My personal opinion on this issue.
An intelligent individual only recognizes that he has the ability to develop himself.The ability to realize that through work and perseverance you can achieve almost anything you want to achieve. If this criterion is met, an enormous number of opportunities open up for further development and ultimately also for intelligence.
In order to achieve this, the child should not believe that his/her abilities are fixed and not changeable (deterministic view), but rather in the opposite (view of free will).Comments like “you are the best”, “You are smart”, “you are worth nothing”, “you can’t do anything” are accordingly unsuitable. Instead, one should be careful in education to inspire the child to be curious, to appreciate the process rather than the result, and not to see any inability as fundamentally non-changeable. Consequently: “You’ve worked hard/efficiently and are so good/smart about it, keep going!”, “you don’t know how that works. If you want to know, just learn it!”.
The following example:
Child A and Child B are faced with the challenge of solving a difficult puzzle.
After a long period of laborious experimenting, Child A gives up and says, “I can’t do something like this!”.Kind B, however, is pleased with a new challenge and says “I love difficult puzzles!”. Because Child B knows that he/she can learn from this challenge and take what with him/her, even if he/she ultimately does not manage the puzzle.
Which of these two children is more likely to succeed?Which child ultimately learns more and becomes smarter as a result? -Most likely child B.
If one often considers the following statements to be true (even unconsciously)…
“I can’t learn languages anymore because I’m over 30.” “When others succeed, I feel more threatened and don’t try to be stupid.” “If something gets too heavy for me, I give up quickly.” “When I’m out of school, I don’t need to learn anything anymore.” “I often envy the success of other people and feel worse than them.” “When I’ve achieved something, I sit back and stop working.” “Once I’ve failed, I give up because I don’t seem to be able to do it.” “Often I don’t listen to constructive negative feedback (because I’m good enough./because I can’t get better anyway.)” …
… in the end, one hinders the development of one’s own intelligence!
Idea comes from: Fixed vs. Growth: The Two Basic Mindsets That Shape Our Lives