What does Intelligence look like?

I want to know what you think. When you think of "intelligence" and "intelligent people," what comes to mind? What do you think a person with 150 IQ looks like, behaves, or has accomplished? In my opinion society is mostly comprised of people with average intelligence, and from my perspective those people have this distorted view of highly intelligent people, expecting them to be perfect and having much wealth and success. What do you think?

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IME, the more raw brain power someone has, the more likely they are to be misfits/social outcasts.

Many never "do" anything with their intellects.

They just live very examined lives.

What if...? said:

IME, the more raw brain power someone has, the more likely they are to be misfits/social outcasts.

Many never "do" anything with their intellects.

They just live very examined lives.

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That, too, is another possibility.

There are dumb and average people out there, rich or poor, who expect highly intelligent people to be a certain way or live a certain lifestyle. Some think you can only be intelligent if you have a degree. What many don't know is that there are those with over 180 IQ who are content to live humble, "salt of the Earth" lives. I would rather be happy, than work to fulfill someone else's distorted perceptions.

Wake said:

I want to know what you think. When you think of "intelligence" and "intelligent people," what comes to mind? What do you think a person with 150 IQ looks like, behaves, or has accomplished? In my opinion society is mostly comprised of people with average intelligence, and from my perspective those people have this distorted view of highly intelligent people, expecting them to be perfect and having much wealth and success. What do you think?

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Ummm, that's kinda' why they call it "average intelligence."

Looks like?? Unless they're wearing a Mensa pin, they look like everybody else. I don't think intelligence equates with wealth. It takes more than smarts to accumulate money. I think what you say about people expecting intelligent people to be more wealthy, etc., is probably inverse to what people think. I think people believe that people with money are more intelligent than the rest of us. I don't believe that's true at all.

What if...? said:

IME, the more raw brain power someone has, the more likely they are to be misfits/social outcasts.

Many never "do" anything with their intellects.

They just live very examined lives.

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as a rule of thumb, there's some truth here. i would also add that the exceptional brain is always on the move, whether one wants it to be or not. some tie up this additional computing power with ceaseless pursuit of intellectual activities such as research, reading, inventing, or any number of activities. others succumb to worrying and trying to prevent negative outcomes. a third class might try to temporarily slow things down chemically with substances. most, however, are some combination of these.

i've heard the advice that it's best not to "overthink" something. for some of those with a lot of raw computing power, this is a difficult task. i think it's better to harness the ability to create or solve something. i like to think of the beauty and achievement that results from this as the fruit of the unquiet mind.

Gotta say, I'm tempted to post a picture of myself.

This is silly. Intelligence is not singular. The smartest man I ever knew regarding animal behavior was my zoo keeper boss who had an 8th grade education. He knew because he spent most of his life learning to observe and learned from that. A person does not have to have a HIGH IQ to be smart. IQ's are overrated, they are a snapshot in time.
Its a matter of how that "knowledge" is applied. I have and IQ of 150 but I barely know which end of a hammer to use. I am just not tool oriented. But give me a telemetry device and I am a wisard. Or give me an mammal (preferably a predator) and I can do wonders.

ITs not all booklearning. Its what you do with what you have. I hate when I hear people say "I'm just not that smart". Thats crap. Either they did not apply themselves, did not have the opportunities or just did not have the help to show them what they could do.

MaggieD said:

Looks like?? Unless they're wearing a Mensa pin, they look like everybody else. I don't think intelligence equates with wealth. It takes more than smarts to accumulate money. I think what you say about people expecting intelligent people to be more wealthy, etc., is probably inverse to what people think. I think people believe that people with money are more intelligent than the rest of us. I don't believe that's true at all.

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Being a member of Mensa doesn't necessarily make one intelligent. When I ask what intelligence and intelligent people look like, it has less to do with their facial appearances and more to do with their behavior. Also, I figured there might be one or two who thought intelligent people were either handsome/beautiful, or ugly, lol.

Intelligence itself is merely the acquisition and application of knowledge and skills. Wealth, power, fame, and knowledge does not make intelligent. It's the ability to solve puzzles, understand things average people cannot, and the proficiency of learning. One thing that makes me wonder is that some seem to think that having a poor memory means one isn't that intelligent.

Many people don't understand intelligence, or they treat it like a taboo topic.

Wake said:

Wht does Intelligence look like?

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Krhazy said:

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That is another end of the spectrum. The trick is that there's, as far as I've read, no set physical appearance when it comes to highly intelligent. Our media, whether political or not, doesn't help with their obfuscation. Take the show "House M.D." for example. The show portrays highly intelligent people as beautiful, sardonic, wealthy, etc. Many shows try to distort the "image" of these people.

Wake said:

Being a member of Mensa doesn't necessarily make one intelligent.

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Someone tried to convince me to join & I was given a test to do, which I passed, but I declined to join because all the members I met were not inspiring.

Thats not to say all Mensa members are, Ive only met a handful, but certainly Mensa doesnt make you intelligent, it just demonstrates you can score over a set amount on an IQ test.

Wake said:

I want to know what you think. When you think of "intelligence" and "intelligent people," what comes to mind? What do you think a person with 150 IQ looks like, behaves, or has accomplished? In my opinion society is mostly comprised of people with average intelligence, and from my perspective those people have this distorted view of highly intelligent people, expecting them to be perfect and having much wealth and success. What do you think?

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Intelligence is the capacity to entertain an idea without accepting it.

Hence why I consider many people here not intelligent.

To me, intelligence is exhibited by an ability to analyze and reject or accept, and then later re-analyze and come to a different conclusion. It isn't necessarily high IQ only, but the capacity for thinking about, and considering concepts from different angles. It also has curiosity and open-mindedness, even if beliefs are relatively fixed. It always questions and continually re-evaluates for possible elements not noticed before. It is good at problem-solving and using imagination. Intelligence takes different forms. For some, it's a dedication to finding the truth about any given idea. For others, it's creative thinking. In some, it's merely the ability to make rational decisions.

I think the OP needs to rethink the measure of IQ.

See:

The highest IQ ever to be scored in the advanced IQ test was by Abdesselam Jelloul. Who scored an adult IQ of 198 in a 2012 test which included 13 dimensions of intelligence (analytical, spatial, logical, memory, musical, linguistic, philosophical, moral, spiritual, interpersonal, intra-personal, bodily and naturalist). Unlike other tests, the advanced IQ test includes more measures that other tests cannot assess.

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Highest IQ World Record

From the same linked source above:

Name Score Details
Abdesselam Jelloul 198 Scored in a 2012 test including 13 dimensions of intelligence.
William J. Sidis 197 Child prodigy with exceptional mathematical & linguistic abilities.
Christopher Langan 195 Called "the smartest man in America".
Garry Kasparov 190 Chess grandmaster, writer and political activist.
Leonardo da Vinci ~190 A genius polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, scientist...
Ludwig Wittgenstein 190 Philosopher primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics...
Sir Isaac Newton ~190 Physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist...
Bobby Fischer 187 A chess Grandmaster and a child prodigy.
Marilyn vos Savant 185 Magazine columnist, author, lecturer, and playwright.
Kim Ung-Yong 170 Korean civil engineer and former child prodigy.
Albert Einstein 160 Theoretical physicist (the general theory of relativity).
Akrit Jaswal 146 Child prodigy who performed his first surgery at the age of 7.
Grigori Y. Perelman ? Solved the Poincaré conjecture.

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But again, intelligence in and of itself, cannot simply be measured by only an IQ test.

I do believe that intelligence takes on many "looks" just like stupidity does.

People with exceptionally high IQs, such as 150 (less than .1% of the population) tend to be deficient in social skills and are likely to be very introverted. At least that is my image of them. Now, just your run of the mill genius (2% of the population) could be anyone.

I have no evidence to back up the above, though.

Paul Austin said:

Someone tried to convince me to join & I was given a test to do, which I passed, but I declined to join because all the members I met were not inspiring.

Thats not to say all Mensa members are, Ive only met a handful, but certainly Mensa doesnt make you intelligent, it just demonstrates you can score over a set amount on an IQ test.

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I agree, I wouldn't call myself particularly intelligent, I simply have a good memory and some basic problem solving skills and every test I have taken I feel vastly overstated my intellect, I am just really good at tests.

I wish there were more practical ways to quantify intelligence, particularly at forming new ideas, because people like me can tell you how a transistor, vaccum tube, mosfet,etc works but I don't have any real concept on what could be done to improve upon or replace those devices, I only know what I have read, I am not generating new things.

I am upset not to find Nicola Tesla on that list of people with the highest IQ.

Anyway.

Intelligence is that thing that allows you do what smart people want to do but can't figure out how.

There is no look of intelligence.

I view many of the longer term posters here, even some of the hacks, as having a higher than average intelligence and a few having a much higher than average intelligence. Of course, only so much can be gleaned from discourse on a forum, so take it with a grain of salt ...

In real life, intelligence can be found in all age ranges, educational levels, income levels, and personal styles.

Some of the most intelligent people around me:
My mom, confirmed IQ of 167, dresses down, has a high school education, has been the finance VP or more than one midsized company (5k+ employees) and retired in her 50s and is now a daytrader, small l libertarian
Me, confirmed IQ in the 150s (I got a battery of testing when I was a child and again I had a psych review a few years back during a depressive episode, I dress nicely most of the time, I am not as successful as my mom (but I have 20 years to get there :mrgreen, total social misfit as a child, pretty much a natural leader and manager in my adult life, small p progressive
My son, IQ in the low 160s, pretty much a high functioning autistic
My friend George, unknown IQ but extremely intelligent, was a VP in his late 50s, was laid off when the company went under, makes his living as a senior process engineer. politically, I suspect he is a fascist.
Another friend, Mike, probably he most intelligent person I know, pretty much useless, is an artist (his art sucks) and has no motivation to do anything with his life. doesn't care about politics

The list goes on and on. Point being, all of us are different in all sorts of way. There really are no common themes.

megaprogman said:

Another friend, Mike, probably he most intelligent person I know, pretty much useless, is an artist (his art sucks) and has no motivation to do anything with his life. doesn't care about politics

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The most intelligent person I know is a janitor.

For a while as a child I went to a school that had an entrance exam & you had to achieve an IQ score over 152 to gain entry (that was the base rate, obviously it was higher some years depending on the levels of entrants), & this guy was in my class & smokingly intelligent. I mean he was in a class full of people IQ 152 & up & made everyone of them feel stupid by comparison (not in a nasty way he was just so far ahead).

This guy, as a ten year old studied university level math & physics for fun. He was just off the charts & still is, but janitor was were he ended up.

IQ doesnt predict the person or their life, it just records their ability in IQ tests.

Paul Austin said:

The most intelligent person I know is a janitor.

For a while as a child I went to a school that had an entrance exam & you had to achieve an IQ score over 152 to gain entry (that was the base rate, obviously it was higher some years depending on the levels of entrants), & this guy was in my class & smokingly intelligent. I mean he was in a class full of people IQ 152 & up & made everyone of them feel stupid by comparison (not in a nasty way he was just so far ahead).

This guy, as a ten year old studied university level math & physics for fun. He was just off the charts & still is, but janitor was were he ended up.

IQ doesnt predict the person or their life, it just records their ability in IQ tests.

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One thing i've noticed is very smart people tend to define "success" differently.

Perhaps he prefers janitorial work because it's work he can do while thinking entertaining thoughts.

I know one thing for sure Inteligence and motivation have little to do with one another.

What if...? said:

One thing i've noticed is very smart people tend to define "success" differently.

Perhaps he prefers janitorial work because it's work he can do while thinking entertaining thoughts.

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Knowing the guy I'd say there is an element of truth in that. He does the job by choice, he's qualified to do a lot "more" but has elected to do what he does instead.

Tbh. In his ideal world I think he wouldnt work at all, instead he'd spend 24/7 alone in his house with his thoughts & ideas.

Intelligence doesn't look like anything.

if you wish to discuss some traits of intelligent people, though, I would be most happy to offer my opinion.

What if...? said:

IME, the more raw brain power someone has, the more likely they are to be misfits/social outcasts.

Many never "do" anything with their intellects.

They just live very examined lives.

Click to expand...

It's kind of a shame that intelligence gets vilified and outcast so much, isn't it? Imagine how much more people could do with their brain power if they were celebrated for it, rather than shunned.