Do You Feel Different ?
Do you feel different from most others ? Do you feel misunderstood, rejected, maybe even stupid ?
Are you often bored, or not interested in what stimulates others ? Can you get extremely irritated by a noise or a smell ? Can you sense what other people haven’t noticed ?
You could recognize yourself in some of these sentences for different reasons, but if you feel all of it, you might be gifted.
Why write about people who appear to have it all, who seem to have it easy in life, and who can possibly annoy the heck out of everybody else ?
Well, because being gifted is not what it seems, it’s not a walk in the park, and it’s not even about being a know-it-all or a savant.
Also because your IQ level reflects on your personality and your personality is often a good indicator of your IQ level.
Your IQ level reflects on your personality type.
What Does It Mean To Be Gifted ?
Of course, I don't mean people share the personalities of the animals portrayed here, it is simply a good way to show a profound contrast in their innate behavior.
An IQ Above 130
Well, you are considered gifted if your IQ is at a certain level. That level is roughly 130.
You might ask, 130 of what ?
It’s not neurons or that would be far too few, and it’s not your age either for it would probably mean you are the last person on Earth.
IQ stands for Intelligence Quotient (term coined by a psychologist named William Stern at the beginning of the 20th century), it is a score that compares your mental ability to that of the rest of the population.
At first, it was used to measure children’s mental disability, so the quotient represented the child’s mental age compared to that of his or her peers. For example a 10 year-old kid whose IQ was 80 would have the intelligence of an 8 year-old.
But that could not be used for adults because mental age is pretty stable once you’re a grown-up.
Other tests were designed to scale adult intelligence, namely nowadays, the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (or WAIS).
The Average is 100
In these adult tests, mean intelligence is 100. The intelligence score follows a bell curve : 68% of people are between 85 and 115 (considered to be within the average range). 16% are above 115, 16% are below 85.
The curve is to be understood by 15 points gaps corresponding to the standard deviation of the associated function.
For this reason, people under and above two standard deviations from the mean score are considered mentally handicapped (under 70 : 2%) or gifted (above 130 : 2%).
Can your IQ vary ?
When you sit for those tests with a psychologist, you are usually given a score or a range, bear it mind that it is not set in stone but fluctuates according to your level of anxiety, your energy, your health of the moment and the type of test. It merely helps the practitioner with his or her diagnosis (gifted or not gifted, that is the question !)
In most circumstances you will keep your IQ level within a certain range (about 10 to 15 points) which means that if your friend’s score is 118 and yours is 115 one day he may not necessarily be smarter than you another day.
Those tests are usually a good estimate of overall intelligence but they don’t take into account creative, kinesthetic, emotional intelligence ...
Gifted people aren't necessarily geniuses or prodigies.
They don't always look smart either
What Is A Gifted Person and What It Is Not !
Contrary to popular belief being gifted doesn’t mean understanding everything, having a photographic memory or perfect pitch, or being able to revolutionize physics with the Theory of Relativity.
What’s the deal with Aspies, Geniuses, Prodigies, ASD people ?
Those psychological particularities are not to be mistaken with giftedness also called ‘high potential’ in some countries. Gifted men and women are often good at a wide rage of topics but rarely excellent at anything.
Geniuses and prodigies (who may also be gifted individuals but not necessarily) are extremely talented in a certain field in which they usually work (math, music, sports, acting …).
People with Autistic Syndrome Disorder (ASD), such as high-functioning autism or with Asperger Syndrome are frequently gifted individuals at the same time, they are nicknamed “Twice-exceptional” by psychologists, but generally exhibit poor emotional intelligence. Remember Sheldon Cooper ?
As a rule, gifted people show a few autistic traits but not usually the whole autistic spectrum associated with the aforementioned troubles.
So what exactly does it feel to be gifted ?
Intelligence reflects on your personality, specialists in gifted psychology can often tell whether someone fits the profile by witnessing some key behaviors.
So what exactly does it feel to be gifted ?
It is being very sensitive, having one’s feelings easily hurt, being very bothered by light, sounds, other people, being extremely touched by art, a story, a film to the point of sobbing for no obvious reason.
It is being very imaginative, being engrossed in one’s day-dream, being lost in conjectures and being unable to focus on boring tasks.
It is noticing meaningful tiny details in people or in one’s surroundings which will cause the underlying motives of others to become clear.
It is being passionate about a difficult topic (such as science or a foreign language …) tackling it by yourself to the point of becoming good at it years later because no amount of difficulty can deter you.
It also is starting lots of long and hard projects at the same time, growing bored and never finishing any of them.
It is always feeling lonely because, no matter how many friends you have, nobody can ever understand you fully.
It is having your own set of values and world-views that weren’t influenced by anyone else and never cease to baffle others.
It is being extremely intuitive and having many different ideas all at once encompassing many areas of thought in a split second.
It is wondering about so many deep questions such as the place of humanity in the universe or the future of penguins in Antarctica.
It is being idealistic and sometimes selfless.
It is often having a very special and intriguing sense of humor.
It is being prone to anxiety, being a control freak to try to alleviate it and having difficulty sleeping.
It is all that and much more.
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Two personalities : The Tale of The Tiger and The Octopus.
Two Main Types of Gifted Individuals
Have you been wondering why I pictured a tiger and an octopus to represent gifted people ?
It’s simple, there are two types of gifted ones.
The way their brains work is very distinct from those of regular people who are mostly left brain oriented (more prone to step by step thinking) and swayed by their instinctive selves.
The Tiger Type
The first one 'THE TIGER' is the most common type, it makes up about 2% of the population and his IQ score is normally between 130 and 145. Of course, as we said before, it can vary a bit.
They Are Right Brain Thinkers
‘Tigers’ have an unusual psychology, they primarily think with their right brains.
It means they think in a synthetic* way, as if a first thought was at the center of a cobweb and the subsequent ones were following those threads in all directions at once. Consequently, they tend to be intuitive and creative.
Many in the entertainment industry are ‘Tigers’, they are highly smart in a couple of fields, often emotionally immature and prone to tantrums and difficult relationships.‘Tigers’ being only really clever in certain areas, they tend to feel a sense illegitimacy, for the rest of their intelligence is average or only slightly above standard. Probably because of that, they are often seen as being big-headed and relentless in their attempt to be right, though they may not be aware of that behavior.
If a gifted person you know is highly annoying he or she is probably the ‘Tiger’ type.
They Are Prone to Emotional Difficulties
They often show signs of emotional overexcitabilities: extremely bothered by noise, light, clothes tags, stupid comments … which displays their quirkiness to the world.
But if you are patient you will really enjoy their unusual and fun-loving personalities as they are often outgoing and reliable friends.
They are energetic in all the areas they love and big procrastinators in others, they are likely to start working on an important task at the eleventh hour.
They Are Not Easy to Understand
These people’s way of thinking can only be grasped by about 50 % of the population (people with an IQ range of 100 and above). It is acknowledged that beyond a gap of 30IQ points** people do not understand one-another.
The Octopus Type
The second type 'THE OCTOPUS' is a more unusual species, one in a thousand.
Unlike their feline cousin ‘Octopuses’ tend to stay hidden in plain sight, they keep to themselves.
You are unlikely to have an octopus friend, they are introverts, they rarely go to parties and if they did they would probably be reading a book about Quantum Physics the entire time.
Octopuses are people who appear normal until you notice offhandedly, during a conversation, that they speak 5 languages fluently or understand String Theory. These people fear the judgement of others, consequently you will rarely know what they are up to, as they want to avoid appearing strange. Sometimes they can also come off as stupid to the uninformed when, lost in their thoughts they misunderstand a question, or give a wrong answer when too stressed out by their environment or life events.
They Are Integrated* Thinkers.
They have mastered the thought processes of both people of regular IQ range (left brain analytical* thinking) and that of ‘Tigers’ (right brain synthetic* thinking) which makes them equally deductive and intuitive. They can deduce many underlying explanations behind trivial details and think up entire patterns to find the “theory of everything” related to their own lifes. Bottom line, they’ll probably know if you’re being dishonest or are lying.
Unlike ‘Tigers’ they are pretty good at almost everything, their IQ is homogeneously high in all departments, especially in emotional intelligence, they look zen and balanced.
Nevertheless, this habit of rarely being excellent at something obvious to the observer can make them appear almost ordinary if you haven’t taken the step of discovering who they are.
It Is Lonely at The Top.
They make good but distant friends and are popular against their better judgement because, unlike the ‘Tiger’ , they want to protect their relationships and other people’s feeling and tend to act accordingly.
‘Octopuses’ are lonely people , they cannot absorb energy from a group of friends as most “regular people do”, so, sometimes they are prone to existential depression. When they feel good, they are tireless workers in the fields they love and in the workplace (they feel guilty if they don’t do their best).
The Misunderstood Type
They are understood by very few people. They can only be fathomed by people above an IQ score of 115 so about 16 % of the population. With that in mind and their ingrained emotional protection reactions they have a tendency to remain single.
Don’t be fooled into thinking they always become scientists, inventors, great writers … many of them hold low-level jobs because either they didn’t realize they were particularly smart (due to the false idea that clever people are always geniuses) or because they couldn’t bear the emotional anxiety a high-level job entails.
You can't get them.
They can't get you either
Difficulties and Advantages of The Gifted
So now you know these people don’t necessarily lead a dream life, to sum up the difficulties of the gifted we could say they are prone to emotional problems and anxiety due to a heightened sensitivity, relational hardships and have trouble being understood and accepted into society.
If They Are So Smart How Can They Misunderstand You ?
Well, for instance, when the teacher asks a mundane question, they will understand they need to reply to a much more difficult question and won’t give the right answer.
If asked ‘what does your father do ?’ Instead of answering with a job title they could say : ‘He mows the lawn, he watches football ...’ or they could remain silent because there are myriads of possibilities.
How Can They Not Be Understood Either ?
When gifted individuals speak (it is especially true of ‘Octopuses’) in spite of their carefully chosen words they can only convey parts of what they mean.
For example if they say: ‘That wall is grassy-green’ they may also wish to explain how it makes them feel, and the memories attached to the color, as well as the concept of nature as a whole and the division of society that the image of a wall can bring up. All of that in an instant !
The intensity of those different layers of feelings and thoughts can rarely be comprehended during a simple conversation.
There are however a few advantages to this uniqueness : an everlasting childish enthusiasm and wonder, the satisfaction of being good or excellent at something. In addition, being a tireless worker can boost a career if the relationships at work aren’t too tense, for gifted people have a hard time following orders if they assume they will entail adverse consequences in the future which they are likely to guess before anyone else.
Average IQ of Several Occupational Groups
(www.iqcomparisonsite.com douance.org)
Occupation
Average IQ
Philosophers
160
Scientists
155
Writers
145
Statesmen
145
Artists
140
Physicians
125
Lawyers
120
College Teacher
115
High School Teacher
110
If You're Gifted, Now What Happens ?
If after what I have told you, you think you might be one of those ‘Tigers’ or ‘Octopuses’ where to go from here ?
Get Yourself Tested
Well, first of all, make sure you are endowed with giftedness and not another kind of psychological ‘impairment’. The best way to do this is by taking a test, preferably with a psychologist even if those are expensive. Note that internet tests aren’t always accurate, I have met people who thought they were geniuses whereas … not so much. Rule of thumb, if prior to taking a test you think you must be really smart, chances are you’re not. Gifted people tend to not suspect they have a higher intellect because they mistakenly believe everybody thinks the way they do, hence countless misunderstandings.
And If You Are One of These Unusual People and Suffer From It ?
Put together a small circle of gifted peers for emotional support. You can even join a High IQ society, the most famous ones are 'Mensa', 'The Triple Nine Society' , 'Prometheus' and 'Giga Society' (the last 3 ones for Octopuses only).
Meditate regularly to help with emotional instability.
Connect with the less intellectually fortunate on an emotional level on which you can actually communicate.
Believe in yourself and start doing what you never thought possible : create, learn, build, teach ...
Tell everyone about giftedness and its difficulties so you can be better accepted.
A Word of Caution
I often read: 'IQ is overrated', 'it doesn't mean a thing' 'EQ is more important in your life' ...
Is it true ?
Well yes and … no.
It is a given, IQ is a limited tool to assess intelligence, some people's specific intelligence will never be measured properly.
Nevertheless, it has been established a great correlation between not only IQ and the most widely used fields of intelligence (logic, vocabulary, problem solving …) but also the typical ways in which your brain works.
For the same task, various smaller regions of your brain can help you perform faster or better and that's linked to your being a regular thinker or a gifted thinker.
It can be shown on a brain scan.
A gifted person brain exhibits more connections between both hemispheres, his or her sleep pattern also diverges from that of a regular person.
So even if IQ measurement is imperfect, the inner workings of your brain has a large impact on your IQ and thus your personality.
To all types of intellectual animals, may you always understand yourselves and get along with the rest of humanity.
Namaste !
© 2020 Billy J. Burton
References:
* Powell, Haden (2020): The Intellectual and Psychosocial Nature of Extreme Giftedness.
Roeper review vol. 6 #3
Davidson Institute
** Towers, G. (1987): The Outsiders.
Gift of Fire (The Prometheus Society)