5 Unexpected Downsides of High Intelligence
You know that phrase, "Ignorance is bliss"? There's a reason it's stuck around all these years. Because having the upper hand in intelligence might give you an advantage in some areas, like crossword puzzle solving and quantum physics-ing, but it also might just screw up your life forever.
For instance, if you're smart ...
#5.
You're Probably a Night Owl -- And That's a Bad Thing
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Recently, scientists discovered a quirky side effect to having a high IQ: You tend to stay up until later hours and get up later in the morning. That's right -- the more intelligent are also much more likely to be night owls. Which isn't such a surprise when you consider that intelligent people are infamous for burning the midnight oil to cram for tests, write papers, touch up those earnings reports, etc.
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And spending reports.
It appears to just be evolution -- the more intelligent members of a species are, in general, the first to change habits (their big brains are wired to seek out novelty). Since humans have been day-dwellers during most of their existence, it's primarily the smarties who prefer to habitually stay up until the wee hours and to do the types of tasks that are easier to accomplish when you don't have the day-dwellers hanging around and distracting you. Stuff that requires concentration, in other words.
So let the early birds keep their measly worms. The nights owls get to feast on the juicy field mice of accomplishment!
So What's the Problem?
Well, being a night owl does have some negative side effects. And by "some" we mean, "You're pretty much screwed."
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And we mean REALLY screwed.
For starters, studies have found that "eveningness" is associated with a high degree of emotional instability. That means you tend to be less agreeable and conscientious than the average Joe. Oh, and you don't just make others' lives miserable. Thanks to your late-night habits, likely brought on by high intelligence, you're also three times more likely to suffer symptoms of depression.
And the fun doesn't end there, geniuses! Turns out that, short of becoming a competitive asbestos eater, staying up late at night is about the worst thing you could do for your physical health. According to a number of studies, night owls are at higher risk for heart disease and suffer more arterial stiffness than those who go to bed early.
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It's important to note, however, that not all night owls are geniuses.
The direct cause might have less to do with the fact that you stay up than with some of the other things you're doing while your eyes get all nice and bloodshot. You see, people who tend to stay up late also tend to do other unhealthy things at night, such as overeating. Then, once they do eventually hit the hay, they experience more sleep interruptions when those pesky morning larks get up and start noisying about.
All this adds up to some nasty artery stress and whacked-out circadian rhythms, a nice recipe for a massive coronary. So be sure to thank those dumbass early risers and your high intelligence for your inevitable heart attack.
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Causes of death: Morning-type wife and a 155 IQ.
#4.
You're Less Likely to Pass On Your Genes
Another unfortunate stereotype of smart people is that they're socially awkward nerds who are doomed to lives of celibacy until they get out of high school hell. Unfortunately, that one turns out to be totally true.
But it's not all bad news. There's evidence that the highly educated get more enjoyment out of sex than the dumb jocks and that really, all the lovin' you need to be happy comes from having sex with just one partner per year. So even the nerdlingers among us can find one person to get along with, then have highly enjoyable loser-geek sex, eventually leading to populating the planet with loser-geek children, right?
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"Timmy! You'd better not be drawing dicks on my math!"
So What's the Problem?
Smart boy, please. Those genes you're carrying aren't going any-goddamn-where. Unbeknownst to the smarties, their education levels and IQ are conspiring to keep them childless and perhaps leading them to adopt 30 cats when they're in their late 70s.
It all starts with the smart ladies. A 2008 national census reported that women who had dropped out of high school had the most children on average. And the more education women achieved, the fewer children they were likely to have, with the fewest children being born to women who had finished graduate school.
The explanation, according to the Census Bureau, is simple: Women wanted to finish school before they were saddled with nine months of fetus-carrying. Then, for smart people of both sexes, there's the career to think about, and promotions, and who has time for a needy mini-human during all that? And of course, IQ plays a direct role here, since it has also been found that women with lower IQs are less likely to know how to use birth control properly, leading to more unplanned pregnancies.
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"OK, but I'll need a glass of water. I can't swallow them dry."
But that's just the ladies. The smart fellas must be picking up the slack somehow, right? Maybe by getting a little dumb-girl nookie on the side? Not so. Research shows that countries with high national IQs tend to have lower childbirth rates in general compared with countries that can't collectively tie their shoelaces together. That's right -- entire nations are missing the evolutionary point of fucking as their IQs rise.
#3.
You're More Likely to Lie
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The problem with being the smartest guy in the room is that you usually know you're the smartest guy in the room. For some people, that's not a big deal. They can relate to others just fine and know how to navigate around everyone else's deficiencies without being complete pricks. Others, however, know they have an intellectual edge and can't help but abuse it.
So What's the Problem?
In addition to giving you an advantage in brainpower, IQ apparently also bestows the gift of deception.
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"Me? No, it was already like this when I got here."
After all, in order to lie and get away with it, you also have to keep the truth in mind and manipulate it, and you might even have to cover up your lies upon further questioning. All of this involves integrating several brain processes in much the same way that you would solve a complex calculus problem. This means that the age at which you start lying, and the effectiveness with which you do it throughout your life, are controlled by how smart you are.
In one study, scientists put people in brain-imaging machines and found that the regions of the brain that light up when a person metaphorically sets his pants on fire are the same that control "executive functioning." These are high-order thinking and reasoning abilities that include working memory, which, you guessed it, is the single biggest component of your IQ.
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Suuuuure, Mr. Hawking. The universe is expanding and boundless. We're onto your game!
Another study simply tracked the tendency of children to lie as they got older (that is, as that aforementioned part of their brains developed). The researchers simply placed young kids in a room with a toy Barney under a cloth and told the kids not to peek at the toy when the researchers left the room.
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They later conducted the same test, replacing the toy with a live cobra.
Of course, 9 out of 10 kids totally peeked, but the percentage of kids who lied about whether they peeked grew as the kids got older. At age 2, 25 percent of the kids lied about peeking; at age 3, half lied; and by age 4, 90 percent of the kids who peeked at the purple dinosaur refused to admit their guilt. That would also seem to imply that the 25 percent of kids who fibbed at age 2 possessed higher cognitive abilities than their peers.
In other words, if you want to know whether your kid is gifted, simply track the specific age at which he starts trying to bullshit you. Speaking of which ...
Wonderful. I'm more likely to stay up late and whack out my Circadian rhythm (fun fact: rhythm is the longest vowelless word), AND I get to become depressed because of it! And I'm gonna lie a lot, which, if I get caught, will probably lead to stress, which leads to more depression...yeah...drawbacks suck.
ReplyThe Y is a vowel, y'know.
Sometimes.
Interesting. I've got an IQ of 149 and I hit every point except #1, which, frankly, I've no plans to. Hell, I'm even writing this at midnight, a good three hours before I'll likely fall asleep!
ReplyAnother reason why intelligent people might embrace or be more open to strange ideas is that they can grasp the inherent limitations of human knowledge. It's easy to say "There's no such thing as the paranormal", but by definition, the paranormal exists outside the natural world which is all humans can perceive (and even then, only indirectly). It's much easier to accept and manipulate simple absolute statements than more accurate but subtler estimations of probability.
ReplyIt's like saying that there is or isn't a God. By definition, God would exist outside natural laws, and therefore be beyond the ability of humanity to prove or comprehend. Trying to build a philosophy on "There may or may not be a God", with odds that are constantly being altered and refined by new concepts and discoveries, is a much harder sell than simple, absolute dogma.
This trait can also lead to radical new discoveries. After all, quantum theory was basically a ghost story for physicists until it started making accurate predictions. Every game-changing concept started out as crazy nonsense.
Really I think a few of these come from how more intelligent people see the world. They can see more of the world and by extension, more of the flaws in it and this fact causes depression and substance abuse.
Replythere must be a connection between geniuses and mental ill ppl coz i know im not smart but alot of these symptoms are mine and im bipolar so its probably like the same gene or something, but the genius part just didnt get turned on :(
ReplyI did a research paper on the connection between mental illness and creativity. People that had mood disorders such as bipolar tended to be highly creative tended and often were smarter. Of course this only works if your disorder is under control because if your mental function is strongly impaired you won't be able to do much of anything. People with "lite" schizophrenia or that had the likelihood to develop schizophrenia displayed the same phenomenon.
Being intelligent certainly goes a long way to explaining why I'm so depressed
ReplyThe author should have added a made-up study that said high intelligence was correlated with small penis size. Would have made the comments section more bearable.
Reply"I took an official IQ test that PROVES my intelligence is below average!"
Oh...oh my. I feel like this article analyzed, tracked down and personally assaulted every aspect of my personality. I just - I feel violated. I need to go take a shower. This article was...good? Great? It was phenomenal. Highest compliment I can give. I promise. Don't look for me...
ReplyPlease
The burning question remains - What does it mean to be "highly intelligent"???
ReplyIn my case, i possess all the qualities listed (yes, it's currently 5am ET)except for the fact that my "executive function" is pretty much defunct (ADHD & major depression). Consequently, I am VERY academically challenged (always struggled in school) and generally process information much slower than my age-mates. All that makes me feel real dumb and inadequate so i've never felt genuinely smart. I don't consider ADHD a disorder of the individual, but a reaction of our highly structured hectic society in which we're expected to be robots. I guess maybe that's why i reign at night.
As for having children, anyone remember the 90's song 'flagpole sitta'??
-"Been around the world and found
That only stupid people are breeding
The cretins cloning and feeding
And I don't even own a tv"
ADHD is a disorder of the individual, its a deficiency in attention span.
It's 5 am over here as well. I have most of these traits, but luckily not adhd like you
Most likely, the only truly intelligent people here are the ones who don't care what their IQ score is, who get people to respect them with their personalities, styles, and opinions... and truly smart people always have interesting opinions.
ReplyYes, because personality, style, and opinions equate to intelligence. Holy crap, Lady Gaga and Bill O'Reilly are geniuses!
You are a complete idiot who is simply trying to make yourself feel better. As far as I've seen, it's the SMARTEST people in the room who are most interested in stats and IQ.
If only smart people would realize that everything they are told about dating is wrong... worse yet... only told to smart people because it is wrong. The problem with most smart people is they can't imaginary themselves as sexy or desirable. They can take pride in their relationships with books, be proud of the greatness of their knowledge, BUT... not their romantic relationships. Most smart people could get just about any person to love them, if they were willing to see human sex as a much deeper mystery than animal sex. Seduction is done with the higher brain functions, masturbation with the lower ones. Many smart people ironically have very primitive and crude romantic skills. And all because they let stupid people give stupid theories... and... intelligent people cling to those theories because... why? Women are bitches, men are scum, the world is flat, the moon is made of cheese.
ReplyI could not have read this comment at a better time than now...
Long story short, Thank You.
As a high-IQ childfree woman, I fail to see the problem with #4. Oh no, I won't waste my mind cleaning up baby puke! Gee, what a shame.
Reply Hide All See All 3 RepliesI also don't buy the crap about having some "responsibility" to produce smart progeny. No one knows or cares whether the great historical figures had kids. It's irrelevant. Ultimately, foisting the responsibility to go good things onto your offspring is a way of trying to avoid your own responsibility to make a better world in the present. It's also fallacious reasoning - IQ is not entirely heritable, can be affected by multiple outside factors, and there's no guarantee a smart kid will do anything with their smarts anyway.
Please. I'm not a cow breeding for a colony. My life is my own, and ultimately pumping more children into an over-populated world is probably the least productive thing a person could do.
The other answer is far more painful to think about I'm sure. All the paternal men are afraid of intelligent women. Leaving the emotionally damaged ones who daydream of a woman who will learn all his secrets than kill him in his sleep. Or the deadbeat sex toys. Or maybe the Hippy Wicca men, who might see high intelligence as akin to great potential in witchcraft, but unfortunately this will make you a social outcast from Atheists and Fundamentalist Christians. Admit it, women have a small choice in men when it comes to creating heirs.
Come on, eugenics FTW!
LunadeLoona - See, lots of women say this, but I've never had this problem. Not ever. With a bit of selective vision, finding a decent intelligent man is not that tough. And let's face it, women have a massive advantage when it comes to wooing potential partners. I'm not even exceptionally social - I'm a socially comfortable introvert. I still don't have a hard time. And, as an aside, exactly why would I give a f**k what some social circle thinks of my boyfriend? I don't entertain drama or judgmental, small-minded people.
Alcohol is a drug, so if alcohol was the earliest used mind-altering substance, we've been doing drugs for 10,000 years.
Reply Hide All See All 3 RepliesAnyway, technicalities aside, and not to brag, but my IQ is above 120 (I wasn't told my exact score, most likely out of fear it would make me pretentious), and all of these describe me except number two. However, despite being an atheist and not really seriously considering the possibility of the supernatural, I still find myself attracted to urban myths like the Mothman prophecies and the Slenderman.
"I wasn't told my exact score, most likely out of fear it would make me pretentious..."
Whew. Dodged a bullet there, didn't you?
cuz 120 is super high, right?
alcohol is a depressant, not a mind-altering drug. it affects the nervous system and makes you have poor judgement and coordination in large amounts.
Also, 120 IQ is only slightly above average. You're nothing special.
I wonder what the percentage of people who read this article is of the opinion this article is about them...
Replyps; I did
'In other words, if you want to know whether your kid is gifted, simply track the specific age at which he starts trying to bullshit you. Speaking of which ..."
ReplyWhats your brain grade. Take the free Brain grade test.
lol i got that add XD seems fitting.
On a personal level I find myself agreeing with some of the points while disagreeing with some of the arguments themselves. Before anything else I would like to reiterate that this is from personal experience, but my basis for my rebuttal also comes from the shared experiences of people I went to high school with (A “You need a 3.5 GPA and a 1200 on your SATs in 8th grade to get accepted” sort of high schools).
ReplyFirst off; number five. I’m in complete agreement that I along with most of my former classmates are and/or were night owls. The best way that I can describe it is that there’s a constant buzz inside the brain. It’s as if you were trying to sleep in the middle of a crowded train station. There are so many conversations going on at once and even when you find yourself trying to “count sheep” you can’t help but notice that the state of serenity you’re searching for keeps being interrupted by the crowd of people passing by. So while it’s possible to tune it out it requires more effort and a bit more tiredness. This is why, since the age of 9, I’ve needed to have something playing in the background in order to fall asleep. Whether it be a television show I’ve re-watched for the 100th time, a stand-up comedy routine, or just a radio talk show, it needs to be something that isn’t too interesting and it must be something that makes the brain want to shut off for the evening. Even then it may not be enough and I’ll find myself at my computer or doing a jigsaw puzzle at five in the morning.
As to number four; I’m hoping to pass on my genes. It’s moreso a matter of “I’ll have a kid when I’m not dead broke” instead of “I want to wait until I’m financially stable for the rest of my life.” My wife and I try to view it from the standpoint of raising our child in an environment where we would have preferred being raised ourselves. While we don’t need to have our doctorates in our fields before we consider children we would like to afford the simple luxuries for them and make sure that if we fall on hard times we can still support ourselves and our kids until things get better. On a side note, while I can say that I was socially awkward in high school (as were most of my peers), it wasn’t as if hell froze over when we finally had sex. In comparison to most of my peers from grade school that went to a normal public high school we were ahead of the curve in relation to sexual exploration...then again it could be because we weren’t afraid to manipulate and lie to other people. It’s something we were never proud of but I’m in complete agreement with number three. Lying and manipulating people served multiple purposes; getting our way without running the risk of conflict, a feeling of superiority and elitism, and sometimes just for entertainment; a means to stop boredom.
I’m on the fence with number two. Nowadays we have the internet so it may be easier or harder to find the truth in some “facts” but usually if we were told something then we were always challenged to test its validity. Sure, it’s easy to believe that ‘x’ planet has ‘y’ number of moons but all it would take to make certain that we weren’t spouting out lies was to go to the library and pick up a book for a minute. That’s not a matter of intelligence or lack thereof as it is a matter of foreknowledge of things relative to what’s being said combined with the amount of drive a person has to actually cross-check what’s being said.
Finally coming to number one; I’d think of it as true. Most of my peers had some sort of chemical dependency growing up. You had the groups who were getting drunk every day, others who were snorting prescription medications, others who were hyped up on stimulants, and people who were flat out doing cocaine and heroin. Some of the smartest people I know were in rehab before they had graduated high school. I only agree so far with this though in that I would say that the dependency is a means of escaping all of the problems that are highlighted in the article before this. Drugs helped us fall asleep and allowed us to stay up for days on end. Alcohol would allow us to lower our inhibitions and act like “normal” people for once. All of this stuff would let our minds open up to ideas that weren’t conventional or packaged in non-fiction writing. More than anything else it helped us understand that the world could be more than a constant droning, dismal place where there was no fun to be had. Curiosity led us to the substances but any abuse that followed was our desire to escape from reality.
its better to hide the fact that you are intelligent even if you are super Mega high *&%^& people will not like to know it...i dont want to say what i am but as i see its best to act as naive or simple minded then people will love you much this way...consider it as power you can use only when needed and better use it secretly much better this way...specially when you are able to read minds..thank you.
ReplyEddie, you seem to have a knack of getting various demographic sources that explain the same thing you are writing and overgeneralize it in the process. There's a difference between intelligence and wisdom after all, the latter one can NEVER put a number on.
ReplyThank God he didn't name his article "Unexpected Downsides of High Wisdom", because then what you just said would be valid.
Where was wisdom mentioned?
One thing about high intelligence is that it seems like you'll either A) have a great career and make tons of money or B) end up working lousy, low-paying dead end jobs for the rest of your life. There doesn't seem to be a lot of middle ground there. Sadly, I'm heading towards path B.
ReplyDefinitely believed in my ex's bullshit.
Reply