shaping one’s life  is also essential to a truly intelligent life. Cultivating self-awareness, openness to other perspectives, and awareness of the ‘bigger picture’ of life’s meaning and value, is critical to living intelligently. These are aspects of mindfulness. Mindfulness cultivates wisdom and wisdom is an aspect of intelligence.

Summary: The Five Factors of Intelligence

Intelligence is a richer concept than scientists would have us believe: There are five key dimensions to intelligence.

1. IQ and ‘G’
2. Strategy and purposefulness
3. Expertise and mastery

These 3 depend on, and are greatly expanded by, the intelligent use of mindware.

1. Independence of mind (mind hack proof)
2. Mindfulness and wisdom

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