Some of the strongest signs of low intelligence have nothing to do with terrible decisions, but instead, they’re little things people do all day without giving them a second thought.
Trusting the first thing you see
Some people see a headline and think it’s ridiculous. Then they end up repeating it to someone else five minutes later like it’s a fact, despite never reading the article. No checking for context, no looking for missing information, none of that.
Smart people have good reasoning skills. They’re better at spotting false claims and questioning information before accepting it, as they know headlines are shortcuts. But people less intelligent treat the shortcut as the whole road.
Taking the quick payoff
$40 now or $80 if you wait. Seems like an easy choice, but apparently not for everyone because less intelligent people usually go for the smaller immediate reward. It could be something to do with finances or anything at all, really.
They consistently go for the option that gives them pleasure now. They struggle to compare what feels good right this second with what makes more sense later, and it’s because they can’t hold two outcomes in their minds. They go for immediate satisfaction.
Always needing an answer
Try asking a less-intelligent person a question they clearly don’t know. The fact they don’t know doesn’t matter, but it’s the fact they struggle to admit that they don’t know. Yes, people like this can’t face the fact that something’s missing.
They’re unable to leave room to update what they believe when new information appears. They have weaker reasoning skills and will lock onto an answer quickly. Then they’ll defend it. Not necessarily in a stubborn way, but more like they have to always sound certain.
Missing what wasn’t said directly
Sarcasm is pretty difficult for these sorts of people because they’re very literal thinkers. It’s the same when you tell jokes where the funny part is implied rather than explained. The truth is, they don’t have the kind of language understanding that involves more than knowing the words.
They can’t connect context or intention. They misread tone and struggle to figure out what isn’t being said outright. Literal thinking isn’t automatically a sign of low intelligence, obviously, but it’s not how you should always see the world. Someone who does isn’t the most intelligent.
Turning one story into a rule
We all have personal examples to tell, and that’s fine. The problem comes when people start using these examples as fact or proof to support an argument. Your experience, or someone else’s, doesn’t settle a bigger question.
Those with stronger thinking skills understand that. They’re able to separate single incidents from things that normally happen, so they rarely rely on anecdotes to support their points. Only facts can do that.
Losing track of multiple related things
It’s perfectly fine to be bad at directions. It’s different when you’re unable to follow them because they involve different parts. For example, ‘Turn after the store opposite the bank, then take the road beside the school.’ Less intelligent people don’t understand that.
They really struggle to hold several pieces of information in their head and connect them correctly. For them, directions with a second relationship are like a different language. They have no awareness of how to connect the relationships between the pieces, and that’s an issue.
Meeting the same problem like it’s new
There are some problems that keep happening, like the printer jamming each time you use the same setting. You’d expect somebody to eventually notice. But less-intelligent people don’t, and they keep dealing with the exact same problem over and over instead.
They’re unable to spot the pattern behind it. Smart thinkers notice what repeats and what changes, as well as what seems connected. These people aren’t like that. Every recurring problem feels completely new, and they learn less between one round and the next.
Reaching for the phone again
Some people check their phone once, twice, and three times. It happens all in one minute, and nothing actually triggered it. They just have weaker cognitive control. They can’t stop looking at their phone, and it keeps breaking up what they were trying to concentrate on.
Screen time itself doesn’t matter. You can spend hours on a phone doing one focused thing, after all. No, the bad habit comes when you check your phone constantly because your attention can’t stay put for long. There’s no room for deeper thinking.
Waiting for the room to decide
You’ll probably notice that there’s always someone who checks everybody else before doing anything. They’re the person who checks what seat other people choose, and whether everyone else is ordering dessert. The group’s action helps them decide what to do.
Highly intelligent people can follow the crowd as well, and that’s to be expected. It’s just that people who are less intelligent tend to constantly rely on groupthink so that they know what to do.Â
Keeping noise in the room
Silence is a major problem for less-intelligent people. It could be leaving the TV on while they make breakfast, or talking to an empty room while other people scroll their phones. They need noise, and they need to multitask.
They constantly layer one thing over another, all day long, leaving their brain to sort the useful information from the junk. They’re unable to think for themselves and need some kind of distraction to fill in the gaps.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
13 everyday mistakes that show poor self-awareness
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