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How do you know someone is incredibly intelligent? Here are 15 'subtle signs' people notice.

"They can change their mind when presented with new information."

via Associated Press/Wikimedia Commons

Albert Einstein using a blackboard.

Highly intelligent people come in all types. Some have no problem bragging about their smarts or accolades, while others are more humble because they don’t need to call attention to their brilliance. However, without tooting their own horn, certain hallmarks of intelligence are noticeable in how they approach people and situations. It seems that having a big brain is a hard thing to hide.

One of the undeniable characteristics of someone very intelligent is that they exhibit mental flexibility. They change their opinions when they don’t have enough information on a topic and can apply what they’ve learned from one subject to another. They also tend to have a great sense of humor, proving that their brain can easily connect different ideas.

A Redditor asked people on the ProductivityCafe subforum to share the “subtle signs that someone is intelligent.” It created great conversations about the characteristics of intelligent people and how their smarts seem to influence every part of them, from their personality to their ability to avoid unnecessary conflict.

smart people, thoughtful people, intelligence, signs of intelligence, reading, booksA man reading a book in his library.via Canva/Photos

Here are 15 subtle signs that someone is very intelligent.

1. Curious about multiple subjects

"They like to learn about any and everything."

"And remember details and concepts later. A desire to understand and curiosity about the subject at hand."

2. They change their minds

"They can change their mind when presented with new information."

"This is definitely the best / most noticeable answer. Intelligent people agnostically process new information. They don’t just “automatically” deny anything that they don’t know or is inconsistent with what they already know. Intelligent people - it’s not what they know, it’s how they interpret / process new information."

"As John Nash, the mathematician allegedly once said; when the facts change, I change my mind!"

3. They process humor quickly

"They get the joke sooner than most people. Happens once in a while in movies or group settings: one person starts to laugh way ahead of everyone else. That’s one with a super fast processing mind (I know one). It is totally unconscious, so cannot be faked."

4. They like being corrected

"When you correct them, they're actually happy about it because they get to learn something new."

"100%. This is often referred to as growth mindset."


5. Great sense of humor

"Humor is a marker for intelligence. Truly dumb people aren’t funny."

"Agreed but I would add that witty or dark humor is more intelligent than mean, cruel, gross humor. If someone’s 'wit' is just the same structure of putting other people down or being gratuitously shocking or gross, then no."

"A really good sense of humor. To be really funny, you have to be very observant and able to see things in ways that others don’t."

6. They make you feel smart

"They explain some things to you in a way that makes you feel intelligent."

"Einstein said, 'If you can't explain what you are talking about to a six-year-old, you don't fully understand it yourself.'"

7. They think before they respond

"They don't react. There is always a delay... and then, they respond."

"They observe, they pause, and then comes the long encyclopedic reply."


thinking, intelligence, being smart, smart people, thoughtful people, consideration, woman, touching chinA woman thinking about her response.via Canva/Photos

8. They know when to be quiet

"Yes, I have come across people with no filter, and have to argue about everything, and that can be exhausting."

"Never miss a good opportunity to shut the f**k up."

9. They're great at banter

"Yes, and quick word play/good puns."

10. They ask about your thought process

"If someone is inquisitive. They want to know how and why you think the way you do. Most people don’t do this."

11. They know what they don't know

"Even very intelligent people don't know about every topic. They understand this and don't pretend to be an expert or speak to things they don't specialize in. Or they use analogies to connect it to things they do understand.They understand that there is a lot they do not know, especially about their given specialties."

"Some people have so much ego, that they have an inability to say that they don’t know the answer to a question. They’ll either give a bullsh*t answer, or try to shrug off the patient’s concerns entirely. Nobody knows everything. If you don’t know, there’s no fault in admitting that, and then using resources to find the answer."


12. Physical intelligence is important, too

"I wish people could understand intelligence in many forms—being good with your hands is intelligence. Being able to learn elaborate choreography is intelligence. Being emotionally responsive and understanding microexpressions is intelligence. It’s not just regurgitating facts. I’m a fact regurgitator myself, but I have a lot of respect for things I can’t do."

13. They don't get into drawn-out arguments

"Not raising their voice during a disagreement. Shouting over each other is to try and win an argument with intimidation rather than logic."

"Argue with an idiot and there's two idiots."

14. They think for themselves

"They don’t have herd mentality. Specifically in politics, religion, and pseudoscience."

"I remember the first time that I understood that not picking a side was a valid option for many situations. It was like a record skip moment in my head."

15. They use a bidet

"They own a bidet and don’t use toilet paper."

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A study has been following 'gifted' kids for 45 years. Here's what we've learned.

Some of what we used to think about gifted kids turned out to be wrong.


What can we learn from letting seventh graders take the SAT?

In the 1960s, psychologist Julian Stanley realized that if you took the best-testing seventh graders from around the country and gave them standard college entry exams, those kids would score, on average, about as well as the typical college-bound high school senior.

However, the seventh graders who scored as well or better than high schoolers, Stanley found, had off-the-charts aptitude in quantitative, logical, and spatial reasoning.

In other words, they were gifted.

In the 1970s, Stanley and his team launched a full-scale study, identifying many of America's gifted kids and tracking them throughout their lives.

The study, called the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth never ended and is now nearly 45 years in the making. It has followed countless kids from middle school into their careers as some of America's top politicians, scientists, CEOs, engineers, and military leaders.

Stanley passed away in the mid-2000s, but psychologist David Lubinski helped bring the study to Vanderbilt University in the 1990s, where he now co-directs it with Camilla P. Benhow.

It's not a stretch to call this the biggest and most in-depth study on intellectual "precociousness." The results of the study thus far are equal parts fascinating and genuinely surprising — a deeply insightful look into the minds and lives of brilliant children.

1. Some of what we used to think about gifted kids turned out to be wrong.

Ever heard the saying "early to ripe, early to rot"? It basically means doing "too much" to foster a kid's special talents and abilities at too young an age could actually cause harm in the long term.

That's not even remotely true, at least not according to Lubinski.

That might be an outdated example. But Lubinksi says there are plenty of other misconceptions still alive today, like the idea that gifted kids are so smart that they'll "find a way" to excel even if those smarts aren't nurtured and developed.

Not so fast. "They're kids," he explains. "They need guidance. We all need guidance."

2. Intelligence is not the same as passion.

Quick, what's the "smartest" career you can think of. Doctor? Scientist?

While you do have to be pretty brilliant to work in medicine or science, those are far from the only career paths gifted kids choose later in life.

"Quantitatively, gifted people vary widely in their passions," Lubinski says. Many of the students in the study did end up pursuing medicine, but others went into fields like economics or engineering. Others still were more gifted in areas like logical or verbal reasoning, making them excellent lawyers and writers.

"There are all kinds of ways to express intellectual talent," Lubinski explains.

When it comes to doing what's best for a gifted student, it's just as important for parents and educators to know what the student is passionate about rather than pigeonholing them in traditionally "smart" fields and registering them in a bunch of STEM courses.

3. Hard work definitely still matters.

Measuring a student's aptitude, their natural abilities, is only one part of the equation when it comes to determining how successful they'll be in life. Aptitude scores can identify a particularly strong natural skill set but tell us very little about how hard that person might work to excel in that field.

Effort, Lubinski says, is a critical factor in determining how far someone's going to go in life. "If you look at exceptional performers in politics, science, music, and literature, they're working many, many hours," he says.

(And for the record, there are a lot more important things in life than just career achievement, like family, friends, and overall happiness.)

4. Regardless of aptitude, every kid deserves to be treated as though they were gifted.

The study's focus is specifically on kids within a certain range of intellectual ability, but Lubinski is careful to note that many of its findings can and should be applied to all students.

For example, the kids in the study who were given an opportunity to take more challenging courses that aligned with their skills and interests ultimately went on to accomplish more than the students who were not afforded the same opportunity.

"You have to find out where your child's development is, how fast they learn, what are their strengths and relative weaknesses and tailor the curriculum accordingly," Lubinski says. "It's what you would want for all kids."

It may sound a bit like a pipe dream, but it's a great starting point for how we should be thinking about the future of education in America.

If you'd like to learn more about the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth, check out this short film on the project created by Vanderbilt University:

Quick Learners; High Achievers: Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth

This article originally appeared seven years ago.

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Pop Culture

People share the 18 things that are a 'subtle sign' someone is really smart

"They effortlessly communicate complex concepts in a simple way."

via PixaBay

Albert Einstein

One of the strangest things about being human is that people of lesser intelligence tend to overestimate how smart they are and people who are highly intelligent tend to underestimate how smart they are.

This is called the Dunning-Kruger effect and it’s proven every time you log onto Facebook and see someone from high school who thinks they know more about vaccines than a doctor.

The interesting thing is that even though people are poor judges of their own smarts, we’ve evolved to be pretty good at judging the intelligence of others.

“Such findings imply that, in order to be adaptive, first impressions of personality or social characteristics should be accurate,” a study published in the journal Intelligence says. “There is accumulating evidence that this is indeed the case—at least to some extent—for traits such as intelligence extraversion, conscientiousness, openness, and narcissism, and even for characteristics such as sexual orientation, political ideology, or antigay prejudice.”

Reddit user Gisgiii posed a question to the AskReddit subforum: “What is a subtle sign that someone is really intelligent?”

The answers painted a clear picture of how smart people behave: They tend to be great communicators who understand their audience and are more concerned with getting things right than being right.

Here are 18 of the best answers.

1. They draw wisdom from multiple sources.

"They draw wisdom from multiple sources. Wait but that might be more wise than intelligent... But I guess those two tend to be seen together a lot," — Puzzlehead-Engineer

2. They know their audience.

"They can switch up the way they talk to match the person they're talking to without sounding condescending. They listen to how others learn and explain it in that person's language of understanding," — Wynonna99

3. They develop a keen sense for their job.

"I used to work with a doctor - Tom Howard - and the day I realized he was a genius was the time he guessed every single condition a patient of mine had based on minute pieces of information about him," — Yodei_Mon

4. Curiosity.

"They are curious about everything. To be intelligent you need to be knowledgeable and you can't be knowledgeable if you are never curious," — soup54461

5. They're great at conveying ideas.

"When they explain something they make you feel intelligent," — gwoshmi

6. Considerate questions.

"They spend time thinking before asking a question," — ParkMan73

7. They make hard ideas simple.

"They effortlessly communicate complex concepts in a simple way," — joculator

8. They know what they don't know.

"They know when their knowledge ends and say something to the extent of 'i don't know and anything else i say on this topic is ignorant speculation,'" — blutoboy

9. They ask great questions.

"They can ask really good questions."

"Edit: to anyone not understanding what mean, I’m talking about people who ask “really good questions”, not just any questions, really good ones. I don’t know how one would achieve this skill(I know I haven’t)," — milkmanbran

10. They don't pretend to know everything.

"They aren’t afraid to say they don’t know the answer to a question," — xchernx

11. They change their minds with new information.

"They admit to changing their mind about something," — FarAwayAdventure

12. They pivot well.

"They apply knowledge from one realm into a new and relevant situation," — soubestitch

13. They are open-minded.

"They can genuinely consider an idea which opposes their worldview without necessarily accepting it," — paidshill29

14. They use analogies.

"People who use analogies to explain concepts to others. It’s a form of code-switching and integrating concepts on the fly and is a clear indicator someone is both socially and conceptually intelligent," — SwimmerAutomatic2488

15. They don't argue.

"I think intelligent people are more willing to calmly debate/discuss, rather than argue. Like, you explain to them why you disagree, and they listen to you and ask further questions about your viewpoint before offering a different perspective; as opposed to an unintelligent person, who would just resort to insults when other people disagree with them," — AngelicCinnamonBun

16. They learn from mistakes.

"Admitting when they're wrong and being willing to learn from mistakes," — siyl1979

17. A sense of humor.

"Humor. I think that truly funny people are often very smart and cognizant of the different ways an idea can be humorous on several levels. They also know their audience. I think the difference between say a Jeff Foxworthy and a Dave Chappelle and a Bo Burnham is their audience and their interests," — biscuitboi967

18. A love of learning.

"They say they love learning and they learn something new every day. Then they listen more than talk," — throwingplaydough


This article originally appeared three years ago.

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Health

Self-defense expert shares 'Ted Bundy rule' to protect women from men who appear harmless

"This is important because dangerous people use this tactic to lure victims into compromising situations."

via Florida Department of Corrections/Wikimedia Commons and Warszawska róg Szerokiej/Wikimedia Commons

Ted Bundy in a 1980 Florida Department of Corrections inmate ID photo and Self-checkouts in Lidl discount in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland.

Katie Ring, known on social media as The.Self.Defense.Girl, recently shared a success story on TikTok after a woman followed her “Ted Bundy Rule.” The big takeaway from the story is that even when people appear harmless, it could all be a clever rouse to put you in extreme danger.

Ring is a self-defense instructor, martial artist and former D1 athlete who started her TikTok and Instagram profiles (@the.self.defense.girl) after a man assaulted twenty women in San Francisco and had still not been arrested.

"One self-defense rule I want every woman and child to remember is what I call the Ted Bundy rule,” Ring shared on TikTok. “That is, if a grown man needs help, he's typically going to ask another man and not a woman or a child. So, if a grown man asks you for help, I want you to question why he's asking for your help in particular."

One of RIng’s followers heard her share the rule in the past and put it to good use after someone sketchy asked her for help at 10 p.m. in a grocery store. At the self-check-out, a man on crutches asked her to help him carry his groceries to his truck. She said no to the man because she thought it was "weird" he asked her instead of a male employee.

@the.self.defense.girl

One of the most important self-defense rules if you are a woman or a child, is if a grown man is asking for your help, always question why. Obviously not everyone has bad intentions, but your safety is more important than someone elses feelings! . #selfdefense #safety #safetytips #womensselfdefense #tiptok #tedbundy #fyp #foryou #viral #greenscreen

“Exactly like she said, the guy could have had no bad intentions, but as women and children, we just can't take that risk," Ring said. "This is the exact tactic that Ted Bundy used to lure his victims. He would have a cast or crutches and ask women to help him to his car, where he would proceed to knock them out, kidnap them and unalive them."

Ted Bundy was a serial killer in the mid-’70s who was known for hiding behind his good looks, intelligence and clean-cut image to murder at least 30 women. One of the tactics he used to lure women was to feign injury by using crutches, wearing casts or arm slings and asking women for help taking things to his car.

On one such occasion, after dropping books in front of Georgeann Hawkins at the University of Washington, Bundy convinced her to return them to his car. As she bent over to place the books in his seat, he hit her in the head with a crowbar.

The video was a great reminder for women everywhere to be cautious when a strange man asks them for help, especially when other men are around. Some people may feel uncomfortable saying no to someone asking for help. But the commenters shared why that should be the last of their worries. "The thing is, if he had no bad intentions and is a nice guy, he won't mind you saying no. If he gets angry, he wasn't a good guy," one commenter wrote.

Another commenter suggested if a woman finds herself in that position at a grocery store, they grab an employee to help the person bring the groceries to their car. “Smart move! Ima say, ‘sure thing! Let me grab an employee for ya!’” a commenter wrote.

Ultimately, being safe means being assertive and telling people no. But that’s a lot easier than following their wishes and winding up in extreme danger.

"So remember, your safety is more important than anyone else's feelings,” Ring concluded the video.

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