5 ms·

In childhood, it's bewildering but not so bad. In adolescence, it's awful. In adulthood, it's good, so long as you're able to get past your shitty teenage years

In childhood, it's bewildering but not so bad. In adolescence, it's awful. In adulthood, it's good, so long as you're able to get past your shitty teenage years. The transition point (from disadvantage to benefit) is, on average, late college. One would expect it to happen earlier, but what usually happens in college (even, if not especially, in elite ones) is that the less talented half emerge as social leaders, not because there's any persisting malice toward smart people, but because they had better previous experiences.

tokenadult 18y ago
Or perhaps because those other people who become social leaders had other skill sets not tapped by IQ tests. This idea is just about as old as IQ testing itself. Lewis Terman was the author of the IQ test that Marilyn of Ask Marilyn took when she was a kid, and that I took when I was a kid. Here's what he had to say about the limitations of IQ tests: "There are, however, certain characteristics of age scores with which the reader should be familiar. For one thing, it is necessary to bear in mind that the true mental age as we have used it refers to the mental age on a particular intelligence test. A subject's mental age in this sense may not coincide with the age score he would make in tests of musical ability, mechanical ability, social adjustment, etc. A subject has, strictly speaking, a number of mental ages; we are here concerned only with that which depends on the abilities tested by the new Stanford-Binet scales." (Terman & Merrill 1937, p. 25)
- banned_man 18y ago
  I'm talking about high intelligence rather than high IQ. So, I guess I'm technically answering the question, "Is high intelligence a blessing or a curse", rather than that question about IQ specifically. In truth, I don't care much about IQ per se; the discussion of intelligence is a more interesting debate.
  - tokenadult 18y ago
    What is your definition of "high intelligence"? This is an interesting issue discussed in Keith Stanovich's new book, http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=9780300123852 http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=97803001238... which you probably would enjoy reading, as I did.
    - defen 18y ago
      "I know it when I see it" :-)
    - banned_man 18y ago
      High levels of academic and cognitive ability, usually coupled with intellectual interests and the traits valuable (e.g. focus, creativity) in pursuing them.
jhancock 18y ago
As near as I can tell, high intelligence does not imply "shitty teenage years". I know plenty of "not so smart" folk that will tell you it was tough being a teenager.
- banned_man 18y ago
  A => B != B => A. There are a large number of people who are not highly intelligent who have negative social experiences as teenagers for other reasons. There are very few people who have high intelligence (140+ IQ) and positive social experiences in adolescence.
  - Retric 18y ago
    I took a fairly normal route though school graduating at 16 with a B average despite a high IQ. Anyway, for the most part I enjoyed high school and hated middle school. But, I spent most of my time trying to have fun and minimize the time I spent doing things I hated. If anything I found my IQ helped by reducing the amount of time I spent keeping up. My older sister also has a high IQ and ended up salutatorian etc, but she still had fun and a fairly large social group. My younger sister is an "Artist" who still managed to become the valedictorian and had a great time in high school. She even got into calarts.edu which is insanely exclusive. So apparently even if you focus on academics you can still have a good time. PS: It's not hard to make large groups of people like you if you just try. IMO, the problem with many high IQ people is they don't like talking with normal people and fail to develop social skills.

tokenadult 18y ago

Or perhaps because those other people who become social leaders had other skill sets not tapped by IQ tests. This idea is just about as old as IQ testing itself. Lewis Terman was the author of the IQ test that Marilyn of Ask Marilyn took when she was a kid, and that I took when I was a kid. Here's what he had to say about the limitations of IQ tests: "There are, however, certain characteristics of age scores with which the reader should be familiar. For one thing, it is necessary to bear in mind that the true mental age as we have used it refers to the mental age on a particular intelligence test. A subject's mental age in this sense may not coincide with the age score he would make in tests of musical ability, mechanical ability, social adjustment, etc. A subject has, strictly speaking, a number of mental ages; we are here concerned only with that which depends on the abilities tested by the new Stanford-Binet scales." (Terman & Merrill 1937, p. 25)

banned_man 18y ago
I'm talking about high intelligence rather than high IQ. So, I guess I'm technically answering the question, "Is high intelligence a blessing or a curse", rather than that question about IQ specifically. In truth, I don't care much about IQ per se; the discussion of intelligence is a more interesting debate.
- tokenadult 18y ago
  What is your definition of "high intelligence"? This is an interesting issue discussed in Keith Stanovich's new book, http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=9780300123852 http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=97803001238... which you probably would enjoy reading, as I did.
  - defen 18y ago
    "I know it when I see it" :-)
  - banned_man 18y ago
    High levels of academic and cognitive ability, usually coupled with intellectual interests and the traits valuable (e.g. focus, creativity) in pursuing them.

jhancock 18y ago

As near as I can tell, high intelligence does not imply "shitty teenage years". I know plenty of "not so smart" folk that will tell you it was tough being a teenager.

banned_man 18y ago
A => B != B => A. There are a large number of people who are not highly intelligent who have negative social experiences as teenagers for other reasons. There are very few people who have high intelligence (140+ IQ) and positive social experiences in adolescence.
- Retric 18y ago
  I took a fairly normal route though school graduating at 16 with a B average despite a high IQ. Anyway, for the most part I enjoyed high school and hated middle school. But, I spent most of my time trying to have fun and minimize the time I spent doing things I hated. If anything I found my IQ helped by reducing the amount of time I spent keeping up. My older sister also has a high IQ and ended up salutatorian etc, but she still had fun and a fairly large social group. My younger sister is an "Artist" who still managed to become the valedictorian and had a great time in high school. She even got into calarts.edu which is insanely exclusive. So apparently even if you focus on academics you can still have a good time. PS: It's not hard to make large groups of people like you if you just try. IMO, the problem with many high IQ people is they don't like talking with normal people and fail to develop social skills.