How do people with high IQ think?

[SonoranBob]

My IQ runs to the high 130's but I do not consider myself a particularly fast thinker. I tend to make better connections and have more of an idea what to do with them than most people, but the connections don't come especially fast, especially under stress. For me at least, integration and synthesis of information and verbal expression is what I'm "better" at, if I can work at my own pace. I suspect it's different for everyone. Also, I know people with high IQs who have terrible judgment. Knowledge and wisdom are very different things.

My wife's IQ tested to 180 on the old scale back in high school in the late 60's. Statistically there are only about 75 or so people in the US who are that smart at any given time. I called it "scary smart". She seemed to be able to see right through stuff that distracted me, and get right to the heart of matters. It is hard to know how much of it was brains, how much of it was heart, and how much of it was her intuitive side. But it was mind-boggling.

Neurological illness knocked her IQ down to 102 eventually. As her health deteriorated, she lost short term memory and had a lot of "brain fog" and it was terribly frustrating for her. At the end there were times she couldn't remember what my name was. The interesting thing though was that up to the day she died, there was still some part of her intellect intact and it was still extraordinary. In moments of lucidity she still had keen perception. It just wasn't sustainable or reliable anymore.

In my experience most extremely intelligent people (IQ > 145 or so) tend to have missing personality circuitry, lousy relational skills, or are very impractical in applying their thinking. Linda's combination of smarts and wisdom is very much the exception. Very few blind spots. In that she was even rarer than her IQ suggested.

♥♥♥♥. I still miss her, don't I?

--Bob

[Doku]

Here's a question that I have, looking back through this thread.

Why do people who claim to have high IQs decide to zombie threads that everyone else would consider last year's news, and not worthy of further comment?

[SonoranBob]

Originally Posted by Doku

Here's a question that I have, looking back through this thread.

Why do people who claim to have high IQs decide to zombie threads that everyone else would consider last year's news, and not worthy of further comment?

I'm not familiar with the term "zombie" in this context but I assume you really mean to ask why do smart people do things you consider stupid.

It's really like I said ... even assuming you consider rightly, which is a rather large assumption, knowledge is merely the possession of facts. Wisdom is knowing what to do with them for the greater good. "Smart" people may find it easier to acquire facts and a surface understanding of them, but can be just as self-centered, egotistical and unconscious as anyone else.

And evil. As CS Lewis (I believe) said, "Educate a devil and you get a clever devil".

"Stupid" is an inexact pejorative that doesn't help understanding here. It is usually spat out as an insult when its original meaning was much more limited -- to someone with low intelligence and an inability to comprehend things most people can. When we say "stupid" we really most often mean "unwise" or "unaware" or "foolish" -- and unwise, unaware, foolish people can be found at all IQ levels. In some ways maybe even more so at high IQ levels. It takes a lot more than IQ firepower to make a well rounded, effective person. It takes other qualities to insure that high IQ doesn't just get in a person's way in life, rather than being a tool to help them.

--Bob

[Doku]

Originally Posted by SonoranBob

I'm not familiar with the term "zombie" in this context but I assume you really mean to ask why do smart people do things you consider stupid.

A zombie is a re-animated corpse. A person, animal, etc. that is brought back from the dead. A zombie thread, therefore, is a thread that is considered to be dead that someone brings back to life. I would have explained that in the original post, but I didn't think that it would take much intelligence to figure out, even for someone who hasn't spent much time on the net.

But no, I was not asking why smart people do things that _I_ consider stupid. I was asking why people who claim to be smart will often do things that the general public considers taboo.

[SonoranBob]

Originally Posted by Doku

A zombie is a re-animated corpse. A person, animal, etc. that is brought back from the dead. A zombie thread, therefore, is a thread that is considered to be dead that someone brings back to life. I would have explained that in the original post, but I didn't think that it would take much intelligence to figure out, even for someone who hasn't spent much time on the net.

But no, I was not asking why smart people do things that _I_ consider stupid. I was asking why people who claim to be smart will often do things that the general public considers taboo.

If there is any relationship between raw intelligence and social cluefulness, it's probably an inverse one. So it wouldn't surprise me that people with high IQ might ignore hints that others have lost interest in a topic more often than persons of average IQ.

I think you are confusing claimed intelligence with things that it either has nothing to do with, or with which it is not directly connected.

But for reasons of ego, high IQ persons often make the same mistake because they like to make high IQ into something more than it actually is -- just one more distinguishing characteristic that can be both one's greatest strength AND one's greatest weakness.

--Bob

[Plato]

IQ is a fairly meaningless concept.

A more meaningful question is "How do successful people think?" (Or whatever quality you would seek to emulate).

[PerDev]

Originally Posted by zpivat

Yes I agree with you Deb. While having a high IQ helps us to process information better, that doesn't mean we'll be successful in life. Another equally important determinant, EQ, plays a larger role, I think......

Anyway, keep your IQ stories coming people!!

EQ is even more important than IQ - As if you have EQ and good communication skills and able to make friends quickly - You can take Advice from your High IQ trusted friends

SO being successfully you would require both IQ and EQ.

[Angela]

Originally Posted by Doku

I was asking why people who claim to be smart will often do things that the general public considers taboo.

Doing things that the general public considers taboo is one of the things I love most about intelligent people.

[PerDev]

Originally Posted by Plato

IQ is a fairly meaningless concept.

A more meaningful question is "How do successful people think?" (Or whatever quality you would seek to emulate).

then the more meaningful question would be "How do Peaceful & Bliss people think?" - We do not haveto be judgemental too much ..

[Anichels]

I happen to attend a linguistics camp this summer, and I daresay it is important to note that my closest friends from that camp, are all exceptionally brilliant people. I think the general trend was; intelligent people would stick together, because they can intellectually stimulate each other with philosophy, and non-stupid, non-banal thoughts.

Of the four people, there is one girl who is attending arts at UofT (top school in Canada), the other does not know what she wants to study, but is studying a wide variety of subjects, and the third could easily attend Yale University if she wanted to. And myself, I am interested in medecine, so I can base my thesis on the correlation in diseases and the advancement of evolutionnary biology, for a Ph.D.

There was no common interest between the group, and we all had very different perspective on religion, life philosophy as well as many other subjects, but the one thing that remained consistent was how open to other ideologies we had.

We all had different religious beliefs, Catholic, Dieist, Agnostic, Atheist.
And we all thought of different discoveries of life, and what is within life.

I miss them very much, because I felt a strong connection with them, one that I do not have with my friends at home.

And to answer your question on how do we think.

We did not. It simply came to us, we are dreamers, wonderers, philosophers, people with no great ambition, who strive intellectually effortlessly.

To imply that people who are intelligent think differently than you is complete nonsense. They just think more. They spend more time on things that are interesting to them, always attempting to gain knowledge on a subject that they are comfortable with. They are not erronated, they are not weird. They can simply analyze things in a better way than the average person can.

The true question is, how do people with low IQ think?
Because people with low IQ do not see themselves in 5 years, and are often mislead by society and are offended by its stigmas.

Now just to give you an indication of my IQ, I am not born english, and have not studied english until I was 15 years old. (I am now 18)

[Safyreking]

I've had a reported score of an even 140 from a test I took a few years ago. Whether or not that makes me smart is debatable.

I'm really one of those people that believe ignorance is bliss because there's is a great amount of programmed behaviors and thought processes our screwed up culture has instilled in a vast variety of people that really makes no sense what so ever. Religion is my quite possibly my arch-nemesis. Don't get me wrong I think there's a great many things beneficial to a variety of people that come out of religion but a fair warning to those that take those stories literally.... a theology professor and one of his student's heads nearly exploded after logically destroyed a few different stories contained in the bible.

Athletes that have $25 million dollar contracts and teachers that are considered impoverished and teaching kids in underfunded schools?... Hello?? This makes no F'ing sense what so ever. If cities diverted even as little as 2% of the amount of money spent on athletes salaries to some of the more crippled schools within the district, the benefits would be numerous! As a whole the government and people in general spend money horribly.

The main problem with our culture is that is runs on money not logic, not always compassion either. So to me, I'm constantly doing my best to find the good in a fundamentally flawed system of thought.

[Swami ZazvatAnanda]

I know of a few people who are in the Genius level and 3 in particular are virtual hermits. They sleep in the day and live at night, reading or doing what they like. They seem to have become so bored with 'normal' people and life that it is too painful to participate.

So they must be thinking in a way that is beyond the average person to comprehend. I have found for my self that in most cases it is not possible to explain what i see or how i think to most people, they cannot grasp it. Often i cannot explain how i know what i know, i just do.

So as for how the high IQ person thinks, i do not know if that is classifiable because it is in a different and unique method of simply knowing or understanding a thing beyond its surface characteristics.

I have recently posted an article on my site about reincarnation which is a best guess explanation.

I think that there are still the individual characteristics of audio or visual natures of a person for example which rules. I sometimes can 'smell' a good situation or place. Certainly i have a big nose but i do not have a particularly good sense of smell.

so for me, it is 'smelling' the right place or situation. Otherwise it is a sensation, intuition. and that is what I wrote about in terms of spiritual and normal methodology. It is the first article on the home page now, but new articles are posted twice a week, so you may have to scroll down a bit to see it.

[JohnnyDarke]

It's difficult to answer that in a way that you'll be able to understand...but basically, we see people like you as ants.

J. Darke (IQ 140, EQ 6)

[Vegeto]

The last IQ test I took was in 2001-2002. I scored again at around 142-144.

I am terrible at getting a career going. I dropped out of high school when I was younger...

I've noticed I think much slower than other people and cannot keep up with conversation often. I thought this was strange, considering my decent IQ, until I realized that my scores on the IQ test were all about higher level reasoning. I really don't have a good short term memory, nor do I process language quickly, I don't have any real skill at all. However, my reasoning is off the charts, and I suspect that my IQ scores would be even higher if the questions that test reasoning had even less on the spot processing skill and acquired skill/'mental fitness'.

Sounds ridiculous at first, but in actuality, the way I think is much faster than most people. It's when I'm bothered to convert those lightning fast complex thoughts into the primitive English language, I loose a ton of speed and accuracy. I have visions. The same problems that quantum physicists work out in the language of math, I just see being solved in my head as a conceptual scene. I end up with the same answers as them, but I can't write it in the language of math to save my life.

IQ tests aren't about having strong language centers of the brain, they aren't about having strong memory, or even talent for math. It's just that people with high a IQ often have those things as well I don't. I can't do anything well, but I usually know what I'm talking about because my reasoning is fantastic. When people try to convince me that they are smarter than me because of their skills in math, language, conversation... I basically see a bunch of monkeys saying 'if you're so smart, then how come you can't swing from tree to tree as well as me'. They just don't get that their skills don't mean as much as they think they do, they don't have the reasoning to figure it out.

Sigh, but they still win because this is their world. The nerds may overcome the Jocks, but when do people like me overcome the nerds?

[jaamkie]

Originally Posted by Vegeto

The last IQ test I took was in 2001-2002. I scored again at around 142-144.

I am terrible at getting a career going. I dropped out of high school when I was younger...

I've noticed I think much slower than other people and cannot keep up with conversation often. I thought this was strange, considering my decent IQ, until I realized that my scores on the IQ test were all about higher level reasoning. I really don't have a good short term memory, nor do I process language quickly, I don't have any real skill at all. However, my reasoning is off the charts, and I suspect that my IQ scores would be even higher if the questions that test reasoning had even less on the spot processing skill and acquired skill/'mental fitness'.

Sounds ridiculous at first, but in actuality, the way I think is much faster than most people. It's when I'm bothered to convert those lightning fast complex thoughts into the primitive English language, I loose a ton of speed and accuracy. I have visions. The same problems that quantum physicists work out in the language of math, I just see being solved in my head as a conceptual scene. I end up with the same answers as them, but I can't write it in the language of math to save my life.

IQ tests aren't about having strong language centers of the brain, they aren't about having strong memory, or even talent for math. It's just that people with high a IQ often have those things as well I don't. I can't do anything well, but I usually know what I'm talking about because my reasoning is fantastic. When people try to convince me that they are smarter than me because of their skills in math, language, conversation... I basically see a bunch of monkeys saying 'if you're so smart, then how come you can't swing from tree to tree as well as me'. They just don't get that their skills don't mean as much as they think they do, they don't have the reasoning to figure it out.

Sigh, but they still win because this is their world. The nerds may overcome the Jocks, but when do people like me overcome the nerds?

You can't reason your way to any productive avenue for your reasoning abilities? =P in good fun, because I feel my "work" as a dev team lead is the mental equivalent of doing crossword puzzles with my family... not exactly fulfillng any great life purpose and often a matter of chasing down details not a grand intuitive leap, but it is more mentally stimulating and pays better than waitressing while I'm figuring out what next...

[SweetSoulMusic]

I find it fascinating that normal people want to be a genius and geniuses want to be normal. I've tested between 130-155. However, it is important to remember the man who created the IQ measuring system for France didn't think they were that accurate.

The higher the IQ the more social problems you may find. This tends to be the "gifted" individuals. Only 2% of the population is considered to be high intelligence, and out of those... 40% of gifted people are high school drop outs and 5% even go to college. The smarter the individual the more problems it creates in the normal world.

As far as physiologically, the brain has a certain threshold of new information it must take in to keep from damage being done. New information is how it keeps working. The higher the intelligence, the higher the need to learn new information. There is WAY more of everything in a gifted person, and the brain is literally in warp drive 24/7.

Speaking from personal experience... It's incredibly complicated having a "high IQ". Relationships, dating, work, school, hobbies, etc are all experienced in completely different ways. With a high IQ comes abnormally high levels of tremendous emotional depth and sensitivity.

If the high intelligence is not properly understood at a very young age... They grow up to in a strange sense become a "tortured genius".

[pdfsp]

Originally Posted by SweetSoulMusic

They grow up to in a strange sense become a "tortured genius".

it's interesting, I'd call that kind of person a 'lonely genius'.

People doesn't seem to understand us. I hate to talk to most people, honestly, not because I hate them, I just hate to pretend that I enjoy listening to and talking about parties, how much I/someone drunk, you know, simple stuff. And then on the other hand I do enjoy talking to people about ideas, visions and topics including some thoughts, that's what makes me happy and content, it inspires me, not some regular ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. But people like easy stuff to talk about.

And when I stay in solitude and contemplate, enjoy the flow of my thoughts, for hours, people (read my peers) think I'm crazy. And I don't seem to be generally popular among my peers because I don't talk about fun stuff. But when I interact with people few years older than me, e.g. PhD students or people in industry, we do have something to talk about, and we make fun of our ideas and we do laugh. It's different class of people.

Fortunately I'm happy with my life, I do what I love and I love what I do and I don't care what others think.

[abhs]

Placed just short of 150 over here. I am a college student and in a period where I am learning a great deal of factual information. However, the gains that I have made over the past three years (and am continuing to make) in learning to relate with others and with myself are both my proudest achievements and most fruitful endeavors.

I know how lonely it is to be constantly searching for someone to relate with on a similar frequency, often to no avail. I also know how much courage it takes to break out of a habitual comportment. I wish that I could shake every high IQ person and make them open up. The world is a huge place. Never be too afraid to explore.

[bluedragon]

I am personally very fond of the subject of intelligence. I think IQ is important, although emotional intelligence might prove to be much more useful for most people.

But this doesn't mean it's not nice to also examine skills such as logical and analytical skills, abstract problem solving, pattern recognition and all. For example, learning a completely new operating system or how to use a new software is something that requires high IQ. Learning the technology behind blogging requires high IQ. Or chess- don't you love a good game of chess? Maybe a 3D one to make it even more challenging? I love this stuff - although I am very interested in emotions as well. It's funny that, after becoming more familiar with the subject of emotional intelligence, I started to see both kind of intelligences as very closely related. I am now much more able to handle my emotions, in fact, I think I am close to achieving complete mastery over negative emotions in normal everyday situations, while preserving the capacity to enjoy deep positive emotions.

I think if more people knew that emotional balance comes down to intelligence, they would be more open to the idea that people can learn how to better handle their emotions. I don't know if I encountered more than 3 people who believed this to be true. Most see drama, depression and anger as completely normal states of mind, as if they were hardwired in every human cell. This is absolutely not true. I think if people would make the analogy between logical problem-solving and emotional mastery, they would better understand their capacity of improving themselves.

However, I do love solving abstract problems, and I always admired androids such as Data who were so good with virtually every scientific discipline and practical task - artificial intelligence as portrayed in hollywood movies could teach us a lot about our own potential, both for logical reasoning and interpersonal communication.

[aelle]

I assume that by "high IQ" you mean "high intelligence"... because people with high IQ simply think like people who do really well on standardised tests.

[Eric Roosevelt]

Chris Langan is reported to have one of the highest IQ's in the world, scoring somewhere in the range 190-210. His own view on IQ is that it's important, but that your intellectual productions are more important.

I think there's some truth in that. At the end of the day (or at the end of your life, if you will), you won't care so much about your score on some test. What you'll care about is what you contributed to the world. If you can use your ultra high IQ to make a positive change, that's great. We need people like that.

If you're interested in Chris Langan's work, he claims to have a "Theory of Everything":

The Theory of Theories - Christopher Michael Langan

You can also see him in some videos on Youtube. Here's the main one (part 1 of 3):

YouTube - chris langan

So this is one example of a living person with an ultra-high IQ. There are many more that could be mentioned. A lot of people in this thread have already claimed to have IQ's well above the average, although I'm not sure whether they were professionally administrated or not. I haven't personally taken any IQ tests recently that I would consider reliable.

Whatever opinion you have of this Chris Langan or the subject of IQ generally, listening to him for a while could help answer the OP's question. I find at least some of his ideas quite interesting.

I especially like his remark that people with lower intelligence often think they're as smart as (or smarter than) the smart people (i.e. they lack "meta-cognition").

[brendannz]

This thread inspired me to take the IQ test and I just took an IQ test at IQTest.com and I scored 145.

I think different IQ tests can measure a different criteria. I'm very good at sudoku puzzles. I'm very good at art, I'm good at articulating myself in writing.

I also have many disadvantages;
I have poor concentration sometimes, and often can't read fictional books, because I loose concentration of whats going on, sometimes movies as well (less).
My daydreaming is sometimes a disadvantage but often fuels my creativity.
I get social anxiety, which is probably a result of overthinking things as songwriter just said, and possibly a result of caffiene addiction (3 cups of coffee/ green tea a day)
I sometimes stutter in speech.

I also think it's best to focus mainly on your good points, but I think that all brains have the advantages and disadvantages, so I think IQ tests aren't an accurate measurement, and you can't really say how people with high IQs think.

My brother has a PhD and would have an IQ around about 160 or higher, and although he's generally accepting of other people. He can be unbelievably impatient with others, including myself.

I have an IQ of 145 and I'm very patient of others, and I have been seen as naive for thinking of people as trustworthy..

I think for financial success in life, good people skills, good self management and good organisation skills are much more useful than a high IQ.

[nocturne]

lol i don't think you can get social anxiety from too much caffeine. you just get the jitters from too much caf, or withdrawals when you are not on caf.

well you can get the physical kind of anxiety, but as far as a psychologically caused anxiety - nah.

[sirkinm]

Originally Posted by nocturne

lol i don't think you can get social anxiety from too much caffeine. you just get the jitters from too much caf, or withdrawals when you are not on caf.

Well, you can get the signs of anxiety, which can get you into a anxiety loop and exacerbate existing social anxiety. People who suffer from anxiety/panic attacks are told to avoid caffeine, as it can prompt an incident

[brendannz]

Originally Posted by nocturne

lol i don't think you can get social anxiety from too much caffeine. you just get the jitters from too much caf, or withdrawals when you are not on caf.

well you can get the physical kind of anxiety, but as far as a psychologically caused anxiety - nah.

hahah, that was partly a joke about the caffiene

[MRip]

Amazingly, all the people posting to this thread have IQs in the top 1% of the population! That is certainly statistically improbable.
Here are the supposed IQ scores of all the people who posted on the last page of this thread (for ambiguous scores like “130s” or “130-155”, I made an educated guess in the middle somewhere)

137, 140, 144, 143, 149, 145

Think about this again. These scores are all (depending on the scale used), in the top 1% of the general population.

How did we get the good luck of having six geniuses show up to this thread?

Actually, there is a more rational explanation. Unless you have had a supervised IQ test administered by a qualified professional, you really don't know what your IQ is. If you took an online test, your high score might be good for an emotional pat on the behind, but it is doubtful that any of you really have an IQ above 120. These IQ tests are free, and at the end you have the option of buying a "comprehensive 25-page intelligence profile" for only $9.95 that shows you how smart you are. C'mon people! Do you really believe that these people sell intelligence profiles by telling potential customers they are average or below average?

The fact that you believed enough in your online test to come to this thread and post your score indicates not only gullibility, but a lack of skepticism (and bright people are the most skeptical people you will ever meet).
If you took an online test, scored above 130, then were gullible enough to think the test was correct (c'mon...I didn't buy the report...I am too smart for that...), then you should quit now. Don't take a real test because you will be disappointed with the results.

That said, if you want to know what is going on inside the mind of a person with a high IQ, read on.

Most of them would appear to you to be arrogant, insensitive, and a bit grumpy. This is because people with high IQs have a strong sense of individuality and independence. They care little about what other people think. They do not crave praise or flattery.

A person with a high IQ will speak his/her mind openly and plainly, which can lead to hurt feelings. They are not trying to be hurtful or personal, and they have a hard time empathizing with others when they were only telling it like they see it. They live in an inner world within their own mind where anything that is not rational is wrong and should be changed.

They value more truth, facts and logic than friendship or emotional relations. They only care about social conventions they agree with, and (harshly) criticize the others.

A high IQ person may be a perfectionist in some areas, usually only the areas they care about. Once the high IQ person takes an interest in something, it becomes a passion. They want to know everything about it (which can make them look like geeks or freaks).

They are constantly thinking about something, worried about a problem, thinking about solutions... So they end up having little time and energy left, and little motivation, for ordinary chit-chat. This may make them seem bland, distant, or arrogant to average people.

At work, they have difficulty understanding why other people can't do as much as they do in the same amount of time, or don't do things as well as they should. Unsatisfied by others, demanding, strict, and feel like they have to do things by themselves if they want them to be done properly.

This is how high IQ people really think. You will notice it is not the picture of bliss and happiness. It’s not about “intellectual stimulation” and the rest of the crap on this thread. Someone with a high IQ would be annoyed with the verbosity of many of your posts (no doubt an attempt to convince everyone how smart you really are…). People with high IQs value logic and efficiency, and they don’t give a damn if you think they are smart or not.

So, all of you can keep pretending with your online IQs and your carefully spell-checked posts. If you were really a genius you’d be a helluva lot grumpier.
RIP

[brendannz]

Originally Posted by MRip

Amazingly, all the people posting to this thread have IQs in the top 1% of the population! That is certainly statistically improbable.
Here are the supposed IQ scores of all the people who posted on the last page of this thread (for ambiguous scores like “130s” or “130-155”, I made an educated guess in the middle somewhere)

137, 140, 144, 143, 149, 145

Think about this again. These scores are all (depending on the scale used), in the top 1% of the general population.

How did we get the good luck of having six geniuses show up to this thread?

Actually, there is a more rational explanation. Unless you have had a supervised IQ test administered by a qualified professional, you really don't know what your IQ is. If you took an online test, your high score might be good for an emotional pat on the behind, but it is doubtful that any of you really have an IQ above 120. These IQ tests are free, and at the end you have the option of buying a "comprehensive 25-page intelligence profile" for only $9.95 that shows you how smart you are. C'mon people! Do you really believe that these people sell intelligence profiles by telling potential customers they are average or below average?

The fact that you believed enough in your online test to come to this thread and post your score indicates not only gullibility, but a lack of skepticism (and bright people are the most skeptical people you will ever meet).
If you took an online test, scored above 130, then were gullible enough to think the test was correct (c'mon...I didn't buy the report...I am too smart for that...), then you should quit now. Don't take a real test because you will be disappointed with the results.

That said, if you want to know what is going on inside the mind of a person with a high IQ, read on.

Most of them would appear to you to be arrogant, insensitive, and a bit grumpy. This is because people with high IQs have a strong sense of individuality and independence. They care little about what other people think. They do not crave praise or flattery.

A person with a high IQ will speak his/her mind openly and plainly, which can lead to hurt feelings. They are not trying to be hurtful or personal, and they have a hard time empathizing with others when they were only telling it like they see it. They live in an inner world within their own mind where anything that is not rational is wrong and should be changed.

They value more truth, facts and logic than friendship or emotional relations. They only care about social conventions they agree with, and (harshly) criticize the others.

A high IQ person may be a perfectionist in some areas, usually only the areas they care about. Once the high IQ person takes an interest in something, it becomes a passion. They want to know everything about it (which can make them look like geeks or freaks).

They are constantly thinking about something, worried about a problem, thinking about solutions... So they end up having little time and energy left, and little motivation, for ordinary chit-chat. This may make them seem bland, distant, or arrogant to average people.

At work, they have difficulty understanding why other people can't do as much as they do in the same amount of time, or don't do things as well as they should. Unsatisfied by others, demanding, strict, and feel like they have to do things by themselves if they want them to be done properly.

This is how high IQ people really think. You will notice it is not the picture of bliss and happiness. It’s not about “intellectual stimulation” and the rest of the crap on this thread. Someone with a high IQ would be annoyed with the verbosity of many of your posts (no doubt an attempt to convince everyone how smart you really are…). People with high IQs value logic and efficiency, and they don’t give a damn if you think they are smart or not.

So, all of you can keep pretending with your online IQs and your carefully spell-checked posts. If you were really a genius you’d be a helluva lot grumpier.
RIP

Well I just googled 'IQ tests and got an IQ test which I completed and got 145, I wasn't really prepared to go to spend hours to find out what my IQ was for this particular thread. I don't really think I'm smarter than 99% of people, I just think I'm good at solving the puzzles in that particular IQ test. I'm probably smarter than a lot of peoplle considering the worlds illiteracy rates..

Re: the "take the free test, and then buy the book," good point!

My brother has a high IQ, and I'm sure he would really have a high IQ, he's really grumpy and insensitive like you described..

[bluedragon]

Although it has been argued that IQ has no relevance when it comes to being successful professionally or in life, I think it is very important when coupled with emotional intelligence. For example, if you want to learn how to build a website from scratch, if you have high IQ, you will learn faster. If you don't, you will make mistakes and you will be frustrated because you don't know where you messed up an html line and your whole website is a mess. Of course, if you know how to handle yourself under stress, you will remain calm, but the more mistakes you make because you cannot cope with the complexity of the task, the harder it will be for you not to get frustrated.

Other examples include doing well in school, in a programming or accounting job, figuring out how to get out of a difficult situation that involves technology or legal complications that can be solved better by someone with higher IQ.

[MRip]

Aha! Someone noticed the one thing missing from my list of high IQ traits. Nowhere does it say that “High IQ people are successful".

Generally, people with high IQs have above average incomes, but it seems that having a high IQ is not a predictor of financial success. Why is this so?

The answer is simple. The vast majority of the things we do in life, like the jobs we work at, don’t require a high IQ. To be a doctor or a lawyer, for example, one only has to have an IQ of around 115 to 120. Once you are there, you “get it”. You are smart enough. The guy with the 145 IQ (listen up internet-certified geniuses) has no real advantage over your 120. So unless you are planning a career in Theoretical Physics, simply having a high IQ doesn’t really mean much. In fact, it can hurt you.

What?! (asks the internet-certified genius to himself). How can my superior IQ hurt me?

Well, there is a simple answer to that too. You can have a high IQ and still be a complete moron. That’s right – there is a difference between “intelligent” and “smart”.

Now, some people will talk about people with high IQs not having “street smarts”. That is NOT what I am talking about. Street smarts are nothing more than experiential learning. Take the street smart guy off the street, and he is still an idiot. In other words, his “smarts” only works in a given context as a result of prolonged learning within that context. Take away the context – take away to “smarts.”

What I am really talking about is Practical Intelligence. Take another look at my above post. Do you believe that the person I described is one who gets ahead? Not likely – not people who are that grumpy. People with high IQs often lack practical intelligence, which roughly defined, is the ability of a person to discern, interact with, and shape his environment.

And what is the environment? It is a big crowd of people with average intelligence (not anyone from this thread, mind you). To get what you want from the world, you must (gasp!) effectively interact with these average folks. People with high IQs have a hard time doing this because of how they think. They value logic, correctness, and efficiency, and they don’t care what others think. This is a poor method for getting what you want out of life.

People (even you internet-certified geniuses) make decisions based on three criteria: Rationality, Emotion, and Culture (some might argue the fourth criteria is Genetics, but it’s impact can’t be readily discerned or manipulated, so we’ll just leave it out…if it’s ok with the internet-certified geniuses…). These three criteria play into everything we do. The problem with your typical person with a high IQ is that they think very rationally, and are unable to appreciate the impact of the other two when deciding what to do or how to behave.

Think about it. You are at a party and your boss makes a point about a trivial matter during the course of a conversation. You know this point to be incorrect. What do you do? The 120 IQ lets it go. After all, it is a trivial matter not worthy of further discussion. The 150 IQ, though, may not. He values correctness and can’t comprehend why everyone else doesn’t. He proceeds to correct his boss, in public, on the trivial matter. Smart? I don’t think so. More like the classic example of the guy with the high IQ who (counter intuitively) is also a complete moron.

So, for the one or two average people on this thread, take heart. Your 125 IQ is plenty to do whatever you want in life, and in a holistic sense, you are probably a lot “smarter” than your internet-certified 145 buddies.
RIP

[brendannz]

Originally Posted by MRip

Aha! Someone noticed the one thing missing from my list of high IQ traits. Nowhere does it say that “High IQ people are successful".

Generally, people with high IQs have above average incomes, but it seems that having a high IQ is not a predictor of financial success. Why is this so?

The answer is simple. The vast majority of the things we do in life, like the jobs we work at, don’t require a high IQ. To be a doctor or a lawyer, for example, one only has to have an IQ of around 115 to 120. Once you are there, you “get it”. You are smart enough. The guy with the 145 IQ (listen up internet-certified geniuses) has no real advantage over your 120. So unless you are planning a career in Theoretical Physics, simply having a high IQ doesn’t really mean much. In fact, it can hurt you.

What?! (asks the internet-certified genius to himself). How can my superior IQ hurt me?

Well, there is a simple answer to that too. You can have a high IQ and still be a complete moron. That’s right – there is a difference between “intelligent” and “smart”.

Now, some people will talk about people with high IQs not having “street smarts”. That is NOT what I am talking about. Street smarts are nothing more than experiential learning. Take the street smart guy off the street, and he is still an idiot. In other words, his “smarts” only works in a given context as a result of prolonged learning within that context. Take away the context – take away to “smarts.”

What I am really talking about is Practical Intelligence. Take another look at my above post. Do you believe that the person I described is one who gets ahead? Not likely – not people who are that grumpy. People with high IQs often lack practical intelligence, which roughly defined, is the ability of a personal to discern, interact with, and shape his environment.

And what is the environment? It is a big crowd of people with average intelligence (not anyone from this thread, mind you). To get what you want from the world, you must (gasp!) effectively interact with these average folks. People with high IQs have a hard time doing this because of how they think. They value logic, correctness, and efficiency, and they don’t care what others think. This is a poor method for getting what you want out of life.

People (even you internet-certified geniuses) make decisions based on three criteria: Rationality, Emotion, and Culture (some might argue the fourth criteria is DNA, but it’s impact can’t be readily discerned or manipulated, so we’ll just leave it out…if it’s ok with the internet-certified geniuses…). These three criteria play into everything we do. The problem with your typical person with a high IQ is that they think very rationally, and are unable to appreciate the impact of the other two when deciding what to do or how to behave.

Think about it. You are at a party and your boss makes a point about a trivial matter during the course of a conversation. You know this point to be incorrect. What do you do? The 120 IQ lets it go. After all, it is a trivial matter not worthy of further discussion. The 150 IQ, though, may not. He values correctness and can’t comprehend why everyone else doesn’t. He proceeds to correct his boss, in public, on the trivial matter. Smart? I don’t think so. More like the classic example of the guy with the high IQ who (counter intuitively) is also a complete moron.

So, for the one or two average people on this thread, take heart. Your 125 IQ is plenty to do whatever you want in life, and in a holistic sense, you are probably a lot “smarter” than your internet-certified 145 buddies.
RIP

The say there's a sucker born every minute, and it looks like the minute I took that IQ test online, I was the sucker. My brother though, who I'd imagine would have the high IQ actually as he does have a PhD in Seismic Engineering. Your post helped me understand why he is really grumpy sometimes, over seemingly minor things.