What makes us Smart?

Traditionally, the perception of being smart has been uncool, geeky, the egghead who’s usually teased for being clever. They’re the one in class that’s typically odd and different from the rest, that stood out from the crowd for all the wrong reasons, spotty, glasses, bad hair, bad clothes.

Then the tables turned and suddenly uncool, became cool as the phenomenon of Geek Chic was born.

In August 2013, Geek Chic entered the Oxford Dictionary, source: Junkee.com – but it’s roots began 10 years earlier, most identifiably in the US show, The O.C with main character Seth Cohen and of course the design icon Marc Jacobs.

Everything that was unfashionable, was suddenly the thing everyone was striving for.

Definition – Geek is a slang term for someone who is really intelligent about something, like computers, chess, books, or just about anything.

What is it to be smart?

Being smart equals intelligent, sensible, well-dressed?

Other terms for smart, some on the un-pc side– but there’s no denying them: Casual, Streetwise, Intelligent, Intellectual, Geeky, Clever, Spod, Swot, Egghead, Brainiac, Nerd, Highbrow, Academic, Gearhead, Techie, Dork, Astute, Quick-Witted, Boffin, Smarty Pants.

I thought it would be fun to see what studies there have been, into what is to be intelligent or smart. There have been so many studies looking at which factors affect our levels of intelligence, here are just a few traits that have been seriously recognised as indications of ‘being intelligent’ – I had to share them with you.

Reassuringly, I think I can tick a few of these – so I must, without doubt, beyond question be one of the
smart ones….????

Hmm not sure I’m convinced. On a serious note though, research has proven all of these individual characteristics to indicate someone is more intelligent than their peers.

If you want a more accurate test of your IQ – Take the IQ test!
Don’t be shy…Let us know how you do!

I think we all know our minds work differently and there are different types of ‘smart’, IQ, EQ, Genetic Factor, Multiple Intelligence, or ‘Something Else’ entirely.

The definitions below cover them nicely, thanks to Quora.com for these. If you feel like testing yourself some more, I’ve included some useful tools below.

• Intelligence Quotient
  A theoretical construct developed by psychologists over the years to measure intelligence. It became very popular, and many scientists regarded it as the most accurate test of one’s intelligence.Opponents argued that the test was “flat, and did not account for several other areas of intelligence.

• Emotional Quotient – An alternative to IQ
  Another theoretical construct formed by psychologists similar to IQ, it measures emotional intelligence, specifically how well you know yourself and how well you know others. Social skills, self-awareness, self-regulation, motive, and empathy are all included in EQ. It serves as an alternative to IQ, regarding how we interact with ourselves and others as more central to how smart we are than our actual, physical intelligence.
• Genetic Factor
  One of the earliest forms of intelligence studies, some psychologists claim that how smart you are is completely genetic, and it holds some validity. Across all studies, smart people tend to score high in all fields or sub fields, no matter how many or how few.More recent discoveries, though, point to the G Factor as more of a limiter rather than a producer. Instead of G being how smart you are, it is how smart you can become, no more.

• Multiple Intelligences
  Through his work, Gardner developed a theory involving eight separate intelligence that make up the idea of “human smarts”: linguistic intelligence (“word smart”), logical-mathematical intelligence (“number/reasoning smart”), spatial intelligence (“picture smart”), bodily-kinesthetic intelligence (“body smart”), musical intelligence (“music smart”), interpersonal intelligence (“people smart”), intrapersonal intelligence (“self smart”), naturalist intelligence (“nature smart”).

Together, these elements made up someone’s intelligence.

• Something Else.

Perhaps a smart person sees peak performance in all these areas. Perhaps something else altogether governs our intelligence. For example, studies show that those with both a high EQ and IQ are the most successful, contributing to the notion that one simple answer might not be achievable. Still, many psychologists continue to work tirelessly to find out.

This sounds like the best measure to me.

Sources:
Quora.com
Independent

Written by Laura Miller