What makes someone intelligent? It may sound like an easy question, but people always seem to give different answers about what could be considered signs of genius. Is it the ability to solve complex problems quickly? Knowing tons of facts about various topics? Being among those high-IQ people who supposedly have what it takes to change the world? Or maybe it’s having a strong work ethic and excellent communication skills? These are all things that can influence how successful someone will be in their career or personal life, but they aren’t necessarily what makes an individual objectively smart.
First of all, what does “intelligent” mean? The Cambridge Dictionary, among other sources, defines an intelligent person as someone who is able to learn and understand things easily. As soon as we read this, a picture of Albert Einstein’s face inevitably popped into our minds. One of the most brilliant people to ever walk this planet was a late talker and couldn’t form full sentences until he was 5 years old. Does this mean the one and only Albert Einstein, who struggled to learn how to talk correctly, could be considered unintelligent? Honestly, we don’t have the skills and knowledge to answer this question. The only sure thing is that we love looking for people’s opinions about different topics and sharing them to spark meaningful and thought-provoking conversations.
That’s what we did today. We recently found an AskReddit thread where people posted which, in their own personal opinion, are the subtle signs that someone is intelligent. Some of the results are things you might have expected, but others honestly surprised us! So if you’ve ever wondered, “Am I smart?”, this might be the moment of truth. Check out what people consider signs of intelligence and find out if you have a chance to be the smart person in your group of friends!
#61
"Curiosity. Pursuing things they want to know for about and just having an interest in things."
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8points
#63
"You can honestly just tell by their 'vibes'.
The way they compose themselves, talk, write, think, explain, etc.
What I find the most interesting is that intelligent people, in my experience, are more likely to be less cold/fact-driven and more theoretical and creative. For example, if an intelligent person were to read a certain stat, fact, idea, etc, they are likely to have very interesting theoretical extrapolations.
My friend qualified for the Mensa membership, and whenever we talk, his mindset always strays towards very interesting outlooks. He has certain ideas that I would never have even thought about.
It's actually very fun to talk to intelligent people. The way they are able to absorb information like a sponge and apply that information is very eye-opening."
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8points
#64
"This is more of a hit-or-miss one, but in casual conversation, they're good at puns/wordplay. Making good puns, especially spontaneously, requires a high level of understanding in whatever language is being spoken. If they tell you a pre-constructed joke that has a punchline that is a pun (a punchline if you will) you can't really tell, because they could have had a lot of time to come up with it (like me for instance), or they could have memorized it from somewhere, but spontaneous puns generally mean they're processing your conversation multiple interpretations at once, in an intelligent way."
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8points
#67
"The extremely intelligent people I have known have always seemed like magic to me. They know things they have no possibility of knowing. They think of things that no one would have ever thought of. They make connections that are ridiculous until they are actually made, at which time they seem obvious."
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8points
#68
"People who generally use clean language. For example not excessively cussing, and not making vulgar jokes. It shows that someone has a more sophisticated vocabulary."
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8points
#69
"Self-depreciation in their humor and curiosity about even things they're not supposed to do according to their government. Also knowing the pursuit of knowledge is infinite and ultimately in the grand scheme of things individual knowledge is inconsequential in scale. Even geniuses are specialized intelligence and may be ignorant in some regard."
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8points
#70
"When they try to see things from an opposite perspective as compared to that which is the main point of view of the conversation. Typically, intelligent people do this to try and analyze the topic from multiple points of view. It doesn't mean they are arguing."
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8points
#71
"Intelligence isn't a monolith, that's the most important thing to keep in mind. There are many types of intelligence and assigning all of those based on signs of one is nearly always a mistake."
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8points
#72
"I met a guy who counted seconds in his head. Like all the time, nonstop. Didn't interfere with his conversations, or tasks. But you can ask him the time in seconds, any time, and he's got it."
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8points
#73
"They have no idea that they are intelligent and unknowingly expect people to understand complex concepts."
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8points
#74
"I’m dumb as hell in that case.
I’m curious about just about everything. I will spend weeks studying a newfound topic of interest. Then I might move on to something else while retaining an interest in everything I had “researched” prior.
While retaining interest, I might only retain half of the stuff I had learned and could explain less than that if someone asked about the topic.
And I will have done nothing with any particular interest of mine outside of somewhat satisfying my curiosity.
Writing this out confirms the ADHD diagnosis a little more in my mind."
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7points
#76
"They know when their knowledge ends and say something to the extent of 'I don't know and anything else I say on this topic is ignorant speculation.'"
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7points
#77
"I worked with a lad who was very like this. He could make any conversation really intriguing and thought-provoking, often causing people to reconsider their perspective and position. He was an HR manager that could defuse any situation, helping people mend bridges and resolving issues because he could get both parties to compromise and put aside resentment.
He had IQ and EQ to go a lot further than the role he was in but he was happy and maybe that is another little tidbit of intelligence."
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7points
#78
"Taking an interest in people and asking what you genuinely want to know.
Be good at coming up with engaging hypotheticals.
Also, enjoy hypotheticals being asked of you. It makes conversations easy.
TLDR: be an engaging nerd."
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7points
#79
"They are able to listen to drastically different points of view without getting offended. Understanding that human beings are very limited in what they actually 'know'."
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7points
