Mindhacks

I’ve been waiting to share this news with you for a long time. I want to share with you a Harvard study that will change the way you see your children’s potential.

The study was headed by Howard Gardner, a Professor of cognition and education at the famed Harvard Graduate School of Education. Now, some of you might already be familiar with that name. Howard Gardner is indeed the ground-breaking psychologist who first laid out the theory of multiple intelligences.

Gardner claimed that IQ tests do not capture the full range of human intelligence and he was the first to define intelligence into seven different dimensions. His work revolutionized our understanding of intelligence. Today, it is common phrase to say “different types of intelligence” thanks to the work of Howard Gardner.

But his later work was far more important….

For a long time, people believed that types of intelligences were an inherited trait. Especially after Watson and Crick unravelled the mysteries of DNA that is the blueprint of life. With this discovery, people believed that you were either born with intelligence, or you weren’t. Just like how you’re either born with curly or straight hair.

What is Project Zero, & What Did They Discover That Is So Important?

Howard Gardner took his revolutionary theory of multiple intelligences even further. Leading a research group at Harvard called Project Zero, his team made another discovery that shook the world.

Now, you might think that Project Zero sounds like it is some sort of secret government co-op for intelligence. But far from that, Project Zero’s mission was to understand and enhance learning, thinking and creativity. In line with this mission, a main part of their programs were then devoted to studying gifted or genius children.

One of Project Zero’s key research programs in this field was a study that involved developing intelligence tests for babies. The researchers also tested the intelligence for older children. The babies and children were tested across multiple types of intelligence: spatial, kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, mathematical, intrapersonal and linguistic.

And this is the mind-boggling discovery they made.

Up to the age of 4, almost all children were geniuses in multiple frames of intelligence.

This discovery from Project Zero wiped away any notion that hinted intelligence is an inherited trait. It also completely throws out the myth that “geniuses” are something eccentric that is far and few in between.

Almost every single child is born a genius across multiple intelligence. Yes, your child, as a baby, shows the very same capability for math, music, linguistic and other skills as so called “child geniuses”.

BUT… the Project Zero researchers found that by the age of 20, the percentage of geniuses within a population whittles down to 10%… and over the age of twenty, a mere 2% retained their genius ability.

SOMETHING happens during upbringing that causes 98% of children to have these abilities ERASED from their mind.

So What’s Going on? and is the cause the School System? Obsolete ideas of parentings? A natural evolutionary quirk?

Anyway - I heard about this from the report by Burt Goldman titled the Genius Dip. It’s a short read and very interesting. Download it from this page.

It’s a must read
Download it from this page

Is your child a Indigo Child?

Indigo children refers to a New Age belief that some children, especially those born after the late 1970s, represent a higher state of human evolution. The term itself is a reference to the belief that such children have an indigo colored aura. Beliefs concerning the exact nature of Indigo children vary, with some believing that they have paranormal abilities such as the ability to read minds, and others that they are distinguished from non-Indigo children merely by more conventional traits such as increased empathy and creativity.

Check out this awesome video from ABC, featuring Diane Sawyer investigating the issue:

Find out more about Indigo Children here

I did a double-take when I read the headline.

I found this on the BBC website last night, and I re-read the page just to make sure it wasn’t some tabloid journalism.

Who would have thought?

Low self-esteem ’shrinks brain’

By Pallab Ghosh
BBC Science Correspondent

People with a low sense of self worth are more likely to suffer from memory loss as they get older, say researchers.

The study, presented at a conference at the Royal Society in London, also found that the brains of these people were more likely to shrink compared with those who have a high sense of self esteem.

Dr Sonia Lupien, of McGill University in Montreal surveyed 92 senior citizens over 15 years and studied their brain scans.

She found that the brains of those with low self-worth were up to a fifth smaller than those who felt good about themselves.

These people also performed worse in memory and learning tests.

Retraining

Dr Lupien believes that if those with a negative mind set were taught to change the way they think they could reverse their mental decline.

He said: “This atrophy of the brain that we thought was irreversible is reversible - some data on animals and some data on humans shows that that if you enrich the environment if you change some factors this brain structure can come back to normal levels”

Researchers are studying which psychological treatments work best.

According to Dr Felicia Huppert of Cambridge University - the early signs are that fairly simple techniques can have an enormous impact:

“There are interventions which talk about focusing on positive things in everyday life and savouring good moments even at times when life is difficult little tiny things may give you pleasure so there are skills involved in how to derive pleasure from the ordinary things in life”.

‘Reversed’

According to Dr Lupien, the fear of memory loss may be a self fulfilling prophesy as anxiety leads to negative thinking which leads to mental impairment.

“If you always think it’s normal to lose something, then you will never work to increase it because doctors have always told you that. I’m saying that it is not normal.

“So this might impact positvely on the public by saying that its possible to impact on increasing your memory performance and by saying that it is normal to have a fulfilling life, we may be able to increase self esteem among the general public - and prevent a lot of these deficits related to age”.

Story from BBC NEWS

10 Seconds of Video, Hours of “How Did He Do That?”

A special congratulations to Edouard Chambon, who last month broke the World Record for fastest single time on a 3×3x3 Rubik’s Cube with a time of 9.18 seconds and fastest average time of 11.48 seconds.

That’s right he SOLVED a cube in 9.18 seconds. My head hurt after watching him solve it, and my jaw was hanging for hours afterwards.