The research revealed the facets of the major personality traits that are signs of high intelligence.
Four personality factors are linked to high intelligence.
Four personality factors are linked to high intelligence.
People with higher intelligence find it easier to accept confusion and vagueness, a study finds.
Many problems in life do not have a definitive answer — and intelligent people can deal with this more easily.
More intelligent people can make better decisions because they are able to accept ambiguity, researchers have found.
Other common signs of a high IQ include being conscientious, taking risks and being curious.
People who are conscientious are more careful, efficient and self-disciplined — and they aim for achievement.
Intelligent people are more likely to have ‘Type A’ personalities — this is linked both to being competitive and taking risks.
Curiosity is also linked to high intelligence.
People who are curious ask lots of questions, look for surprises, seek out sensations and make time to search out new ideas.
The conclusions come from a study that included 820 people.
All completed measures of both intelligence and personality.
The personality traits are part of the High Potential Traits Inventory, which focuses on workplace behaviours.
The results showed that four personality factors were linked to intelligence.
The ability to cope with uncertainty is an especially strong sign of high intelligence, the authors write:
“This study found that multiple intelligence measures were predictive of higher tolerance of uncertainty.
Previous researchers have found that more intelligent
individuals are able to adequately adapt to and evaluate
changing work tasks, leading to greater accuracy in decision-making.”
People who are curious also had higher IQs the study found:
“Curiosity – marked by high openness, creativity, imagination, and cognitive complexity – was hypothesised to associate with higher levels of intelligence.
individuals high on curiosity exhibited higher levels of WM [working memory] ability.”
The study was published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences (Furnham & Treglown, 2018).
The common drink is linked to a higher level of education.
The common drink is linked to a higher level of education.
Smarter people are more likely to drink alcohol daily, research finds.
Better educated people are also more likely to have a drinking problem.
Higher grades in school at the age of just 5-years-old predict greater intake of alcohol many decades later.
Among women, there is an especially strong link between alcohol consumption and being highly educated.
The reason may be that middle-class lifestyles — accessible through education — are linked to more alcohol consumption.
It could also be because intelligent people often value novel things and are at a greater risk of getting bored.
The study’s authors write:
“The more educated women are, the more likely they are to drink alcohol on most days and to report having problems due to their drinking patterns
The better-educated appear to be the ones who engage the most in problematic patterns of alcohol consumption.”
The results come from a study that followed everyone born in the UK in one week in 1970.
Women with degrees were 86% more likely to drink on most days than those with less education, the study found.
Highly-educated women were 1.7 times more likely to have a drinking problem than the less well-educated.
The authors write:
“Both males and females who achieved high-level performance in test scores administered at ages five and 10 are significantly more likely to abuse alcohol than individuals who performed poorly on those tests.”
The link between alcohol consumption and education could come down to a range of factors, the authors write:
“Reasons for the positive association of education and drinking behaviours may include: a more intensive social life that encourages alcohol intake; a greater engagement into traditionally male spheres of life, a greater social acceptability of alcohol use and abuse; more exposure to alcohol use during formative years; and greater postponement of childbearing and its responsibilities among the better educated.”
The study was published in the journal Social Science and Medicine (Huerta & Borgonovi, 2010).
One trait is linked to a worse score in intelligence tests.
One trait is linked to a worse score in intelligence tests.
People with unstable emotions tend to get lower scores on IQ tests, studies find.
This may, though, be down to nervousness while taking the test.
In fact, people who are neurotic may have higher IQs than the standard test reveals.
Neuroticism, one of the five major personality traits, encompasses unstable emotions, anxiety, self-consciousness and irritability.
People who are higher in neuroticism may also sleep poorly, the study’s authors explain:
“High scorers tend to be sensitive, emotional, worrying, moody, frequently depressed, often sleep badly and may suffer from various psychosomatic disorders.
Low scorers tend to be secure, hardy and generally relaxed even under stressful conditions.”
The conclusions come from two studies, the first of which was conducted on 646 Dutch twins.
The results showed that people higher in neuroticism got lower scores on an IQ test.
The link is down to genetics, the researchers concluded.
However, a second study gave IQ tests to 213 people and split them into two groups depending on how anxious they were.
The results of this study showed that the more nervous people were, the lower their IQ scores.
By statistically removing the effects of anxiety, though, the researchers were able to show that highly neurotic people are just as intelligent.
The authors conclude:
“Neurotics become more anxious under testing conditions, and this anxiety affects their performance on the IQ tests.
It is therefore proposed that Neuroticism is not related to intelligence per se, but to intelligence test performance, which has been proposed in the past (Eysenck, 1971).
This suggestion implies that IQ tests may underestimate the true intelligence of Neurotic individuals.”
The studies were published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences (Bartels et al., 2012; Moutafi et al., 2006).
People with higher intelligence tend to share this characteristic.
People with higher intelligence tend to share this characteristic.
People with higher intelligence are more likely to be original, offbeat and rebellious, research finds.
More intelligent people have a distinct, individual style and avoid following the crowd.
Non-conformists may be more intelligent because they are less afraid to break society’s conventions.
Being a non-conformist comes with its own dangers, though, the study’s authors write:
“Non-conformist behavior may threaten the belongingness to a social group, or has the potential of enlarging the psychological distance from others.
People who deviate from the group are more likely to be punished, ridiculed, or even rejected by other group members.
…acting in a non-conformist way is less threatening for highly than for less intelligent people.”
The conclusions come from a small study that asked 46 people about their ‘need for uniqueness’ and tested their intelligence.
They were asked whether they agreed with statements like:
The results showed that people with higher IQs were more likely to endorse statements indicating a preference for uniqueness.
More intelligent people may be more resourceful, which explains their independence, the study’s authors write:
“…the more intelligent someone is, the less dependent this person is on the group to acquire resources.
This means that highly intelligent people can afford more non-conformist behavior because of their capacity to secure resources in isolation.
…as general intelligence increases the need to conform to group norms decreases.”
The study was published in the BMJ (Millet, 2007).
Where does intelligence lie in the brain? Scientists definitely do not agree.
One more benefit of being above average in intelligence.
One more benefit of being above average in intelligence.
People with higher IQs are likely to live longer, according to research.
Those with high intelligence in childhood are less likely to get heart disease, strokes, respiratory diseases and dementia later on.
Higher intelligence may allow people to learn better health behaviours and cope more effectively with problems over the years.
Some of the lowered risk is down to the fact that more intelligent people are less likely to smoke.
The conclusions come from a Scottish study that included 938 people who were followed for over 25 years.
The results showed that for every 15 points of higher IQ, people’s risk of dying was reduced by 17 percent.
This study found the link between IQ and longevity was strongest in children brought up in poorer neighbourhoods.
Higher intelligence, then, is particularly beneficial to the longevity of poorer people, said Dr Carole L. Hart, the study’s first author:
“The significant interaction found between IQ and deprivation suggests that IQ in childhood is less important in terms of mortality for people who live in more affluent areas in adulthood than for people who live in deprived areas.”
It is not yet clear how IQ is related to longevity, said Dr Hart:
“It is possible that low childhood IQ leads to adult deprivation, which in turn leads to earlier death.”
Some studies have suggested that IQ and longevity are linked to the same sets of genes.
Another possibility is that adverse circumstances, which are often linked to being poor, can lower IQ.
Worse nutrition, educational opportunities and deprived areas may all take their toll on mental development.
Other studies have also suggested that higher IQ leads to a longer life.
The study was published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine (Hart et al., 2003).
Along with fewer depression symptoms, it was also linked to better sleep.
Along with fewer depression symptoms, it was also linked to better sleep.
Higher intelligence reduces the risk of mental health problems, including depression, research finds.
A higher IQ is linked to less self-reported depression symptoms, fewer sleep problems and better overall mental health.
The conclusions come from a study of 5,793 people who were followed for decades.
The results showed that those with higher IQ scores in their youth had better overall mental health when they were 50-years-old, compared to those with lower IQs.
Along with fewer depression symptoms, those with higher IQs also slept better in middle age.
The authors conclude that IQ may have a protective effect against depression in middle age:
“Higher pre-morbid intelligence was significantly associated with less depression, less sleep difficulty, and a better overall mental health status at age 50.
These results were similar to those found at age 40 and they suggest that higher intelligence in youth, in both men and women, may have a protective effect on mental health into middle age.”
However, people with higher IQs were more likely to have received a depression diagnosis by age 50.
This seems to contradict the finding that they self-reported lower symptoms of depression.
The researchers think it may be because intelligent people are more likely to recognise depression and get help for it.
They write that one possible reason is that:
“…people with higher intelligence may also have higher mental health literacy.
Those with higher intelligence might be more able to identify their symptoms of depression, which could motivate them to consult a doctor for diagnosis and advice; they might also be likely to have accurate reporting of such diagnoses in the health module.”
The study was published in the journal Intelligence (Wraw et al., 2018).
Do you pass the financial test of intelligence?
Do you pass the financial test of intelligence?
People with high IQs are more patient in financial matters, research finds.
They are willing to wait longer to increase their money and to endure the risks involved.
The survey of 1,000 people in Germany tested how long people would wait for a series of rewards, analogous to putting it into a savings account.
For example, people were given $100 to have now, or they could choose to wait one year to get more.
Would you wait one year to get $110, $120 or $150?
Or would you rather just have the $100 right now?
Professor Armin Falk, study co-author, summarised the results:
“The more intelligent the test subjects were, the more patient and tolerant of risk they were.”
Impatient people generally wanted a higher reward for waiting one year to get their money.
Intelligent people did not demand so much reward for taking the risk.
It seems that intelligence, risk tolerance and patience are closely related.
It is important to see the connections between risk and reward.
Professor Falk said:
“Anyone who does not have this ability may be better advised to follow the principle of ‘A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.'”
The study was published in the American Economic Review (Dohmen et al., 2010).
One common sign of high IQ is obvious in childhood.
One common sign of high IQ is obvious in childhood.
Learning to read at an earlier stage is a sign of higher IQ, a study finds.
The better a person’s reading skills at age 7, the higher their intelligence in later life.
It may be that reading from an earlier age helps to improve IQ.
If this is true, then helping children to read sooner may boost their intelligence.
Dr Stuart J. Ritchie, the study’s first author, said:
“Since reading is an ability that can be improved, our findings have implications for reading instruction.
Early remediation of reading problems might aid not only the growth of literacy, but also more general cognitive abilities that are of critical importance across the lifespan.”
The conclusions come from a study of 1,890 twins whose IQ and reading levels were tested between the ages of 7 and 16.
Twins were included because the researchers wanted to rule out the effect of the environment and genes.
It emerged from the results that among each pair of twins, the one that began to read earlier had a higher IQ later on.
Dr Ritchie said:
“If, as our results imply, reading causally influences intelligence, the implications for educators are clear.
Children who don’t receive enough assistance in learning to read may also be missing out on the important, intelligence-boosting properties of literacy.”
Dyslexia — a type of learning difficulty causing problems with reading and writing — is not a sign of low IQ.
Professor John D. E. Gabrieli, who has published research on dyslexia and IQ, said:
“We found that children who are poor readers have the same brain difficulty in processing the sounds of language whether they have a high or low IQ.
Reading difficulty is independent of other cognitive abilities.”
The study was published in the journal Child Development (Ritchie et al., 2015).
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