5 ms·

The good news: there seems to be no well-documented correlation between upper-tier IQ and mental illness. At a measured IQ of 150, you're no more or less likely

The good news: there seems to be no well-documented correlation between upper-tier IQ and mental illness. At a measured IQ of 150, you're no more or less likely to have mental health issues than at 100. You can rest easy now (sort of). Technically speaking, your high IQ is not going to make you crazy or depressed. The bad news: beyond about a 125 IQ, it's the CCCP (courage, creativity, curiosity, passion) that actually matter as predictors of creative achievement, and those correlate slightly positively with biological mental illness[0], and very strongly with induced mental illness due to social adversity. Society makes sure that the best people have fucked-up lives. That's well-documented. Fucked-up lives lead to mental illness. Also well-documented.

eksith 13y ago
Well that makes sense because IQ is dependent on a wide variety of factors in addition to genetics. The nutrition of the mother as well as exposure to certain chemicals during the pregnancy plus actions/drugs used during the birth can play as large if not greater part in the IQ of a child as genetics. The child's treatment during formative years 0-7 will have an immense impact on whether certain predispositions (I.E. psychopathic tendencies) are expressed later in life. Dr. James Fallon, who was part of a documentary I saw a while back, was describing how he was shocked to discover that he had the brain of a psychopath, but his life turned out very differently because (and I'm paraphrasing) "when I look back at picture albums of my childhood, I'm always seeing smiles". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Fallon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Fallon
- SatvikBeri 13y ago
  The nutrition of the mother as well as exposure to certain chemicals during the pregnancy plus actions/drugs used during the birth can play as large if not greater part in the IQ of a child as genetics. Interesting. Identical twins raised separately have a correlation of .76, while fraternal twins raised together have a correlation of just .55 and non-twin siblings raised together have a correlation of .47[0]. To me that suggests a strong genetic (though not necessarily heritable) component. And perhaps the .08 difference between fraternal twins and non-twin siblings is explained by differences in the mother's nutrition. How do you measure the effect of nutrition? What studies are you looking at? [0]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heritability_of_IQ#Correlations_between_IQ_and_degree_of_genetic_relatedness http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heritability_of_IQ#Correlations...
  - eksith 13y ago
    Here you go : http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20937654 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20937654
alexvr 13y ago
Your second paragraph is freaking me out a bit. I don't want to believe it, but it makes sense, and history seems to support it. My theory, though, is that the smart, courageous, creative, curious, passionate people with a strong "EQ" aren't as subject to mental illness. It's one thing to be a recluse who scorns "normal, social people" and stays in his cave doing pretentious, so-so, slightly-creative intellectual work just to spite others, perpetually repeating to himself, "I am smarter than those people," and it's another thing to be a genuine, smart, creative, curious, passionate dude who can actually deal with being isolated from others when he needs to be, and who has the social skills and empathy to socialize when he wants to. I think it also matters whether you're a natural introvert or extrovert, because I theorize that introverts can better cope with the inherent solitude in a creative process. But to be relatively safe from mental illness, you've got to be one of those introverts who could, with some effort, fake it as an extrovert -- one with exceptionally acute social awareness. You need some serious emotional capacity and social understanding to distance yourself from depression if you're a bright, passionate, creative powerhouse, unless you're on the other side of the fence: a natural extrovert who possesses these qualities. In that case, you just have to fight the urge to socialize in order to get your creative work done (or perhaps you are creative while socializing).
- qzxt 13y ago
  >> "It's one thing to be a recluse who scorns 'normal, social people'" This is not a stigmatizing statement at all. tone = {sarcasm: "implied"}; Perhaps people who would feel the urge to be reclusive would be more social if people like you kept your mouths shut every once in a while and didn't say pathetically pretentious things like "us normal, social people".
  - alexvr 13y ago
    Sorry, didn't mean to come across like that. I'm an introvert myself. I just respect people who are comfortable with themselves more than I respect those who hold envious contempt for others and make excuses like "I'm just above everyone else. That's why I don't hang out with them." Really, that was something of a self-critique: I am certain that some people I know once thought I was that guy who thinks he's just too good for everyone else, so I can relate either way.
yogo 13y ago
This is one of my favorite comments. As I've always said, "Society: what a dumb concept."
dusklight 13y ago
Citation please?

eksith 13y ago

Well that makes sense because IQ is dependent on a wide variety of factors in addition to genetics. The nutrition of the mother as well as exposure to certain chemicals during the pregnancy plus actions/drugs used during the birth can play as large if not greater part in the IQ of a child as genetics. The child's treatment during formative years 0-7 will have an immense impact on whether certain predispositions (I.E. psychopathic tendencies) are expressed later in life. Dr. James Fallon, who was part of a documentary I saw a while back, was describing how he was shocked to discover that he had the brain of a psychopath, but his life turned out very differently because (and I'm paraphrasing) "when I look back at picture albums of my childhood, I'm always seeing smiles". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Fallon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Fallon

SatvikBeri 13y ago
The nutrition of the mother as well as exposure to certain chemicals during the pregnancy plus actions/drugs used during the birth can play as large if not greater part in the IQ of a child as genetics. Interesting. Identical twins raised separately have a correlation of .76, while fraternal twins raised together have a correlation of just .55 and non-twin siblings raised together have a correlation of .47[0]. To me that suggests a strong genetic (though not necessarily heritable) component. And perhaps the .08 difference between fraternal twins and non-twin siblings is explained by differences in the mother's nutrition. How do you measure the effect of nutrition? What studies are you looking at? [0]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heritability_of_IQ#Correlations_between_IQ_and_degree_of_genetic_relatedness http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heritability_of_IQ#Correlations...
- eksith 13y ago
  Here you go : http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20937654 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20937654

alexvr 13y ago

Your second paragraph is freaking me out a bit. I don't want to believe it, but it makes sense, and history seems to support it. My theory, though, is that the smart, courageous, creative, curious, passionate people with a strong "EQ" aren't as subject to mental illness. It's one thing to be a recluse who scorns "normal, social people" and stays in his cave doing pretentious, so-so, slightly-creative intellectual work just to spite others, perpetually repeating to himself, "I am smarter than those people," and it's another thing to be a genuine, smart, creative, curious, passionate dude who can actually deal with being isolated from others when he needs to be, and who has the social skills and empathy to socialize when he wants to. I think it also matters whether you're a natural introvert or extrovert, because I theorize that introverts can better cope with the inherent solitude in a creative process. But to be relatively safe from mental illness, you've got to be one of those introverts who could, with some effort, fake it as an extrovert -- one with exceptionally acute social awareness. You need some serious emotional capacity and social understanding to distance yourself from depression if you're a bright, passionate, creative powerhouse, unless you're on the other side of the fence: a natural extrovert who possesses these qualities. In that case, you just have to fight the urge to socialize in order to get your creative work done (or perhaps you are creative while socializing).

qzxt 13y ago
>> "It's one thing to be a recluse who scorns 'normal, social people'" This is not a stigmatizing statement at all. tone = {sarcasm: "implied"}; Perhaps people who would feel the urge to be reclusive would be more social if people like you kept your mouths shut every once in a while and didn't say pathetically pretentious things like "us normal, social people".
- alexvr 13y ago
  Sorry, didn't mean to come across like that. I'm an introvert myself. I just respect people who are comfortable with themselves more than I respect those who hold envious contempt for others and make excuses like "I'm just above everyone else. That's why I don't hang out with them." Really, that was something of a self-critique: I am certain that some people I know once thought I was that guy who thinks he's just too good for everyone else, so I can relate either way.

yogo 13y ago

This is one of my favorite comments. As I've always said, "Society: what a dumb concept."

dusklight 13y ago

Citation please?