Stupid people tend to overestimate their competence, while smart people tend to sell themselves short. As Shakespeare put it in “As You Like It“: “The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” Do you wish to become a high intelligence thinker?
That conventional wisdom is backed up by a Cornell University study conducted by David Dunning and Justin Kruger. The phenomenon is now known as the Dunning-Kruger effect.
So, if you’re not too sure about your intellect, it actually might be an indication that you’re pretty intelligent — thoughtful enough to realize your limitations, at least.
Here are some signs that tip me off to how you can become a high intelligence thinker:
High intelligence thinker … brutally honest with what they don’t know
I think a common trap that many people fall under is trying to pretend we understand something that we don’t know while nodding our heads meaninglessly. We do this because we don’t want to appear uninformed and unknowing.
I think intelligent people get straight to the point. They say “I don’t understand this, can you explain it to me like I’m 5?”
They couldn’t care less about what others perceive their understanding or intelligence to be. What they do care about is catching up and learning so that they can understand in the first place.
They know that without a solid understanding of the basics, there’s no hope for them to grasp the more complex material.
High intelligence thinker … consider different perspectives
Truly intelligent people can inhabit a different perspective, especially a perspective they disagree with.
Abraham Lincoln would sometimes argue with a friend from one perspective, and then they would switch and argue from the opposite perspective.
You took music lessons
Research suggests that music helps kids’ minds develop in a few ways:
A 2011 study found that scores on a test of verbal intelligence among 4- to 6-year-olds rose after only a month of music lessons.
A 2004 study led by Glenn Schellenberg found that 6-year-olds who took nine months of keyboard or voice lessons had an IQ boost compared with kids who took drama lessons or no classes at all.
Meanwhile, a 2013 study, also led by Schellenberg, suggested that high-achieving kids were the ones most likely to take music lessons.
In other words, in the real world, musical training may only enhance cognitive differences that already exist.
High intelligence thinker … you’re the oldest
Oldest siblings are usually smarter, but it’s not because of genetics, one study found.
Norwegian epidemiologists used military records to examine the birth order, health status, and
Notice signs of extreme intelligence.
IQ scores of nearly 250,000 18- and 19-year-old men born between 1967 and 1976. Results showed that the average firstborn had an IQ of 103, compared to 100 for second children and 99 for third children.
The New York Times reports: “The new findings, from a landmark study published [in June 2007], showed that eldest children had a slight but significant edge in IQ — an average of three points over the closest sibling. And it found that the difference was not because of biological factors but the psychological interplay of parents and children.”
For a 2006 study, scientists gave roughly 2,200 adults intelligence tests over a five-year period, and results suggested that the bigger the waistline, the lower the cognitive ability.
Another study published that same year found that 11-year-olds who scored lower on verbal and nonverbal tests were more likely to be obese in their 40s. The study authors say that smarter kids might have pursued better educational opportunities, landed higher-status and higher-paying jobs, and therefore ended up in a better position to take care of their health than their less intelligent peers.
Meanwhile, a more recent study found that, among preschoolers, a lower IQ was linked to a higher BMI. Those researchers also say environmental factors are at play since the relationship between BMI and smarts was mediated by socioeconomic status.
High intelligence thinker … you have a cat
A 2014 study of 600 college students found that individuals who identified as “dog people” were more outgoing than those who identified as “cat people,” according to a test that measures personality and intelligence.
But guess what? Those same cat people scored higher on the part of the test that measures cognitive ability.
You were breastfed
2007 research suggests that babies who are breastfed might grow up to be smarter kids.
In two studies, the researchers looked at more than 3,000 children in Britain and New Zealand. Those children who had been breastfed scored nearly seven points higher on an IQ test — but only if they had a particular version of the FADS2 gene. (That version of the gene was present in roughly equal numbers among kids who were and weren’t breastfed.)
Figuring out the exact mechanism of this relationship between FADS2, breastfeeding, and IQ will require further study, the scientists noted in their paper on the finding.
A 2012 study of more than 6,000 Brits born in 1958 found a link between high IQ in childhood and the use of illegal drugs in adulthood.
“In our large population-based cohort study, IQ at 11 years was associated with a greater likelihood of using selected illegal drugs 31 years later,” wrote researchers James W. White, Catharine R. Gale, and David Batty.
They conclude that “in contrast to most studies on the association between childhood IQ and later health,” their findings suggest “a high childhood IQ may prompt the adoption of behaviors that are potentially harmful to health (i.e., excess alcohol consumption and drug use) in adulthood.”
High intelligence thinker … you’re left-handed
Left-handedness used to be associated with criminality, and researchers are still unclear as to whether and why there are slightly more lefties among criminal populations.
More recent research associates left-handedness with “divergent thinking,” a form of creativity that allows you to come up with novel ideas from a prompt — at least among men.
In her review of a 1995 paper, New Yorker reporter Maria Konnikova writes:
The more marked the left-handed preference in a group of males, the better they were at tests of divergent thought.
Left-handers were more adept, for instance, at combining two common objects in novel ways to form a third — for example, using a pole and a tin can to make a birdhouse.
They also excelled at grouping lists of words into as many alternate categories as possible.
You’re tall
A 2008 Princeton study of thousands of people found that taller individuals scored higher on IQ tests as kids and earned more money as adults.
The researchers write: “As early as age 3 — before schooling has had a chance to play a role — and throughout childhood, taller children perform significantly better on cognitive tests.”
You drink alcohol regularly
Evolutionary psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa and colleagues found that, among Brits as well as Americans, adults who had scored higher on IQ tests when they were kids or teens drank more alcohol, more often in adulthood than those who had scored lower
High intelligence thinker … you learned to read early
In 2012, researchers looked at nearly 2,000 pairs of identical twins in the UK and found that the sibling who had learned to read earlier tended to score higher on tests of cognitive ability.
The study authors suggest that reading from an early age increases both verbal and nonverbal (e.g., reasoning) ability, as opposed to the other way around.
Results showed that people who tended to worry and ruminate a lot scored higher on measures of verbal intelligence, while people who didn’t do much worrying or ruminating scored higher on tests of nonverbal intelligence.
High intelligence thinker … you’re funny
In one study, 400 psychology students took intelligence tests that measured abstract reasoning abilities and verbal intelligence.
Then they were asked to come up with captions for several New Yorker cartoons, and independent raters reviewed those captions.
As predicted, smarter students were rated as funnier.
You’re curious
In University of London business psychology professor Tomas Chamorro-Premuzi’s post for Harvard Business Review, he discussed how the curiosity quotient and having a hungry mind makes one more inquisitive.
Regarding the importance of CQ, he wrote that
“It has not been as deeply studied as EQ and IQ, but there’s some evidence to suggest it is just as important when it comes to managing complexity in two major ways. First, individuals with higher CQ are generally more tolerant of ambiguity. This nuanced, sophisticated, subtle thinking style defines the very essence of complexity.
Second, CQ leads to higher levels of intellectual investment and knowledge acquisition over time, especially in formal domains of education, such as science and art (note: this is, of course, different from IQ’s measurement of raw intellectual horsepower).”
A Goldsmiths University of London study found that intellectual investment, or “how people invest their time and effort in their intellect,” plays a major part in cognitive growth.
High intelligence thinker … nothing to prove
They never feel the need to prove to other people how smart they are. They don’t brag about it. Casual acquaintances probably don’t even know.
I think this is because they are so secure about their intelligence that it’s a non-issue to them.
Leonardo Da Vinci called it “sfumato” or “smoke.” The idea is that not everything is clear, and the desire to have an answer now can lead someone into error. Intelligent people have patience with difficult, dense, or even ambiguous or vague subjects.
Patience is defined as “the ability to endure, ” and in this case, a sign of intelligence is enduring not having a clear, definite answer.
The bottom line
Our world is in flux. There is no part of the consumer experience that is untouched. Digital technology is disrupting the marketplace, while changes in our understanding of the psychology of decision-making have overturned centuries of conventional wisdom. Even a brief summary such as this one can make the challenges seem overwhelming.
So what to do? First, start somewhere. It can be one place or the other, but at least start. The change will be unfolding for years and everyone else is as confused as you are.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.
When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step.
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy to continually improving your continuous learning?
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed at how reasonable we will be.
More reading on learning from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on and writes about topics to help improve the performance of small business. Find him on G+, Facebook, Twitter, Digital Spark Marketing, and LinkedIn.
How many times per week do you find yourself talking about topics you have no interest in or have already discussed a million times—just for something to say? Whether it’s waiting for a slow elevator with a co-worker, talking to an acquaintance at an industry event, or chatting with a complete stranger at a networking event, it happens to all of us. Can you use small talk to test someones intelligence?
So, to combat these incredibly boring conversations, I started asking people unexpected, thought-provoking questions that couldn’t be answered with a simple yes or no.
The results were awesome: I learned cool facts about other people that I would’ve never picked up in “normal” conversation—and as a bonus, we became closer. And as a double bonus, I got to stop weighing in on the weather.
In spite of seeming to have little useful purpose, small talk is a bonding ritual and a strategy for managing the interpersonal distance. It serves many functions in helping to define the relationships between friends, colleagues, and new acquaintances.
In particular, it helps new acquaintances to explore and categorize each other’s social position. Small talk is closely related to the need for people to maintain a positive face and feel approved of by those who are listening to them. It lubricates social interactions in a very flexible way, but the desired function is often dependent on the point in the conversation at which the small talk occurs:
Conversation opener: when the speakers do not know each other, it allows them to show that they have friendly intentions and desire some positive interaction. In a business meeting, it enables people to establish each other’s reputation and level of expertise. If there is already a relationship between the two talkers, their small talk serves as a gentle introduction before engaging in more functional topics of conversation. It allows them to signal their mood and to sense the mood of the other person.
At the end of a conversation: suddenly ending an exchange may risk appearing to reject the other person. Small talk can be used to mitigate that rejection, affirm the relationship between the two people, and soften the parting.
Space filler to avoid silence: in many cultures, silences between two people are usually considered uncomfortable and Tension can be reduced by starting phatic talk until a more substantial subject arises. Generally, humans find prolonged silence uncomfortable, and sometimes unbearable. That can be due to human evolutionary history as a social species, as in many other social animals, silence is a communicative sign of potential danger.
In some conversations, there is no specific functional or informative element at all.
Yes, it can qualitatively. But you must know what to listen for. And the key is to listen well.
This has been a ‘hobby’ of mine for several decades now. Let me share some of my favorite small talk signs of intelligence I have observed.
Test someones intelligence … have patience
Leonardo Da Vinci called it “sfumato” or “smoke.” The idea is that not everything is clear, and the desire to have an answer now can lead someone into error.
Intelligent people have patience with difficult, dense, or even ambiguous or vague subjects.
Patience is defined as “the ability to endure, ” and in this case, a sign of intelligence is enduring not having a clear, definite answer.
Test someones intelligence … talk only to share information
To them, small talk is simply that. Small. Meaningless even. It’s a waste of time.
They proactively listen to others and digest what was said before explaining their counter-argument.
They bounce ideas and hypotheses off of others rather than discuss random pop psychology or the latest news on a celebrity couple.
In short, they shamelessly focus on what’s important.
Brutally honest with what they don’t know
I think a common trap that many people fall under is trying to pretend we understand something that we don’t know while nodding our heads meaninglessly. We do this because we don’t want to appear uninformed and unknowing. (I’m still working to improve on this myself)
I think intelligent people get straight to the point. They say “I don’t understand this, can you explain it to me like I’m 5?”
They could care less about what others perceive their understanding or intelligence to be. What they do care about is catching up and learning so that they can understand in the first place.
They know that without a solid understanding of the basics, there’s no hope for them to grasp the more complex material.
Our brain’s mental capacity is a finite resource. Eventually, our brains will deteriorate. We will learn less and more slowly as we get older. Our memories will fade. New technologies and theorems and complex formulas will make their way into the world that will be hard for us to understand due to our upbringing and complacency with the status quo.
I think intelligent people desperately embrace the fact that time is a finite resource. There’s no equivalent of a “billionaire” when it comes to a time like there is for money.
Time spent pretending is time wasted. Time spent learning and getting up to speed is time well-spent.
They never feel the need to prove to other people how smart they are. They don’t brag about it. Casual acquaintances probably don’t even know. I think this is because they are so secure about their intelligence that it’s a non-issue to them.
My father went to Harvard and had a stunning memory. He never used his IQ as a way to make other people feel inferior. People who want to let everyone know how smart they are—yeah, I doubt they are.
Continuous learners
They read a lot and are constantly still learning. My father always took us to historical places or natural wonders during our summer vacations. Battlefields. Museums. Grand Canyon. Stuff like that.
Our pleas to go to Disneyland went unheard. My father wanted to learn things on his days off—and his days on too. He not only read both fiction and nonfiction, but he also watched many documentaries.
Test someones intelligence … seeking new perspectives
Intelligent people aren’t afraid or ashamed to tell you when they don’t know something. I’ve had more than one doctor try and fake his way through a conversation when I knew more about a medical condition than he did.
When I found a doctor, who said, “I don’t know. I’ll research that.”—I kept that doctor.
Test someones intelligence … are consistently curious
They ask questions. I guess they realize that the way you learn things is often to ask.
Need some help in improving the innovation process for you and your staff? Innovative ideas to help the differentiation with your toughest competitors? Or maybe ways to innovate new products and services?
Call today for a FREE consultation or a FREE quote. Learn about some options for innovation workshops to get noticeable results.
Call Mike at 607-725-8240.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that struggle gets better every day you learn and apply new innovative ideas.
When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step. Call today.
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Do you have a lesson about making your innovation learning better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed at how reasonable we will be.
More reading on creativity and innovation from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
Learn How to Think What No One Else Thinks
Generating Ideas by Convergent Thinking
Amazon and Managing Innovation … the Jeff Bezos Vision
The Secrets to Building an Innovative Culture
Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on and writes about topics to help improve the performance of small business. Find him on G+, Facebook, Twitter, Digital Spark Marketing, and LinkedIn.
Do you like to watch people? I mean study them and their story of common signs of high intelligence? It is a great way to learn new habits, isn’t it?
This has been a ‘hobby’ of mine for several decades now. Let me share the many common signs of intelligence I have observed. But first, let me share an interesting story.
In a quirk of history, Newton was born the same year Galileo died. Einstein, who would overturn some of Newton’s laws, was born the same year that James Clerk Maxwell died. It was Maxwell who developed the first great insights into the nature of light through a set of equations. These equations created a sensation and even today form the basis for much of modern physics.
One of the consequences of these equations was that the speed of light was constant. For a young university physics student at the time, Maxwell’s equations were the main subject of study and discussion.
To Einstein especially, who was still wondering what it would be like to ride on a beam of light, they must have been of special interest. If the speed of light is constant, what would light look like to a boy riding a beam of light? Would he be able to see anything?
I think a common trap that many people fall under is trying to pretend we understand something that we don’t know while nodding our heads meaninglessly.
We do this because we don’t want to appear uninformed and unknowing. (I’m still working to improve on this myself)
I think intelligent people get straight to the point. They say “I don’t understand this, can you explain it to me like I’m 5?”
They could care less about what others perceive their understanding or intelligence to be. What they do care about is catching up and learning so that they can understand in the first place.
They know that without a solid understanding of the basics, there’s no hope for them to grasp the more complex material.
Our brain’s mental capacity is a finite resource. Eventually, our brains will deteriorate. We will learn less and more slowly as we get older. Our memories will fade.
New technologies and theorems and complex formulas will make their way into the world that will be hard for us to understand due to our upbringing and complacency with the status quo.
I think intelligent people desperately embrace the fact that time is a finite resource. There’s no equivalent of a “billionaire” when it comes to a time like there is for money.
Time spent pretending is time wasted. Time spent learning and getting up to speed is time well-spent.
Consider different perspectives
Truly intelligent people have the ability to inhabit a different perspective, especially a perspective they disagree with. Abraham Lincoln would sometimes argue with a friend from one perspective, and then they would switch and argue from the opposite perspective.
Signs of being intelligent.
Signs of high intelligence … nothing to prove
They never feel the need to prove to other people how smart they are. They don’t brag about it. Casual acquaintances probably don’t even know.
I think this is because they are so secure about their intelligence that it’s a non-issue to them. My father went to Harvard and had a stunning memory. He never used his IQ as a way to make other people feel inferior. People who want to let everyone know how smart they are—yeah, I doubt they are.
Have patience
Leonardo Da Vinci called it “sfumato” or “smoke.” The idea is that not everything is clear, and the desire to have an answer now can lead someone into error. Intelligent people have patience with difficult, dense, or even ambiguous or vague subjects.
Patience is defined as “the ability to endure, ” and in this case, a sign of intelligence is enduring not having a clear, definite answer.
Know how to explain their craft
This especially applies to people who are professionals or experts in their field.
This is because they’ve been through it all. They know what it’s like to come across the topic for the first time. To progressively learn more about it as a student. To having dedicated hours studying and researching and becoming an expert.
They know what the stages of learning are, and can explain their craft to anyone in those respective stages.
Albert Einstein is well-known for saying the following quote: “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
He knows how to combine stories, humor, and facts to drive compelling and memorable lessons to the audience to help everyone, regardless of what stage they’re in, understand what’s going on. (It’s the most viewed TED talk for a reason)
Good listeners
They read and go to talks. A sure sign of intelligence is reading and listening. The average CEO reads 50 books a year. Warren Buffett spends most of his time reading. He’s fond of saying “the more you learn, the more you earn.”
Seek the truth
Signs of intelligence in adults.
It’s dialectic, not debate. Unintelligent people chomp at the bit to argue with others to push their worldview. Unintelligent people find not knowing the answers are terrifying and feel comforted that their way of thinking is right.
However, intelligent people are happy to argue but do it to use conflict to discern the truth.
Continuous learners
They read a lot and are constantly still learning. My father always took us to historical places or natural wonders during our summer vacations. Battlefields. Museums. Grand Canyon. Stuff like that.
Our pleas to go to Disneyland went unheard. My father wanted to learn things on his days off—and his days on too. He not only read both fiction and nonfiction, but he also watched many documentaries.
Signs of high intelligence … seeking new perspectives
Intelligent people aren’t afraid or ashamed to tell you when they don’t know anything. I’ve had more than one doctor try and fake his way through a conversation when I knew more about a medical condition than he did.
When I found a doctor, who said, “I don’t know. I’ll research that.”—I kept that doctor.
Are consistently curious
They ask questions. I guess they realize that the way you learn things is often to ask.
Additional note: A lot of people have commented that there are lots of intelligent people with narcissistic tendencies. I’m sure this is true of all categories of people. I was making a generalization about the bulk of intelligent people. (And true, I’m limited to the sample I’ve known, even if it is a large sample.)
Let me give you an example of what I’m talking about. Because you’re reading this, I know you can read. You’re most likely confident in that ability and never feel the need to brag about it, even though you’re aware that there are hundreds of millions of people in the world who can’t read.
If illiterate people cross your mind, you may feel sad that they never had the opportunity to learn. You might do something to try and help them, or you might just be glad you were luckier.
But if you met an illiterate person, you probably wouldn’t feel the need to emphasize that you can read and they can’t rub in your advantages. You would consider yourself a jerk if you did that.
Sure, there are people who are so insecure about themselves that they would take the opportunity to gloat about their supposed superiority, but most people wouldn’t.
That’s how most of the intelligent people I know are.
Succinct communication
Whether they are writing or speaking, communication is short and to the point. Hard to tell what is perfectly succinct but easy to tell what is not. For example, I recently received a 3 paragraph email with the task of “Does 10 am Wed work for a meeting?”
I’m sorry I wrote you such a long letter. I didn’t have time to write you a short one.
Wit
This one is scientifically proven. The most intelligent people that I’ve ever met also tend to be the quickest with humor. And the most inappropriate.
But it is hard to censor yourself when making a well-timed joke.
They never say “I’m not dumb.”
They do, however, like to point out how smart they are. Sometimes. “Back when I was in Harvard” or “As a member of Mensa” do come out of the uber-intelligent, for better or worse.
The most intelligent do not do this unprompted, but do use it as a trump card if someone else is playing ‘look how smart I am.’ Then you’ll be using your wit too!
People who know
… more than they say and think more than they speak.
Those who take responsibilities
… of their action instead of blaming others for it. Nothing dumber than playing victim all the time.
The ones who notice everything
… but remains silent.Yes, fear them.
The ones who withhold
… their tongue faster than their thoughts. Very smart.
Signs of being intelligent … people who remain calm
… under pressure and got their act under control even when provoked.In other words, people who are unaffected by drama and emotional outbursts.
Optimism
People who see a good outcome in every bad situation.And fix them instead of whining about it.
Common sense intelligence
This comes from life experience or observing other people well. The latter case explains how you can come across 15 year-olds that are incredibly precocious, only to discover they are still in high school, didn’t get pregnant, and don’t do drugs. Some people do not need to make mistakes to have common sense. These people are rare and can become great business leaders or just amazing friends. They give sound advice.
The bottom line
To be effective in this new era, we as intelligent people need to see our jobs differently. No more just focusing on simple business metrics. We must successfully integrate our function with other business functions to create entire brand experiences that serve the customer all the way through their experiences throughout the business.
We can do better. Much better. But first, we need to stop seeing ourselves as crafters of clever brand messages and become creators of positive brand experiences.
There can never be enough focus on continuous improvement on intelligence, independent of how well the business is doing. It seems we all are looking to take our success to a new level. This is an excellent time to make a statement with their intelligence marketing.
Changing before you have to is always a good idea.
