This behaviour is a sign of higher intelligence.
This character trait is linked to a high IQ.
This character trait is linked to a high IQ.
Being conscientious is linked to having a high IQ, but only among females, a study finds.
People who are conscientious are more careful, efficient and self-disciplined — and they aim for achievement.
Among males, however, those who are more careless and indifferent have higher IQs.
The study of school children also found that introverts who are conscientious get the best grades.
Fear may also be a factor in driving up grades, the Swedish research found, since neurotic pupils got better grades.
Neurotic people tend to worry more, which may motivate them to work harder if their worries are stoked by the system.
Ms Pia Rosander, the study’s first author, said:
“We have a school system in Sweden that favours conscientious and fear-driven pupils.
It is not good for psychological well-being in the long term if fear is a driving force.
It also prevents in-depth learning, which happens best among the open personality types who are driven by curiosity.”
The study included 200 pupils entering secondary school at 16 who were followed for three years.
The results revealed that girls who were eager to please got better grades.
On the other hand, boys were more likely to be curious, but the system tended not to feed their curiosity.
Ms Rosander said:
“Greater conscientiousness, i.e. getting things done, arriving on time, etc. may be a way for boys to compensate for a lower IQ.”
The study also found that introverts get better grades, probably because extraverts have so much to distract them.
Ms Rosander said:
“My studies clearly show that the school system needs to be more individualised.
How else can we support talented pupils with the ‘wrong’ personality type, those we call under-performers, who are capable but lack the ability to plan their school work, for example?”
The study was published in the journal Learning and Individual Differences (Rosander et al., 2011).
A child’s humble nature may reveal more about their adult self than you might think.
The study had 129 people given tests of personality and intelligence.
The trait is not normally associated with intelligent people.
The trait is not normally associated with intelligent people.
People who are generous by nature have a higher IQ, research finds.
Generous people are unselfish and sometimes deny themselves so that others can have more.
Although generosity is not something people usually associate with intelligence, psychological research clearly shows a link.
Intelligent people may be more generous partly because they can afford it.
People with higher IQs generally have greater resources, or can expect to recover what they have given away later on.
The conclusions come from a study in which 96 people played games that involved either donating to others or keeping things for themselves.
The results revealed that intelligent people were more generous to others.
In contrast, those who kept more for themselves tended to be less intelligent.
The study’s authors used the results of SAT tests, which can be converted into approximate IQ scores.
They write:
“We find that subjects who perform better on the Math portion of the SAT [Scholastic Aptitude Test] are more generous in both the dictator game and the SVO [Social Value Orientation] measure.
[…]Our results involving SAT scores […] suggest that measures of cognitive ability, which are less sensitive to the intrinsic motivation of the subject, are positively related to generosity.”
The study was published in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization (Chen et al., 2013).
Answers to: Is IQ dropping around the world? Where does human intelligence come from? What are the signs of a high IQ brain?
Answers to: Is IQ dropping around the world? Where does human intelligence come from? What are the signs of a high IQ brain?
While it is obvious to us that some people are smarter than others, scientists are definitely not agreed on the root of one of our most precious abilities: intelligence.
Certainly, many aspects of intelligence are mysterious, and these six recent studies published in the members-only section of PsyBlog have asked questions including:
Perhaps the last of these questions should concern us the most; after all, without our intelligence what a paltry being is left?
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Once again, many thanks to everyone who supports PsyBlog in this way.
In the last 30 years or so, there is evidence that the so-called ‘Flynn effect’ has been reversing..
Around half the children in the study had little or no experience of reading for pleasure or did not pick up the habit until later on.
The research revealed the facets of the major personality traits that are signs of high intelligence.
Where does intelligence lie in the brain? Scientists definitely do not agree.
There is no specific area of the brain that ‘masterminds’ our intelligence, research finds.
High IQ brains have greater functional connectivity and higher synchronisation, but this has an unexpected real-world effect.
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The ‘refreshment’ is linked to a slower brain and making more mistakes.
The ‘refreshment’ is linked to a slower brain and making more mistakes.
Drinking higher quantities of alcohol and smoking cigarettes are both linked to a lower IQ, research finds.
People who smoke and drink have a worse memory and poorer problem-solving skills.
Similarly, higher rates of binge drinking are also linked to a lower IQ, a previous study found.
Smoking may be even more damaging to thinking skills than drinking.
High levels of smoking and drinking both lead to a slower brain and making more mistakes.
The reason may be that smoking and drinking damage the blood vessels supplying the brain.
The conclusions come from a study of 172 men, some of whom were alcoholics.
All completed tests of IQ, memory and thinking skills and were followed up over nine years.
The results showed that the more they drank and smoked, the lower their IQ.
Drinkers and smokers also had worse memories and poorer thinking skills.
Dr Jennifer Glass, the study’s first author, said:
“We can’t say that we’ve found a cause-and-effect relationship between smoking and decreased thinking ability, or neurocognitive proficiency.
But we hope our findings of an association will lead to further examination of this important issue.
Perhaps it will help give smokers one more reason to quit, and encourage quitting smoking among those who are also trying to control their drinking.”
Professor Robert Zucker, study co-author, said:
“The exact mechanism for smoking’s impact on the brain’s higher functions is still unclear, but may involve both neurochemical effects and damage to the blood vessels that supply the brain.
This is consistent with other findings that people with cardiovascular disease and lung disease tend to have reduced neurocognitive function.”
The study was published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence (Glass et al., 2006).
People with efficient brains tend to have spare capacity.
People with efficient brains tend to have spare capacity.
Daydreaming is a sign of being more creative and having higher intelligence, research suggests.
Those who report more daydreaming have higher intellectual abilities and their brains work more efficiently.
People with efficient brains tend to have spare capacity, so it is natural for the mind to wander.
The conclusions come from a study in which over 100 people stared at a fixed point for five minutes while their brains were scanned.
The aim was to see how the areas of the brain worked together when they were given nothing in particular to do.
The results showed that those with more efficient brains were also smarter and more creative.
Dr Eric Schumacher, study co-author, said:
“People with efficient brains may have too much brain capacity to stop their minds from wandering.
People tend to think of mind wandering as something that is bad.
You try to pay attention and you can’t.
Our data are consistent with the idea that this isn’t always true.
Some people have more efficient brains.”
One sign of an efficient brain is being able to zone in and out of conversations without missing anything.
Dr Schumacher said:
“Our findings remind me of the absent-minded professor — someone who’s brilliant, but off in his or her own world, sometimes oblivious to their own surroundings.
Or school children who are too intellectually advanced for their classes.
While it may take five minutes for their friends to learn something new, they figure it out in a minute, then check out and start daydreaming.”
Ms Christine A. Godwin, the study’s first author, wants to examine exactly when mind wandering could be useful and when not:
“There are important individual differences to consider as well, such as a person’s motivation or intent to stay focused on a particular task.”
The study was published in the journal Neuropsychologia (Godwin et al., 2017).
Human beings are mostly primed by evolution to be optimistic, but it is not always the best policy.
Fluid intelligence refers to the raw speed at which the brain works.
Fluid intelligence refers to the raw speed at which the brain works.
A hunger for new, unconventional ideas is one of the strongest indicators of high IQ, research finds.
People with high IQs are intellectually curious and enjoy things like unusual activities, philosophical arguments and brain teasers.
This desire for new ideas is linked to an aspect of IQ called fluid intelligence.
Fluid intelligence refers to the speed at which the brain works.
It is like the raw power of an engine or the speed at which a computer can process information.
Fluid intelligence is contrasted with crystallised intelligence.
Crystallised intelligence is something like general knowledge: the information that people have learnt about the world over the years.
The conclusions come from a study of 2,658 employees working at 10 different companies in the UK.
They were all given tests of personality and intelligence.
The results showed that high fluid intelligence was linked to hunger for new ideas.
Like an interest in ideas, being willing to try new activities was also linked to intelligence, the authors write:
“Actions refers to willingness to try different activities, and to a preference for novelty and variety over familiarity and routine.
Fluid intelligence involves things like reaction times, quick thinking, reasoning, seeing relationships and approaching new problems.
This means that individuals high on [fluid intelligence] have an innate ability to cope more efficiently with novel experiences, and to deal with intellectually stimulating tasks such as brain teasers, which would thus make it rewarding for them to pursuit such activities.
Similarly, individuals low on [fluid intelligence] may in time grow to avoid such activities, due to their low ability to handle them, which would thus make them less rewarding.”
The study was published in the journal Learning and Individual Differences (Moutafi et al., 2006).
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