Does having a high IQ have any downsides?

7/27/2018

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Society Story: Does having a high IQ have any downsides?

Yes.

My brother has a very high IQ. I don’t want to say what it is but it’s absurdly high. He used to beat adults at chess when he was a child, and he’d take electronics apart and put them back together again before he even started school. He is gifted in math and science but is also a critical and creative thinker.

He has struggled with chronic depression and alcoholism most of his adult life. He stopped drinking but now he smokes cannabis all day to dull his mind. He uses humor a lot to cope with life. He has a very dark sense of humor, is very cynical and can see through people very easily, which makes him unhappy a lot.

Society likes people with a moderately high IQ, especially if they can memorize information easily and learn how to do things easily. People like this are often rewarded in life. People with an extremely high IQ are viewed with suspicion and disdain by society because most are some kind of a misfit. They simply don’t fit in because they do not think the way most people think. It’s not a matter of just being a bit better than others at taking tests. They cannot turn off their mind.

A good example is Marilyn Manson. The man is said to have an IQ around 150. He is a musician, performance artist and professional troll who has been trolling people for decades with his shock performances. He was trolling people in the 90s before trolling even became a thing. If you watch his interviews you’d be surprised by how articulate, thoughtful, humorous and sad he is, like even his trolling or music doesn’t bring him happiness anymore, and the drugs stopped dulling his mind.

This information was taken from Quora. Click here to view the original post.

Do you know people who are suffering from being too intelligent? Tell us in the comments below!

#Society #IQ #psychology #Quora

What are your thoughts on this subject?

56 Comments

Christine Cameron-Dow

No matter how high or low your intelligence, you will flourish if you find your niche in life and perform to the limits of your mental capabilities. Even people with below average IQs can end up depressed if they are not stimulated and made to feel useful and productive. I have seen beams of happiness on the face of a person with an IQ in the 50s because she was praised by an occupational therapist for the lovely mat she was making. On the other hand, if an exceptionally intelligent child is not nurtured and helped to find his or her niche or passion, we end up with a depressed, introverted child. It's all in the mentoring, be it in the family, community or school. That said, children can be extremely cruel, and the discrimination against "nerds" is there and is very real, and it is for the adults in the community to step up to the plate and stop it, before an exceptional mind is wasted in non-performance.

Mike McEachern

The very bright people I've met are generally great to be around and socialize with. Superior intelligence comes with superior logic and this often gives those who are so endowed a greater desire to fit in with groups of various people. Pushing high-IQ children ahead by one, two or more grades to better serve their intelligent minds can have adverse effects by moving them into a social limbo where they lack maturity, high intelligence notwithstanding. The main downside to high IQ can be isolation and alienation brought on by well-meaning but misguided personal development.

Dani Smith

My friend has a brother who is gifted with a high IQ. I hired him to fix my car when he was 15. He did a great job. He bought a beat up Cadillac and fixed it up at 17. His dad got him a great job as a computer geek in Dover, Delaware. He's thriving because people recognize his genius. I know I did.

Simon Barry Parkes

Common sense and intelligence do not always correlate 🤔

Rob Bowman

The description is familiar and yet lacks that one key element that makes a person truly intelligent. That is your capacity for emotional intelligence. It is that fibre within that we all have but tend to ignore the development of at the expense of knowledge and superficial analysis that is often confused with the term critical thinking. Without the strength of integrity, morality, empathy, introspection, personal judgement and truth management we cannot claim to be truly intelligent.

John W Shreve

Not a problem I have as many would confirm.

Fiona McWilliam

lls, My IQ is above average but I wouldn't say it's super high. For me as a woman, I find it hard to manage those around me, especially the men, who can't cope with me being more intelligent than they are! Some men are really threatened by a woman having higher IQ than they do which is their lack of emotional intelligence, not mine! I can't change my IQ and it can be exhausting dealing with those who can't cope with it! Your family members could be abusing substances and depressed because of the way they have been treated in the past for having IQ. Encourage them to seek counselling and to ask how to cope with those people better next time if that's an issue for them. I've found that dealing with stuff in my past has really helped the way I cope with life.

Fiona McWilliam

Christine Cameron-Dow, The problem for those with IQ is managing those around them who are somehow threatened by their high IQ, especially if one is a woman. Many men cannot cope with a woman who is more intelligent than they are - it's not as if a woman's high IQ is something they can change!

Adriana Zuliani

Usually gifted children are meastreated and misunderstood in school. The have an active mind and they get easily bored. In Australia, Melbourne, they used to have a school for this kids with very talented teachers able to respond to their incredible questions. Usually they come from ordinary people with average intelligence. They are very curious in every field and they need to be continually supported and approved. Too many talents are wasted due to the ignorance of the society in which we live and the incapacity of ordinary people to accept anything out of the norm. Mediocrity is boring and gifted children pay the consequences.

Judy Corino

Rhonda Hamilton McPhail, Yes, men are often intimidated by highly intelligent women. I was fortunate to find a man who was proud of my abilities.

Alana King

Dani Smith, My friend does the same with vintage Mercedes cars. He fixes them up and sells them off. That said, he has also kept a few for club registration. He can recite off to me the different class models and, I sit there dumbfounded and amazed, but all the more intrigued. He loves music, uses audiobooks to focus and reads a variety of niche subjects. I wouldn't change knowing him for anything.

teacup

I have a high IQ, and I certainly can relate to all of the above. I am a misfit. I am a loner. My only friend is my daughter who also has a high IQ. She can and does socialize sometimes because she is into Football and NASCAR and they all can relate to those times. I, myself, entertain myself by reading, and the Internet. TV doesn't interest me because of all the dumb reality shows and sitcoms. I do watch several movies if they are of interest to me. I don't really have a dull life. Wish I could find someone to talk with on the internet but don't think they have a place for just high IQ people to talk.

lls

...have a few loved-ones in our family tree with high IQ's who suffer with ADD/depression/substance abuse...I wouldn't trade knowing them for anything. I just wish that medical/psychological R&D was better advanced to help them feel better about themselves and life around them.

Calvin Budd

Jennifer, buy him a set of golf clubs.

Satish Chandran

My friend had high IQ,shined in legal field,his jealous friends took him to parties on flimsy grounds,he became a drunkard,drug addict, that's the end of Solomon grundy