do you think people are innately talented at things?

[Bob]

when i was younger, i was pretty good at math. i did well in all my classes, i caught on much faster than my class mates, up until about 10th grade (i think), when we started getting into higher level algebra and trigonometry and crap. then i started to get worse at it. i worked hard at it and i got through my classes, but i didn't really catch on as easily as i used to. ever since i've graduated high school though, i've just sucked completely at math. i haven't gotten above a C+ in any math class i've taken while i was here at college (even the stats for dummies class that they offer to liberal arts majors so they can fulfill their math requirement), i'm probably worse at it than i was when i was in high school and below.

however, i've always been pretty good at writing (it doesn't always show on this board, but i can write formally if i need to). as long as i put at least half my ass into whatever it is i'm working on, i've pretty much always been able to do very well on writing assignments, even today. so i've been wondering, is there something innately in me that's made me good at writing, but horrible at math and science? or is it just a result of the way that i've developed my skills? i don't recall ever making a choice at any point in my life that i hated math and i loved writing (i actually hate writing assignments, i'm just good at them) and i was going to stop learning math, i just stopped being good at it at some point. however, i've been consistently good at writing even without putting a whole lot of conscious effort into developing the skill, it's just kind of come naturally. some of my friends are the other way; they can't write coherently to save their life, but they're wizards with numbers or science or engineering or whatever the hell it is they study. some of my friends are amazing artists, and always have been for as long as i've known them. i can't draw for shit, even after taking art classes.

so i wonder, are people just innately good at certain things, and bad at others, or are we all born with a blank slate, and it's just our choices later on that determine what we can and can't do well?

[Nuzzolese]

I think it makes sense that parents can pass down talents and inclinations genetically. I also think that a parent who found a talent in themselves, will raise their kids in enviornments that encourage it. But I think the talent and ability can exist in someone even if it hasn't been encouraged. The person just finds it, and discovers that certain things come easily to them - and I think it has as much to do with the physical talents - shape of the body, potential for strength and all that - as it does with mental and emotional reactions to what the person finds satisfying. I don't think it's a blank slate. It has to be a combination of genetics and environment, but I think environment only enhances or inhibits what's already there.

[hellojello]

I"m not so sure about being being talent being inate, however I do have my own therory based on my experience as a personal tutor. I used to think that people could be taught pretty much anything if only they had the right environment/education/nuturing but have since come to the conclusion that some people are just inherently dumb (not at everything but atleast at on an academic level). Ok it's not a theory just an opinion.

As far as some people being good at writing vs maths and science I think that its something to do with which side of the brain the person predominatley uses. I'm pretty sure the people that use mainly the left side of their brain are generally better at writing/creating/the arts etc, whilst those using mainly the right are generally better at the maths/sciences/IT etc. Some people are good at them all but they're just freaks.
I know, I just made a highly thought out and studied theory sound totally retarted but you'll just have to take my word for it, it's true. (y)

[ms.peachy]

What Nuzz said.

[Nuzzolese]

If you think about the sensations of satisfaction and happiness, they're just chemical reactions in the brain. From what I understand, a lot of that is genetic - the individual brain's potential for releasing or inhibiting chemicals like adrenalin and stuff like that, as it reacts to certain activities.

Also, I was thinking that something like ambition and dedication, and the urge to complete challenges could be talents themselves, that someone would use when doing something else like playing the piano. If the person wasn't naturally a talented pianist, but was naturally a challenge-lover who got satisfaction from working on something, then it would seem that they did have a talent for piano when really it could be applied to anything they did - and maybe piano was what their environment offered.

[Qdrop]

I think it makes sense that parents can pass down talents and inclinations genetically. I also think that a parent who found a talent in themselves, will raise their kids in enviornments that encourage it. But I think the talent and ability can exist in someone even if it hasn't been encouraged. The person just finds it, and discovers that certain things come easily to them - and I think it has as much to do with the physical talents - shape of the body, potential for strength and all that - as it does with mental and emotional reactions to what the person finds satisfying. I don't think it's a blank slate. It has to be a combination of genetics and environment, but I think environment only enhances or inhibits what's already there.

well put.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0142003344/qid=1131465592/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-1000077-4516003?v=glance&s=books

[Bob]

I think it makes sense that parents can pass down talents and inclinations genetically. I also think that a parent who found a talent in themselves, will raise their kids in enviornments that encourage it. But I think the talent and ability can exist in someone even if it hasn't been encouraged. The person just finds it, and discovers that certain things come easily to them - and I think it has as much to do with the physical talents - shape of the body, potential for strength and all that - as it does with mental and emotional reactions to what the person finds satisfying. I don't think it's a blank slate. It has to be a combination of genetics and environment, but I think environment only enhances or inhibits what's already there.

see here's the thing; my mom's an actuary and my dad's a computer programmer (majored in electrical engineering in college, to complicate things further). i took an introductory programming class and had to drop it because after the first three lessons i couldn't even make sense of the lectures. my grandfather on my dad's side is a carpenter and my grandmother on my dad's side was a nurse...none of those skills seem to be in me now. if it's genetic, i seem to be some kind of freak. or maybe i have recessive genes or something (like i said, me dont understand science good). but if it's not genetic, what else could it be?

i can agree that some people seem to be inherently dumb...it would appear to me, casually, that intellegence seems to be biologically capped to a degree. there are those kids who just don't do well in school no matter how hard they try (as opposed to the kids who just don't try). so if academic skill in general can be biologically limited, i don't think it would be a stretch to say that certain types of abilities could be too (math skills, art skills, and so on).

i'm not horribly familiar with the research that i'm sure has been done into this topic, i hope i don't sound too ignorant

[Nuzzolese]

see here's the thing; my mom's an actuary and my dad's a computer programmer (majored in electrical engineering in college, to complicate things further). i took an introductory programming class and had to drop it because after the first three lessons i couldn't even make sense of the lectures. my grandfather on my dad's side is a carpenter and my grandmother on my dad's side was a nurse...none of those skills seem to be in me now. if it's genetic, i seem to be some kind of freak. or maybe i have recessive genes or something (like i said, me dont understand science good). but if it's not genetic, what else could it be?

i can agree that some people seem to be inherently dumb...it would appear to me, casually, that intellegence seems to be biologically capped to a degree. there are those kids who just don't do well in school no matter how hard they try (as opposed to the kids who just don't try). so if academic skill in general can be biologically limited, i don't think it would be a stretch to say that certain types of abilities could be too (math skills, art skills, and so on).

i'm not horribly familiar with the research that i'm sure has been done into this topic, i hope i don't sound too ignorant

I wonder if there's some way that you share your capacities with your parents, but for some reason they were placed in a different area. Like, maybe the talents your parents have are not specifically math-related, but maybe you and your parents both approach different things in the same way? It's a stretch. I really don't know. You don't sound extra ignorant. This has been researched extensively for years but no one is still sure of it all. Maybe your parents adopted you, or stole you.

[jabumbo]

bob-

my dad is terrible with anythign hands of. no technical skills whatsoever. he types on the computer with one finger, and would have difficulty trying to use a screw driver. but he always has these amazing ideas for diferent things, and can write an amazing speech to convey what he wants to say.

i on the other hand, have excellent technical skills, and can't write my thoughts hardly at all (that sounds really bad, but its just my point really).


i think i inhereted my thinking process from my father, but all the rest of it just sort of happened to grow over time.

[Bob]

I wonder if there's some way that you share your capacities with your parents, but for some reason they were placed in a different area. Like, maybe the talents your parents have are not specifically math-related, but maybe you and your parents both approach different things in the same way?

maybe. i've never really asked how my parents fell into their jobs. not that being an actuary is something you just fall into, but you know what i mean. my dad's never really been satisfied with any of his jobs, but they've all been pretty comfortable. he majored in electrical engineering, graduated, never used it, and has worked as a database guy at a bunch of companies. he went back to college to get a degree in computer science or something about 5 years ago. now he's sick of it and wants to go back to school to get a degree in financial management or something, he doesn't want to be a computer programmer anymore. maybe what you like and what you're good at aren't always the same thing.

You don't sound extra ignorant.

that's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me :o

[TurdBerglar]

im pretty good at lieing and telling stories. i have an incredible imagination

[alexandra]

i like Bob. i just do.

[Nuzzolese]

i like Bob. i just do.

He never offends.

[alexandra]

He never offends.
yeah, no baboonshit.

[instigator7022]

i think you are definitely born being good at stuff. Like people who are naturally athletic. They can pick up any sport in like a half hour. Artistic people too. Of Course for most people to be really super awesome you have to refine the talent. But i do believe it's within you when you're born. But like someone said that you can be taught anything. I think thats true too but you just have to be willing to learn and it has to explained the right way. And maybe you'll learn to do it but you still wont be great at it.

ex. i have trouble with math. Once i actually paid attention in class i learned it fairly quickly but i dont fully understand everything. like i still make crappy mistakes


idk i just think you are definitely born with talents

[Sarky Devotchka]

bob, what happened to you with math and science is pretty much what happened with me. I had to drop out of calc in college, and I struggled to get over a C in my science classes. But I still didn't study as much as my roommate who also struggled. One time we had a microbiology class together and for one of our exams I barely studied and she had made note-cards and studied for hours. I got a B-, she got a C. So, I figure I still had the inclination for math/science sort of things, but I just wasn't putting enough effort into learning it.

Now that I tutor kids in math, I have really pay attention to how things work, and I feel like I'm smarter than ever. I still kind of pause awkwardly at an unfamiliar question, but eventually I figure it out. Plus, I do think that in your mid-twenties you start to become more aware and able to process information more quickly.

I've always been the type of person who takes awhile to learn something new, but once I start to get it, I really get it and can move above and beyond the rest. Like college spanish, I got a C- first semester and an A second semester, because something just clicked and I understood it.

as for where the talents came from, my family is very artistic and mathematical on both sides. we're very visual, which is a good thing and a bad thing. my dad never graduated high school, but he writes beautifully and has run his own contracting business and the family cattle ranch. my mom went to beauty school and was an excellent hairdresser. recently, she went to school to be a cosmetology/asthetics teacher and she was all freaked out about all the math and science, but ended up consistently getting the highest grades in her class.

so, yeah, what nuzz said.

[mickill]

What Turd said.

[fucktopgirl]

defenitely, your talent gona be in relation with your surrounding,family>The way you a raise and with what you've been in contact !
my father is a painter(picasso,pellan,miro...)and my mother is a ceramiste.
all the kids in my family are artistic(woodworkers,movie maker,singing,mosaic,jewerly)

so we have already a talent,facility with arts,,but practice make it better like in anything!
talent come with the motivation ,the love of what you do! (y)

[Nuzzolese]

I wonder just how good I could have been at some things, if only I'd been cruelly pushed. I blame my parents for instilling in me a ridiculous amount of lazy self confidence from which I developed a tragic notion that I was smarter and more capable than I actually am. I never tried, just labored under the impression that I could succeed, even though I never did.

[Qdrop]

what fucktopgirl said.



i think.

[Bob]

what fucktopgirl said.



i think.

haha, nice

[Qdrop]

no wait...

what bob said now.

yeah.

[TC1]

From the very first SKULL RING (http://tonycreed.com/skull.html)
I carved I felt I sort of had a knack for it. Kind of a strange thing to be good at.

Seems some people have the music in them and some don't.

Theres all kinds of things some people have to work harder than others at to get good at.