10 Signs You Are More Intelligent Than You Think

Have you ever felt like you are a quick problem solver and what you think is common knowledge is not known or understood by many. Chances are you are more intelligent than you think. “The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” Words of William Shakespeare. So if you think you are not smart enough then maybe you are way more intelligent than you think.

10. You do not know you are smart

This is called the Dunning-Kruger effect. Intelligent people are more aware of their limitations. People who are less bright or clever consistently overestimate their mental abilities. Intelligent people accept their own limitations and understand that there’s always more they could be learning.

A study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology compared how students performed on a test and how they thought they did. Students took a test similar to the LSAT and were asked 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. So if you think you are stupid, well you got that wrong.

9. You are curious

Curious people love to learn new things. The more you learn, the smarter you get. Wanting to learn more, is a trait common in intelligent people. A study in the Journal of Individual Differences showed that children and adults who scored high on IQ tests were more curious and open to new ideas. Psychology research from Georgia Tech also showed that those with high curiosity are more tolerant of ambiguity. This requires a more nuanced and sophisticated thinking style. Curious people invest more time in knowledge acquisition. This improves cognitive growth.

8. You talk to yourself

Yes, you may not be crazy after all. A study from psychologists Paloma Mari-Beffa and Alexander Kirkham of Bangor University showed that talking out loud to yourself improve self-control. In this study participants were given a set of tasks with written instructions accompanying it. Measured concentration and performance was higher for those who read out the instructions out loud.

Recent studies have shown that self-talk can help memory recall, confidence and focus. Talking out loud helps you be in more control. This is an important form of intelligence. Many professional athletes talk to themselves out loud during games.

7. You are thin

According to a 2006 study, on 2,200 adults over a five-year period showed that the bigger the waistline, the lower the cognitive ability.

Another study 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 said that smarter kids might have pursued better educational opportunities, landed higher-status and higher-paying jobs. So, they were in a position to take care of their health than their less intelligent peers. Meanwhile, a more recent study among preschoolers, found that a lower IQ was linked to a higher BMI.

6. You are the oldest

According to a study by researchers at the Universities of Houston, New South Wales and Sheffield, older siblings are smarter than younger ones. They found that older siblings are more confident in their academic ability, while younger siblings are more likely to doubt themselves. This could be because first-born children don’t have anyone to compare themselves to and older siblings are given higher amount of attention by parents.

A previous study by the University of Edinburgh found that first-born children do in fact have a higher IQ than their younger siblings and that parents are to blame.

Older siblings are likely to have spent focused alone time with their parents being mentally stimulated through reading, creative activities and playing musical instruments. Younger siblings are accustomed to sharing their time with another child.

So if you are older, help out your younger, less intelligent siblings.

5. You are funny

Researchers in Austria discovered that funny people, particularly those who enjoy dark humour, have higher IQs than their less funny peers. They claim that it takes both cognitive and emotional ability to process and produce humour. Their analysis showed that funny people have higher verbal and non-verbal intelligence.

Evidence suggests that having a good sense of humour is linked to high emotional intelligence. Funny people construct jokes using the situation they are in. They have good observational skills and makes use of their surroundings as material. This ability certainly needs a quick-thinking brain to execute.

Not only are funny people smart, it is amusing to be around them.

4. You worry a lot

According to Slate’s coverage of several different studies on anxiety, anxious individuals may be smarter than others in certain ways.

In one study, researchers asked 126 undergrads to fill out questionnaires in which they indicated how often they experienced worry. They also indicated how often they thought continuously about situations that upset them, as psychologist Dr. Edward Selby reported in Psychology Today.

Results showed that people who have the tendency to worry a lot scored higher on measures of verbal intelligence, while people who didn’t do much worrying scored higher on tests of nonverbal intelligence.

3. You are messy

Albert Einstein was famously messy. His workspace was chaotic.  Messy people use chaos as creative fuel. According to a study published by Kathleen Vohs from the University of Minnesota, messier people are smarter. She asked 2 groups to come with creative uses for Ping-Pong balls. The group that worked in a messier and cluttered environment came up with more creative and interesting ideas. Authors like J.K. Rowling and Roald Dahl had creative workspaces littered with notes and random points of inspiration. Their disorderly workspace might prove an effective methodology for creative problem-solving. Messy people are adaptable. They can focus on the work at hand without getting distracted by the clutter around them. Making order out of chaos and thriving among a disordered cosmos, is in effect survival of the fittest at its best.

2. You took music lessons

Music helps kids’ minds develop. So, if you took music lessons when you were a kid, it is more likely that your IQ was boosted.

According to a study by Glenn Schellenberg, a professor of psychology ,6-year-olds who took nine months of music lessons had a higher IQ than kids who had no music lessons at all. Music also helps in language development. Recent studies have proved that musical training physically develops the left side of the brain known to be involved with processing language. Children who received music lessons had higher academic performance too. So, now you can thank your parents for sending you to those music classes.

1. You are creative

Creativity requires you to think outside the box. According to Dr. Katie Davis, a clinical neuro-psychologist, this is an absolute sign of intelligence. It necessitates the ability to change patterns of thinking. Creative people can stretch out their minds and come up with new and exciting ideas. They have high power of imagination. They are curious and spend a great deal of time at rest, quietly thinking and reflecting on the things that interest them. They have the ability to look at the world with a fresh perspective.

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