I am consistently curious about the traits of highly intelligent people. How about you? Here are some signs that tip me off to how intelligence people think:
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 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.
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.
Highly intelligent people … 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.
They’re highly adaptable
Several Quora users noted that intelligent people are flexible and able to thrive in different settings. As Donna F Hammett writes, intelligent people adapt by “showing what can be done regardless of the complications or restrictions placed upon them.”
Recent psychological research supports this idea. Intelligence depends on being able to change your behaviors to cope more effectively with your environment or make changes to the environment you’re in.
Signs of an intelligent person.
They understand how much they don’t know
The smartest folks can admit when they aren’t familiar with a particular concept. As Jim Winer writes, intelligent people “are not afraid to say: ‘I don’t know.’ If they don’t know it, they can learn it.”
Winer’s observation is backed up by a classic study by Justin Kruger and David Dunning, which found that the less intelligent you are, the more you overestimate your cognitive abilities.
In one experiment, for example, students who’d scored in the lowest quartile on a test adapted from the LSAT overestimated the number of questions they’d gotten right by nearly 50%. Meanwhile, those who’d scored in the top quartile slightly underestimated how many questions they’d gotten right.
Highly intelligent people … you enjoy being alone
Researchers from the LSE and Singapore Management University analyzed data from a large survey involving 15,000 people aged 18 to 28 – who also underwent IQ tests.
They found that, for both low-IQ and high-IQ individuals, living in highly populated areas was linked to unhappiness. But for highly intelligent people, even socializing with friends was linked to unhappiness.
The researchers write, ‘More intelligent individuals experience lower life satisfaction with more frequent socialization with friends.’ ‘The effect of population density on life satisfaction was, therefore, more than twice as large for low-IQ individuals than for high-IQ individuals.’
You’re physically lazy
Many of us tend to look down on slobs who sit watching Netflix all night and never drag themselves to the gym. But physical laziness might be a sign that someone is a deep thinker, a new study has suggested.
Researchers from Florida Gulf Coast University rated 60 volunteers using a ‘Need for Cognition’ test – dividing them into ‘thinkers’ and ‘non-thinkers.’ They then monitored their physical activity for a week – and found that the ‘non-thinkers’ tended to be much more active than the thinkers.
The researchers write, ‘High-NFC individuals seem more content to “entertain themselves” mentally, whereas low-NFC individuals quickly experience boredom and experience it more negatively.
‘The relationship between cognition and physical activity is an important question for the human experience, and the interaction likely extends across the lifespan.’
Religious people are less intelligent than non-believers, according to a review of 63 scientific studies stretching back over decades.
A team led by Miron Zuckerman of the University of Rochester found “a reliable negative relation between intelligence and religiosity” in 53 out of 63 studies.
One reason for this could be that intelligent people are more likely to be married, and more likely to be successful in life – and this may mean they “need” religionless.
The studies included a life-long analysis of the beliefs of a group of 1,500 gifted children – those with IQs over 135 – in a study which began in 1921 and continues today. You don’t post ‘inspirational’ messages on Facebook.
A study linked people who are receptive to Facebook ‘memes’ full of buzzword-heavy statements and quotes to lower cognitive scores – i.e., low intelligence.
Researchers at the University of Waterloo, in Ontario, asked 845 volunteers to evaluate a series of statements on how profound they were – and if they agreed with them. Some of the statements were meaningless – such as ‘attention and intention are the mechanics of Manifestation’ and ‘imagination is inside exponential space-time events.’
Highly intelligent people … you’re the first child in your family
Common traits of genius.
Firstborn children are usually the cleverest, with measurable differences in IQ as early as age one – and it’s thanks to their parents.
Researchers at Edinburgh University found that all children received similar levels of emotional support from their parents – but firstborns had more support with tasks which developed their thinking skills.
Researchers say the findings could help to explain the so-called birth order effect when children born earlier in a family enjoy better wages and more education in later life.
Researchers observed 5,000 children from birth to age 14, testing them every two years with assessments including reading recognition.
They have an insatiable curiosity
Albert Einstein reportedly said, “I have no special talents, I am only passionately curious.”
Or, as Keyzurbur Alas puts it, “intelligent people let themselves become fascinated by things others take for granted.”
Research published in 2016 suggests that there’s a link between childhood intelligence and openness to experience — which encompasses intellectual curiosity — in adulthood.
Scientists followed thousands of people born in the UK for 50 years and learned that 11-year-olds who’d scored higher on an IQ test turned out to be more open to experience at 50.
Highly intelligent people … they’re open-minded
Smart people don’t close themselves off to new ideas or opportunities. Hammett writes that intelligent people are “willing to accept and consider other views with value and broad-mindedness,” and that they are “open to alternative solutions.”
Psychologists say that open-minded people — those who seek out alternate viewpoints and weigh the evidence fairly — tend to score higher on the SAT and intelligence tests.
At the same time, smart people are careful about which ideas and perspectives they adopt.
“An intelligent mind has a strong aversion to accepting things on face value and therefore withholds belief until presented with ample evidence,” says Alas.
They like their own company
Richard He points out that highly intelligent people tend to be “very individualistic.”
Interestingly, recent research suggests that smarter people tend to derive less satisfaction than most people do from socializing with friends.
Highly intelligent people … they have high self-control
Zoher Ali writes that smart people can overcome impulsiveness by “planning, clarifying goals, exploring alternative strategies and considering consequences before [they] begin.”
Scientists have found a link between self-control and intelligence. In one 2009 study, participants had to choose between two financial rewards: a smaller payout immediately or a larger payout at a later date.
Results showed that participants who chose the larger payout at a later date — i.e., those who had more self-control — generally scored higher on intelligence tests.
The researchers behind that study say that one area of the brain — the anterior prefrontal cortex — might play a role in helping people solve tough problems and demonstrate self-control while working toward goals.
Scientists agree. One study found that people who wrote funnier cartoon captions scored higher on measures of verbal intelligence. Another study found that professional comedians scored higher than average on measures of verbal intelligence.
They’re sensitive to other people’s experiences
Smart people can “almost feel what someone is thinking/feeling,” says He.
Some psychologists argue that empathy, being attuned to the needs and feelings of others and acting in a way that is sensitive to those needs, is a core component of emotional intelligence. Emotionally-intelligent individuals are typically very interested in talking to new people and learning more about them.
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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.
