10 common traits of highly intelligent people
Smart people aren’t just defined by their outrageously high scores on IQ tests.
They tend to share a bunch of other characteristics, like insatiable curiosity and a good sense of humour.
We took a look at a Quora thread where users have listed some common traits of highly intelligent people and checked out the science to see if it backs them up.
Here are 10 qualities of super-smart people:
- Interesting vs boring: Whatever bores the intelligent is often lifeblood for the average. Whatever terrorises the average is fun, thrill, challenge and entertainment for the intelligent.
- Difficult vs easy: Whatever the average shun or discard as difficult, impossible, not worth trying is pounced upon by the intelligent and accepted as welcome distraction, learning opportunity, chance to prove a theory or thought right. Everything that the average think is challenging or problematic- is a cakewalk, child’s play, molehill for the intelligent.
- Sociability: The average enjoy the little things in life; birthday parties, community get-togethers, fairs in town, family gatherings, hanging out with friends, binge movie watching, laughing at any and everything. The intelligent get entangled in the intellectual side of things, pullings facts from facts, seeking answers and posing questions. They may never be able to enjoy birthday parties, get-togethers as frivolous joys don’t make sense to them and are just a waste of time.
- Entertainment: Light-hearted and deep stuff drives the majority of choices in selecting films and books. The average person will watch a comedy movie and die laughing; the intelligent will scorn such a laugh and find the comedy tragic! He will settle for only intellectual stuff but that is most of the times dull, boring, heavy, nonsense, above-comprehension, unfit to enjoy for the average.
- Conversation: Simple chit chat, exchange of pleasantries, discussing latest movie, film stars, new colleague, Facebook/ Insta trends is a normal conversation for average- it is downright taboo for the intelligent. They get bored to death. They in turn talk about Big Bang, the Relativity Theory, the Meta Physical, the difference between mind and brain or general consciousness, sending the average to fall asleep like Sleeping Beauty.
- Thought process: The intelligent think too much about things, bent on analysing every fall of a leaf, every frown on a face, dissecting every thought and opinion in minute detail, while the average doesn’t think at all; the world is going to end? Fine. It will end for everybody else also. Why should I alone worry about it? New research finding? The heck. How does it affect my job, children? Not at all. So why waste thought on that? Movie? Well, I watch it to forget my thought, not to think about it, Lol…
- Studies: The average shies from academics, tests, research, studies, degrees, schools, all of which provides an adrenaline rush to intelligence. There’s something in writing tests and studies, that they can’t resist. Even after completing their academics, they continue studying something or the other even if doesn’t bring them any monetary or career advantages. They are born as a student and die as students.
- Hobbies: The average has endearingly simple hobbies: dancing, swimming, cycling, football, watching movies. The intelligent have complicated ones: learning languages (that they don’t even need), chess, Sudoku, taking the challenge to read 100 books this year, museums.
- Solitude: The average has a large army of like-minded friends, without whom their world comes to a standstill and looks like an ugly place. Solitude is depressing, stressful, demotivating and a curse that must be avoided at all costs. The intelligent adore solitude. They have very few friends who are as aloof as they themselves and will rarely attempt meeting new people, making friends, socialising with them. Their solitude charges their battery and is a source of getting connected with their inner higher self, joy and self-reflection.
- Priorities and ambitions: The average place a lot of importance on career, money, promotion, family, children, parents, bank balance, status, material objects, holidays, vacations, public image, brands of shoes and clothes. The intelligent place their goals in learning, studying, knowing. They don’t care what others think about them. They are aloof and don’t stick too close to family members. Vacation and holidays are interesting so long as they include museums visits, historical or deep interesting stuff. Promotions? They may even ask their boss to demote them if it means learning something. Money, balance, brands are just unsubstantial and of no consequence.
- I rarely compare myself to others: This is probably the one that matters most in my daily life. I almost never compare myself to others because, in my experience, it is rarely a useful measurement of anything objective and is not a reliable source of information about anything subjective. I tend to compare myself to myself.
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