Hello everyone!!
When learning about memory and its components, I read about several methods to improve ones memory, or specifically, short-term memory. As listed in the textbook, the use of mnemonic devices, rehearsal, chunking, and elaborative rehearsal are some of the ways that one can enhance short-term memory. After learning what these techniques were, I realized that I have been using most of them to study at school. I have found that rehearsal, the repetition of information, and chunking, learning larger amounts of information in smaller bits, have helped me to memorize quick facts needed for a test. Elaborative rehearsal has seemed to be efficient in grasping larger concepts. I have not used mnemonic devices, which aid in making large concepts simpler, often using an acronym, much in the past, although this may be helpful in the future to learn lists or steps of a process.
I believe that while one's genetic makeup partially influences their intelligence, the environment and values that one is raised with will affect their intelligence the most. While learning more about this topic, I thought about my friend that was adopted by my parent's friends in fourth grade. Before being adopted, she struggled to read in early elementary school, with his parents not being heavily involved in helping him to "catch up" with his classmates. After being adopted, she found out that she had ADHD and dyslexia, which was the main cause of her difficulty reading. Her adoptive parents then were able to support her needs by finding adaptive ways to help her read, and she was able to overcome these challenges. This is a prime example of nature versus nurture because although her "nature" caused her to have a hard time learning to read, her parents' nurture helped her to overcome that difficulty.
Out of the suggested eight intelligences from Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences, I believe that I am highly interpersonal. This is because I think that I am a "people person" and don't have a difficult time talking with people I don't know well. Also, I seem to be able to easily understand what others are feeling. I also have naturalist intelligence as I love to go outside or on hikes; I feel like it makes me think clearer when in nature. Personally, I think I struggle with musical intelligence, as I've never been interested in singing or playing an instrument. I don't have a natural ability for either, which has deterred me from learning more about that area in the past.
Thank you for reading!!
References
Spielman, R.M. (2014). Psychology. Openstax.