- A person's behavior and characteristics reveal a great
- deal about their intelligence.
- People who enjoy their own company, work in silence,
- and have a strong sense of self-control tend to be intelligent.
- Some traits common among smart people are surprising,
- such a tendency to procrastinate, or a love for chocolate.
You might be surprised to know which of your quirks can reveal your
inner genius.
1. You accept that there are plenty of things
you don't know
You may think that pretending you know everything, even when you
don't, makes you come across as smarter. But in reality, people who
aren't afraid to be self-critical tend to be the brainier ones.
Intelligent people accept their own shortcomings and understand that
there's always more they could be learning. A study published in the
and Social Psychology'compared how students performed on a test
to how they thought they did.
Students took a test similar to the LSAT and then had to predict how
many questions they got right.
Many of the students with lower scores had vastly overestimated their
scores, while the higher-scoring students tended to think they scored
worse than they actually did.
Don't be afraid to admit that you don't know something — you're liable
to learn a lot more. Here are some things you encounter every day
2. You're constantly curious
Since knowing you have more to learn means you're smart, wanting
to learn more naturally does too. A study in the 'Journal of Individual Differences' found that people
who scored higher on IQ tests as children tended to be more curious
and open to new ideas as adults.
Intelligence and curiosity go hand-in-hand. Intelligent people tend to be
inquisitive not
only about everyday curiosities but also about "the big questions,"
pondering philosophical
topics like the meaning of life and the universe. (Answering these
questions, though, is another story.)
3. You complete other people's sentences
Don't worry, it's not as creepy as it sounds. If you can gauge what people
mean to say, or how they're feeling, that's a sure sign you're emotionally
intelligent. Being
empathetic and in tune with other people's emotions allows you to see
the world from others' point of view. People who can relate to others
and understand how they're feeling tend to be open to
meeting new people and experiencing new things, all of which has positive
effects on intelligence.
4. You have lots of self-control
Intelligent people tend to have strong self-control and can resist making
impulsive decisions. A group of psychologists from Yale and other
universities tested this in 2009 with a study published in 'Psychological
Science'. They tested how self-control relates to intelligence by giving
participants intelligence tests and offering them reward money. The
participants could choose to be paid immediately, or wait longer and
be paid a higher amount. The people who chose to wait for the money
tended to have the better scores on the test. If you have a strong tendency
to weigh all of your options, and can resist making impulsive decisions,
it might be time to embrace your inner genius. Check out the scientifically
5. You're open-minded
According to a University of Pennsylvania study, intelligent people tend to
be willing to see things from other people's perspectives rather than simply
accepting one viewpoint
as valid. They formulate their opinions after careful consideration of
multiple viewpoints,
rather than simply making snap judgments. They tend to be open to
new concepts and ideas,
which contributes to their intelligence. This doesn't mean, however,
that they are gullible or
easily swayed from their own opinions. In fact, open-minded people
are more likely to confidently
stand by their own opinions, less likely to be manipulated.
6. You love chocolate
Yes, there is a legitimate connection between brainpower and the goodness
of chocolate. Compounds called flavanols, found in cocoa, can help boost
cognitive performance. Researchers at the Universities of Rome and
L'Aquila in Italy recently conducted a study about how eating chocolate
effects brain functions like memory, attention, and processing speed.
And it turned out that eating chocolate had positive effects on all of
those things. Not only did eating chocolate immediately boost
participants' test scores, the study revealed that eating small
amounts of chocolate daily boosted cognitive performance over a
long period of time.
7. You procrastinate
Yes, you read that right! As much as leaving something till the last minute
can make you feel dumb, studies show that it's actually quite the opposite.
If you procrastinate, it
means that you take your time on things, rather than jumping to
conclusions or choosing the easiest
solution. Smart people also procrastinate because they choose to spend
their time on tasks that
they find more valuable, while postponing more trivial ones. Either way,
procrastination is far from
the monstrous time-waster people can sometimes make it out to be.
Maybe it's no surprise
that things like doodling and daydreaming also signify intelligence.
8. You can't stand background noise
If you prefer to work in complete silence, you have that in common with
Franz Kafka, Charles Darwin, and Anton Chekhov. These are only some
of the brilliant minds who insisted on dead silence while they worked,
or who complained about being unable to filter out background noise.
You might think that smart people are the ones who are able to fully
tune out the world, but studies suggest that this isn't the case. The
inability to tune out noises like talking, shuffling feet, chewing, or
typing might actually be good news for your brain.
A 2015 study from Northwestern University assessed the problem-solving
skills of 100 different people. The participants who claimed to have a
harder time shutting out the "irrelevant" noises in the background came
up with more innovative, creative solutions to the problems. The authors
of the study concluded that people bothered by background noise are
better able to focus on multiple stimuli at once, which translates into
more creative thinking. So if background noise bothers you while
you're working, try your best to embrace it — it could be a sign that
you're a creative genius.
9. You can make connections between
seemingly unrelated subjects
If you can distinguish patterns where others can't, you probably have a
more creative mind. What some see as "randomness" is actually a sign of
a brilliant mind. "Most people can see patterns, but highly intelligent
people see them more quickly, and they often see patterns in everything,"
writes a gifted specialist on Quora. Connecting disparate things is also a
sign of a highly conceptual mind; you're open-minded and don't look
at things literally.
10. You're OK with your own company
If being by your lonesome doesn't cause you to be overcome with boredom
or FOMO, you're in luck. People who are more content with being alone
tend to be more intelligent, according to the 'British Journal of Psychology'.
And there's more — if you talk to yourself, that's a sign of genius too!
Repeating things out loud can cement them better in your brain.
And you thought it made you sound crazy.
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