psychology
3 characteristics of intelligent people
What personality traits indicate an intelligent person? Research was able to identify three.
What makes an intelligent person? At school we are taught that hard work and ambition are qualities that make up intelligent people – because only those who study conscientiously will get good grades, graduate successfully, get started in their careers and lead a contented, fulfilled life. Or?
You don’t need a scientific paper to realize that this equation doesn’t quite work out in the real world. But are there certain personality traits that indicate intelligence? Are some people smarter than others because of their character? Science has already dealt with this in various studies – with exciting results.
The problem with intelligence
The problem with the goal of connecting intelligence and personality traits is that intelligence is difficult to define. “Intelligence is a socially constructed construct that varies from culture to culture,” sums it up Psychology textbook the problem together. So you mean: What constitutes intelligence – and what doesn’t – is not a “natural” fact like the path of the sun, but something created by humans. The definition of intelligence can be completely different in Europe than in China.
Another Problem: Intelligence is something abstract, we cannot see it, we cannot measure it. There is not even an agreement as to whether intelligence represents an overall ability or several individual abilities. According to the psychology textbook, most psychologists could agree on at least one definition: “the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and adapt to new situations.” And this definition in turn provides conclusions about certain personality traits.
Personality traits that indicate high intelligence
The available studies can at least establish a strong connection between a person’s intelligence and certain character traits – according to research, three characteristics in particular have emerged that indicate an intelligent person: openness, curiosity and conscientiousness.
1. Openness
One studywhich attempted to establish a connection between personality traits and the intelligence of the test subjects, came to the conclusion that, on average, the trait of openness showed the greatest connection to intelligence.
Openness means that a person is not stuck in their own thoughts and actions, but is interested in new things outside of their own horizon of experience. For example, someone who is open to new hobbies, constantly trying out new things, expanding their own horizons and developing their skills. You’ll rarely hear intelligent people say, “No, I definitely don’t want to try that,” but rather, “I’ve never done that before. I can’t wait to try it!”
2. Curiosity
In a study presented on “PsyBlog”, the connection between curiosity and intelligence turned out to be particularly strong. The authors of the study explain that strong curiosity in childhood would have a positive effect on intelligence: “Intelligence could influence personality development in that intelligent people develop habits to satisfy their curiosity and ‘cognitive hunger’.”
The scientists continue to write that curiosity and openness go hand in hand. Which is only logical: Anyone who is curious about the world is equally open to everything that happens around them, wants to understand connections and learn.
3. Conscientiousness
In another study, people who were perceived by others as competent, conscientious and self-disciplined had higher intelligence quotients (IQ). The scientists summarized the above-mentioned characteristics under the term “conscientiousness”.
It was found that conscientiousness and cognitive abilities have a positive interaction for different areas of life, for example for school career, professional performance and also health-related behavior. Those who act conscientiously take their duties at school and at work seriously, have (probably high) standards for their own performance or take their own body and its needs seriously – and seriously.
Sources used: lehrbuch-psychologie.springer.com, spring.org.uk