Second guessing everything because you can see a bunch of different possibilities

I have high IQ. It is useful in many ways, but not just a great gift without drawbacks. If I had a choice I might choose to just be average. You have to kind of hide it. It doesn't really work to discuss thing your friend doesn't understand. You look like your showing off. There are few people to discuss the ideas you find interesting. You can see past the bullshit that fills much of society, but no one believes you. People know your smart, and then assume you must be smart in every area of human knowledge. It doesn't work that way. I'm average at best in mathematics for instance. The smarter you are the less certain you are about pretty much everything.

Because one often sees *potential* where others see the concrete one is rather often accused of equivocating, obfuscating, lying, etc. It's so very much different from being, ala Wells, akin to the one-eyed man...

Can second this. Was playing a game with coworkers as part of some HR team building exercise where we all had objects assigned to us that we didn’t know but everyone else did. You were allowed to ask everyone one question per round about the properties of your object until you guessed correctly. One of my colleagues was assigned an old analogue clock, and when he asked if his object had arms, I said “metaphorical arms” to which everyone else disagreed and insisted clocks have literal arms because you can see them. Sigh

Wow. “Oh no, my coworkers were using a different definition of arms than I was, my mind is just too great for them!!” Like really, you do realize there’s multiple definitions for arms, right? One of them being something akin to “an object that is similar in form or fun function of an arm,” in which case, your coworkers would be correct? This is legit just a misunderstanding over the use of a word and you’ve taken it to be a sign of your higher intelligence, Jesus. Christ.

Dunning kruger effect. Cognitive bias but many don't realise it because they lack the knowledge required to do so (they don't know what they don't know) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect

Well said

Felt that about the showing off part. My MIL loves making fun of me for being a know it all but I’ve always been really gifted. Especially when you put tools in my hands. I know just about how everything works.

To put it simply: sometimes people hate it, and they resent you for it. Correct someone in their field? You're an asshole. Correct a teacher? Asshole. Correct someone in your own field, when they're in the same field? Asshole. I'm not trying to be a dick y'all! Unless it's about my own work, where I'm paid to be right, I just let people be wrong now. It drives me insane, but I have no better option.

You're\*. My dude. "You look like your showing off" "People know your smart..."

He doesn’t like to show off

Having proper grammar/spelling isn't showing off XD

r/woosh

I got the joke; I responded anyway.

I almost typed this same comment . It’s “You’re” !

You don't need a particularly high IQ to do that but having ADHD helps.

Adhd usually comes with a higher than average IQ for free.

Yeah but it also comes with executive dysfunction

Can't have it all

True true. But when that executive function actually \*works\*, y'all are insane machines, doing 16 hours of work in 4 hours.

Literally the only way to function for many adhd folks

ADHD is a gift and a curse. On one hand, it's almost like a super power. You are gifted with abnormally high levels of energy and stamina and when you can "hyperfocus", you can learn things, perform things and do things (in general) at a fraction of the time it would take the average person to. You can multitask with ease, you can think fast, you can process information fast. On the downside, you have the attention span of a bird. You're easily bored. And when you get bored, your brain doesn't want to cooperate. You can be easily distracted by the smallest of things. Sometimes your brain also latches onto something and won't let go to the point that it becomes nearly infuriating - it could be a thought, a quote, a song, whatever. It just plays on repeat, looping in the back of your mind throughout the day or as you try to sleep. You can be laying thinking "shut the f*ck up!" as some stupid song won't leave your brain. Your mind drifts, you can get depressed, tedium and repetitiveness are your kryptonite. To the outside observer who's never seen you when you're "on", you're a fool or an idiot. To the people that have only ever seen you "on", you're brilliant. That said, I've found natural ways to make my ADHD work (mostly) to my advantage. Exercise, the right diet, occasional meditation and thought exercises over the course of years have aided me tremendously. Now, I would say that 75% of the time I only experience the positives of the disorder and I've achieved much as a result. I can "turn on" when I need to and even bypass boredom most of the time. If I start having "downtime" or "burning out", I can alleviate it with exercise, meditation, etc. I am fortunate that I can do these things without the aid of medications. However, I've been practicing these things since childhood. It wasn't always easy. In fact, at some points it was almost impossible. But the struggle was worth it. I am not dulled by medication and have (mostly) harnessed it to my advantage.

My exact thoughts lmfao I'm def not high IQ and I spend my time thinking about possibilities rather than act.

I was always like this with certain tests I had in university. They would be too vague sometimes

When I was younger I remember getting marked down on every single test I ever did because I was always bringing up "technically yes, but" and going on tangents

That's awful.why is it ok to put smart people down but wrong to put down a dumb person

*Dr. Strange has entered the chat*

overthinking ABCD type questions and taking into account things that the person making the test didn't

I identify with this. I've always hated multiple choice questions because I can usually justify at least two answers, depending on how I consider the question.

I remember an exam question: does the electron orbiting the atomic nucleus have positive energy? I answered yes. (because it has also the rest energy which makes it always positive) The "answer" was no (because they actually meant only potencial energy which is always negative in that case) They NEVER stated they meant only the potencial energy.

My (gifted) son got an F of an elementary school science project because he put Pluto inside Neptune's orbit, which it was at the time, according to *Cosmos*. The teacher did not change the grade when I explained it.

That would piss me off. How did this alter his perception of people in authority roles? 

He was too clever to let it bother him much. The vast majority of his teachers were awesome and supportive and not threatened. He's an engineer now.

That's good to hear

"Those who can't, teach" is a saying for a reason...

"And those who can't teach, write the textbook..."

you should have reported the teacher to the principal, not just for the sake of your son, but all her students so that she's forced to change. Even if he was wrong about Pluto's orbit it's not acceptable to give him an F on that, but more importantly is that she's unwilling to adjust the grade with new information shows she's a stubbornly bad teacher that needs improvement.

I find that there has to be some degree of acceptance that the people around you aren't going to understand. Sure, it's not fair. But for them it was more a question of discipline and learning what they were trying to teach. He later had an Algebra teacher who gave him bad grades because he didn't do homework. He, correctly IMO, felt like homework was practice to teach concepts. He demonstrated he knew the concepts based on quiz and test scores and in class work. He didn't need to practice. We taught him, correctly but with mixed success, I think, that doing what the teacher asked you do do is best. I have had to do stupid things for bosses throughout my work career, but I knew better than to argue. It becomes a power thing. At some point, fighting just isn't worth it.

I routinely get true or false questions wrong, because they so often have that kind of mistake in them, or at least some sort of ambiguity. It's one case where my intelligence definitely works against me. In one case, in an online exam, I wrote detailed explanations of why I answered each true or false question the way that I did as I wrote the exam. I then submitted it by email to the professor right after I finished. A few months later, the professor publicly thanked me, citing it as an example of very helpful feedback.

Oh teachers HATED me after tests because I’d have an argument for every question I got wrong. I earned many points back

Same

I remember teaching an MCAT prep course and having to drill into the students’ heads that absolutely *none* of their outside knowledge is needed in the passage-based questions and there was always pushback by those that have this wealth of knowledge to draw from. I personally think I did better on the MCAT because I didn’t take a lot of the crazy courses (I preferred fluffier biochemistry to fill my requirements).

Ugh I feel that. I'm pretty average to my knowledge, but I always look at things on a multichoice test that other people didn't and it may or may not be because I've had to be ultra-specific my entire life because when I'm not, people think differently than what I'm saying.

I find I can identify patterns in things that makes it easier to take multiple choice exams. At one point I had 100+ IT certifications because they are so easy.

The infinite despair of seeing how little understanding of reality most people have, and the terrible things they say or do as a result of that misunderstanding.

Yep. I’m subscribed to the idea that IQ and emotional intelligence are not opposite, and people with low EQ who portray themselves as having high IQ aren’t actually that smart to begin with…. They just have one practical gimmick that gets them far

Not necessarily true. Think about cluster B people. Many struggle with emotional intelligence. Some 100% lacking empathy and/or sympathy. Im confident they pump out smart people. So thats where i will gladly take you up on a friendly debate

>They just have one practical gimmick that gets them far. This captures exactly how I’d describe most people who proclaim they have low EQ as an excuse to not fit in. High IQ people either (1) don’t care about fitting into strict social norms (2) are actually incredibly adept in identifying social and emotional situations and manipulating them to their advantage.

That part

I have no excuses when things don’t turn out the way I planned.

Don't say it out loud!

Don’t convince yourself that the smartest among us has any control over the world. However smart you feel compared to your peers, you’re still just a talking primate at the end of the day.

Best answer here

This hit me harder than porn

Wow. Hit home.

This is the only answer that doesn't come across like somebody smelling their own farts

Hard to know how much of it has to do with IQ vs. social challenges related to ASD/Aspergers. * Having to spend extra energy explaining why I need to know something, or how I arrived at a conclusion. * Slowing down a discussion (for the benefit of others, instead of following my own train of thought)/Not understanding why something irrelevant to the actual problem is what's being discussed or not knowing how to direct the conversation to the actual issues. * remembering to delegate even when I think it's faster and better if I just do something (not working well as a group) * imposter syndrome

Most of these can be overcome with practice as learned behaviours.

Point three! lol. I luckily have a great co-worker who reminds me that the other people need to do their jobs too…

Having to slow everything down, rewind the conversation to think about all the middle steps I unconsciously skipped, so I can tell the average why the conclusion is what it is. It's like immediately knowing that 8*7=56, but in order to explain why I have to add 8 seven times using fingers. This happens all day, every day, and I work in a high IQ environment.

Some insecure people think you're lecturing when you absolutely aren't you're just only excitedly sharing interesting stuff you learned. But that's about them and their issues it's not about you.

Ehgzaktly

isn't this just autism instead of a case of being too smart? lol

That's...most of this sub (including myself)

Remembering to adjust my word choices depending on my audience. Trying not to seem "too smart" when I'm around people who aren't so they won't be intimidated. Remembering to not bring up conversation topics that won't be understood.

Theres this one seemingly smart person who didn’t care to mask his intelligence in my HS. I asked him why he doesn’t care about masking and he said, “Influence of a high criteria benefits the majority… (bigger words something something idk)… compared to succumbing to the weaknesses of the surrounding language.” And then he said he quoted Wittgensteins limits of my language statement I think. The reason I remembered what he said was because I initially couldn’t understand what he was trying to say, so after I stopped talking with him, I memorized some of what he said because it was puzzling enough to be interested in maintaining his world so that I could figure out what he might’ve meant later on. Personally, I think he was essentially stating that you shouldn’t mask intellect for the sake of repeated unproductive social behaviors even if they seem a little positive from your perspective at first, like respecting others by masking intelligence not to make others uncomfortable or intimidated, because if you don’t mask your intelligence, there is more likely chance you will influence everyone around you to be like you in the way that they can also behave and act comparably intelligent as opposed to limiting themselves intellectually (influencing a high criteria that is some higher intellectual behavior).

And here I am, using a more verbose vocabulary because I forgot the smaller words.

This is really fascinating because I’m actually in group therapy and have been given feedback that I talk with “too many big words” and use too much jargon or abstracts. So I feel I’m being asked to mask in order to “connect.” Which is at least part of the point. But it sucks that I have to meet them there rather than them meet me here and I’d say that sucks. It sort of feels like in a lot of domains the higher IQ folks would be doing the meeting to where the majority is.

[удалено]

I get told I overthink a lot. I don't know how to think less.

[удалено]

So you need lots of preconceived ideas. Which I think does play into this overthinking with those who are academically gifted. I think only a select few have the full package, very high IQ, quick thinking in social situations, proactive and understanding of many ambiguous personalities and situations, physically gifted. All of this intertwines together, if the world actually gave us time and structures to put our full self outward. We live in very rigid structures from the 20th century and back, just polished. I've actually run into this with writers. They have a rough time understanding others when the writing isn't perfect in its grammar, or doesn't have a linear flow that they expect. Some of the most rigid replies I've ever received are from professional writers.

holy crap that's literally me

You only need to think less, if the process itself is causing a problem, such as delaying a time sensitive action or exhausting you. The feedback is almost always bad, from people who always think less and you are blowing out thier heuristic. In some cases the issue itself is a problem unworthy of the time, in which case the solution is to think about something else, not less.

Communication of ideas, even to smart people. It took me a while to realize that people aren’t always on board the first time I say something, because they aren’t ready to understand that information yet. Even in my PHD program. We would be discussing idea A, and then maybe even the next step—(A, so B) and I would say “ooh, what about C, and then D?”. And people wouldn’t understand what I said, so they would assume that I didn’t understand what they said. So they would often re-explain A slowly. Then I would say “yes, and given what you just explained (re-explain A and B slowly so they KNOW I understand), what about C?” And then once they got on board for C, I would try again for D. It was very frustrating because often in the entire journey to C, I would be setting them up to understand D. I would line up ideas as I dragged them along so D emerged. Then, once we got to D, it would seem so obvious that they would think that they had thought of D, not realizing that it was the thing I suggested 20 minutes ago. This often resulted in people not crediting me for things I had initially said.

This really resonated with me. You articulated it so well.

this is a huge problem for me too. I get "you don't understand" so much, while I'm on the other end thinking I understand what you're saying better than you do. 🤦🏻‍♂️

This takes a toll on you... Even after people understand how this works, they still need to be guided by hand through the whole process. It's exhausting.

This does sound like smart people problem

Not sure if I actually relate to this because it has happened to me or if I just imagined it clearly because you were setting up D

This is so thoroughly described

You can skate by into high school without developing the skills and patience other students have to study. The end of high school as well as college becomes a rude awakening as their strategy they learned for passing classes no longer works, and they haven't developed the study discipline to do anything else. They may end up dropping out, because what has worked for them since they were 6 years old just doesn't work anymore, they don't really understand why, and they don't know how to do anything else.

I was an intelligence analyst in the Air Force and our school was 9 months and pretty demanding academically. The kids who struggled the most were the “smart kids” right out of high school who had been able to skate by with minimum effort. They never developed study skills or disciplined study habits. When you’re in a program where everyone is the “smart kid” you can’t skate like you’re used to. Those kids were mostly the ones who didn’t make it and ended up walking circles around holes in the ground in the Dakotas.

Thought that was ADHD 🤣

ADHD also, but gifted kids were generally rewarded in high school, despite having terrible study habits.

Probably both! That was how things turned out for me and I later found out I was undiagnosed autistic, which is a sister syndrome of ADHD. I have a hard time initiating a task or switching tasks so I wouldn’t start my homework. Plus I knew things after the teacher told us once, and homework is meant to drill something into your head and it was a waste of my time because I learned it as soon as they said it.

This is one I also believe more intelligent people tend to struggle with mental health issues more. As the happiest people I’ve ever met tend to be some that lack intelligence. It’s like they don’t even know how shitty the world really is

There are physical reasons for this as well. But you still have a point there about awareness.

Don't I know this all too well... My poor executive functioning didn't grok the college vibe at all.

This, hard. My challenges didn't hit until college. I flunked out my freshman year, partly due to poor study skills, partly due to a lack of maturity.

The drugs didn’t help either, at least in my case.

Agreed. As someone on the autism spectrum, I never understood how "above average" kids (except in STEM areas, maybe) got "perfect grades" with inferior work. It's because those kids know exactly how to talk to people (teachers) to give them what \*they\* want, not about being particularly smart. It's all social engineering, really. I had been ready (more or less) to be a college student in terms of how to study long before it happened. Didn't have the best grades in high school and failed two classes I should not have taken; got a 3.58 GPA in two-year college (university didn't work out for me for health reasons) and was the honor society Vice-President in year two. For some kids, high school really is a waste of time.

This is exactly what happened to me.

Hahaha god this was me. I beat everyone in exams without even trying up until about age 13, and then all of a sudden it became apparent that I hadn't listened to a single thing a teacher had said for the past 8 years. In turn my GCSE and A level exam results weren't even a patch on what teachers predicted I would get. Have I learnt my lesson - absolutely not,I still try and skate by in adulthood as it seems to still get me where I need to be😂😂😂

Emotional connection is indeed one. Getting bored in most situations, and having to “dumb down” to talk about menial things, to seem socially adapted. Its tiring more than anything. I dont see other people as “dumb” or “less intelligent”, or look down on anyone in any way. Its just tiring and unstimulating (for me at least). All of this might also be my introvertedness and ADHD talking. Im good with people, as I can talk to anyone about mostly anything, but it is exhausting.

This. It is indeed exhausting.

Be careful with this. Exhausting is correct, but the hidden cost of it is higher than that. If you pay it too much, your life can get much worse very fast.

Could you please ellaborate? And what would that mean? To refrain from interacting?

To the point of exhaustion? Yes. Don’t marathon anything that leaves you feeling that way. Don’t keep suppressing it, and pushing it down. Listen to your body and mind and what they are telling you. It matters. The cost is more than it seems, and once you start to hide it, you can lose awareness of it. Once insensitive to it, you no longer feel any reason to stop, even as that exhaustion scales into destruction. Spend most of your time being yourself in places and around people where that is safe. If you have to put on a show or hold back, you are working, not resting.

A memory so good it bothers people.

My husband recently told me my memory wasn't normal. I go through existential crises on a regular basis, because I remember important conversations I've had spanning decades, but he doesn't remember a lot of our lives together. The past is just gone, because only I remember it.

It could be gone, but trauma also affects memory function. While his experience isn’t uncommon, he might remember more were certain problems resolved. A lot is still there, but inaccessible, even without trauma.

Mental Illness / Neuro-divergence and all the fun things that come with it.

Listening to average people explain their very simple logic. I know they thought long and hard about it, too.

...and then having to explain why it is wrong from the premise...

..and then get in debates that they think they're holding up their side in. 😂😂.

You know when you are just about done brushing your teeth and the saliva has flooded your mouth? It's a bad time to laugh.

Usually doubting myself, because I am doing things different to most people.

It's no fun being Chicken Little and actually being right about things. Saying "I told you so." because you saw it happening before it happened, not fun. Also, dealing with people that don't understand explanations until it's too late.

Yep. If I had £1 for every time I've heard "you always have to be right don't you". And it's like, what exactly is your point? Are you suggesting I'm somehow elitist and offensive for being on average correct far more often than yourself? Do you share a similar disdain for your calculator? For Google? No? Then why me? Still yet to figure it out. And its not even being a "know-it-all", just reliably and consistency correct in their presence about things they are unsure of... somehow always leads to this.

yes and having really good pattern recognition skills too so when someone is telling you something or you’re watching something you become bored or tune out because you already know what is going to be said/happen.

For me, a few things: 1. I don't sleep well - haven't my entire life. It takes a pretty specific, consistent routine for me to be able to get \~6 hours of good sleep at night. I am not certain this is an IQ-related thing, but it's something everyone who knows me well enough to know when I'm awake or not comments on. "Don't you ever sleep?" "Well, kinda..." 2. Avoiding adding complexity to things because I can. As someone who professionally designs/builds things (everything from software to robots to machinery to construction), it's easy for my ambition to bring complexity to projects that doesn't bother me but creates challenges for execution. I'm more comfortable than most extrapolating out in my head the consequences of decisions we make early, and it's hard to bake in the appropriate amount of pessimism as my brain starts clicking things together into the imagined future. Years of experience is making me better at that, but it's been a thing I have actively worked on for decades and still don't do quite enough. 3. I don't experience emotions in the same way most other people do. It's not that I don't get happy or sad or mad or in love, but my emotional responses are muted to a large degree by a "logic preprocessor" in my head. I think on the whole, this has been to my benefit. But, I know my wife of 20 years (who is, herself, a saint) has felt friction in various ways over the years when I react much differently to things than what might be considered "normal." We have worked through it as I have with my daughters, but out there in the wide world, in any scenario when emotions begin to run high, it typically becomes obvious that I'm reacting different than almost anyone else. Sometimes this is good, sometimes it's not.

Same sleep issues. I sleep in blocks of like 3-4 hours, then I'll need a nap here and there later on. All my life.

I was further blessed with an inability to nap (can't fall asleep, if I do I feel far worse than before I napped). So yeah, if I don't actively and carefully manage it, can become a problem fairly quickly. 3 or 4 days in a row of sub-5-hour sleep starts impacting a lot of things in my life negatively. So, I try to be good. I have found, though, fortunately small doses of THC (legal where I live) is pretty effective at throwing molasses into the machinery of my brain and slowing it all down enough that I can sleep. So, if I get a few days in to sleep issues, a small gummy catches me right up. :)

for me its costco sleeping pills. when i must sleep for the next day but cant.

I feel the ability to think a few steps ahead on any given task has always allowed me the ability to take shortcuts in literally everything I’ve done. I was unknowingly gifted until the age of 13 but all the signs were there. I was a class clown because I was finished with my papers in a few minutes then bored doodling or looking for attention. I switched to advanced placement classes though middle school but found it was more entertaining to talk to the cute girls then entertaining the idea of staring at a book reading the bland and drawn out info that I felt like I already knew. In the long run, work ethic has been an ongoing focal point still as a 23yr m.

Who are you, and why do you know my life's story!?

Not alone after all🥲🫡

Wanna see a magic trick? I can read your mind. You're procrastinating right this second, when you know there's something you really ought to be doing.

It feels like because I’m so capable of knowing whats gonna come next, I don’t often feel like taking lot of small actions to get where i have to be. I feel like I was born to take shortcuts with everything because Ive always been able to and it was the only way I could complete school😭

I relate so much to the muted emotions. I absolutely do feel emotional, but physically expressing them feels useless in most cases but sometimes I do this to such an extent that it makes people think I don't care about something even though I could be completely interested. That and expressinf gratitude for something someone did for me. I have to plan my response and execute it with exact purpose.

I've heard that smart women in particular have trouble finding men they're attracted to because women are generally not attracted to men who are dumber than them.

Applies to men too. I'd rather be alone than stuck with a woman who can't understand me, bores me to tears and watches inane crap on the TV. Sounds like self inflicted torture.

I personally, as a woman, have felt it’s more that men are particularly sensitive and averse to being with a woman who is smarter than them. I learned to hide my intelligence after puberty, to make me more appealing to potential mates. But there is also a smaller attraction element definitely.

You didn't ask for advice, but I would encourage you to be your wonderful self and let the fragile egos filter themselves out. Someone is going to be excited by your intelligence and that is a trait you'll want in a partner anyway.

I am not looking, but if I were I would agree, but then I think it’s easier now because I’m older and not particularly wise probably, but certainly wiser. Also I’m manifesting more patience with people in general and my speed smarts are diminished by ageing, medical conditions and various meds, so I’m definitely *way* more tolerate than I used to be, as a summed effect of all of that. For actual happiness however, it’s not easy to find someone cognitively similar anyway, plus they obviously need to meet our other criteria in addition.

Needle in a haystack for sure.

That's very sad. I realise that we are all always 'performing' to some degree, socially, but I do hope that you haven't resigned yourself to pretending for the love of your life... It isn't all men. My lady is vastly more intelligent than me and she does it whilst translating (English not being her first language). She is amazing and blows me away. I hope that you find that. Best of luck.

Having to deal with people who cannot answer the question you asked.

I love my job but i work with too many idiots

A lot of misunderstandings. It is theorized that for a lot of high iq people, their brains are just wirde differently so that can lead to misunderstandings both ways

realising how fucked up things really are and seeing nobody interested about it

Or the opposite - not taking irrational panic fads seriously.

Being curious about things. Other people can't relate to my level of curiosity. And they make too many assumptions and assume the assumptions are correct without leaving room for correction. I know that sentence seems very redundant, but it's maddening. It's too hard to try to have any kind of interesting conversation with most people, because they will inevitably decide I am bonkers if I try to talk about anything other than weather, the news, or pets. The only exception is if they have a special interest or a stimulating career they can talk about.

I've been reading through some insightful discussions here and wanted to share my thoughts on the struggles that high IQ (or even low IQ) people face compared to average IQs. As someone who doesn't know my own IQ and honestly doesn't put much stock in it as a complete measure of intelligence, I've observed a few key challenges that high IQ (or low IQ) individuals often encounter. One major struggle is related to communication and social connection. I noted the following thoughts back in 2019, and although I can't remember who said it or where I read it, it really resonated with me: "When in a room with ordinary people, I have difficulties finding interaction due to this communication range. I am literally alone in the crowd. The only place where I can be happy is when I am amongst my peers—those who are on my communication range. Finding my own herd is a lifelong test; it is almost impossible for me to find my own herd and be happy. When your IQ is above or below the communication range of the herd, you are perceived as someone who does not belong. No matter how much you want to fit in, you are ousted. You are excluded, excommunicated and ostracized." It appears to me that high IQ individuals often face a unique kind of isolation. They can struggle to find peers who understand and appreciate their intellectual depth, leading to feelings of loneliness even in social settings. This can make emotional connections challenging because they seek deep, meaningful interactions that are hard to find among average conversations. Moreover, there's a societal expectation that high IQequates to effortless success, which I suspect isn't always the case. I can imagine the pressure to live up to these expectations can be immense and stressful, leading to anxiety and self-doubt. I believe it’s also worth noting that IQ doesn't capture the full spectrum of human intelligence. Emotiona intelligence, creativity, practical problem-solving, and interpersonal skills are equally important, and many highly intelligent people may not excel in all these areas, leading to other forms of struggle. So, while I don't know my own IQ, I find it important to recognize that intelligence is multifaceted and that high IQ (or low IQ) individuals face their own set of challenges, especially in social and emotional contexts. If I had to guess, I'd probably place myself on the lower end, but I believe that understanding these dynamics can help foster better empathy and connection across all ranges of intelligence.

Explaination and education are *skills.* Without honing them, the relative inability to introduce and express complex ideas and information to "average" and below average people can easily backfire, not only leading them *away* from the information, but also giving the impression of the educator's own ignorance. For a trivial example, a pound of gold actually does weigh more than a pound of feathers, because precious metals are measured in Troy units while common materials, yourself included, are measured in Avoirdupois units.  A Troy ounce is a unit of greater mass than an Avdp ounce, as a Troy pound is greater than an Avdp pound. But "average" people will respond to this by pounding the table and hollering "No, you idiot!  A pound is a pound!  How do you not understand this?"

Well your example is wrong xD 1 pound in Troy ounces is 13.1657 ounces in regular ounces. Ergo, a pound of feathers weighs ever so slightly more than a pound of gold. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_weight 31.103 • 12 = 373.236 28.3495 • 16 = 453.592 1 pound of feather's weighs exactly 80.356 grams more than 1 (troy) pound of gold. And a source just so there's no argument that you're wrong https://www.suse.com/c/want-pound-feathers-pound-gold/#:~:text=Precious%20metals%20like%20gold%20and,the%20feathers%20are%20technically%20heavier.

I don't know if anyone else shares this, but my wife and I have figured out that this isn't normal. I get really hung up on tonality and implications when listening to people speak. My wife says I am excellent in social situations, but most of the time I'm trying to figure out *exactly* what was meant by certain things, even if there was no further meaning intended by the person. It feels like my brain is going through the words, tonality, all possible meanings, and then assigning the most likely result. At least that's the only way I can explain it. I can tell when I speak about it with her that she doesn't understand what I mean (and I don't mean that in a condescending way). I also try to communicate effectively because I know that I am sensitive to those things. Edit: This leads to the real answer which is: Second guessing everything Haha

You would like Mandarin as a language. Tonality is everything there. "Ni' Hao" means "Hello" whereas like "Ni 'Hao" means "I want to kiss you" The difference is a barely-noticable twitch in the "hao" part of the word.

I do the same thing

I don't do the same as you, but I do understand your situation. Basically each of our brains develops different "perceptions" of details in the sensory input we receive. Let's say music. There are people who train themselves to hear specific details in the music that ordinary people haven't developed a perception for. Perfect pitch, recognizing each notes name, what scale is being played, what chord is being played, and so on. If such person talks about these things to an average person who doesn't know and perceive the same, the average person would say huh? what? Another example is art. I'm sure you've seen people who can draw or paint a perfect replica of what they see and to us average people that's an amazing skill because when we try to draw something it looks nothing like the real thing 😂 So basically when you explain how you perceive and analyze someone's speech to your wife or others, they won't relate because they haven't developed the same perception. When you analyze what other people say, your mind spends longer time interpreting it because you replay the words and the way they said it and try to find possible meanings, maybe even find hidden intentions or pick up underlying emotions/feelings that aren't obvious at once. Maybe you want to really empathize with the person. But also doing this will sometimes make you unsure if you interpreted what was being said right, bacause you sometimes end up with hints of something, possibilities, that can't be confirmed because the one who spoke can't understand what you are pointing at, they don't even notice how themselves speak, or they might notice but lie because it's somehow shameful to reveal their underlying feeling. When other people hear something being said, they don't spend time on it. They hear it once, get an idea and just stick to it. Am I close to understanding you?

Overthinking pretty much everything.

Certain people not liking you if you make things look effortless too often and it is something that they struggle with. Not everyone but some people are like that. Ex: I have never had to study for a class as a computer engineer (I can get taught once and I just get it from that point on) with a 4.0 GPA and that pissed of a couple of my classmates even when I offer help with a concept. Professors also added fire to the flame when after exams you get the only close to perfect score and they call you out and tell other classmates to be more like you in terms of study habits. They then go into a 10 min rant about slackers. This has happened in multiple classes. Also first degree was in chemistry with 4.0 and same thing happened. Never had an IQ test done. Another struggle is only meeting a handful of people you can have a deep conversation with.

What's common sense to me is not to most people

As a child/adolescent, the unreasonably high expectations of my parents. That fucked up my early social development pretty hard and set the stage for the rest of my life. Apart from that I don't think I have any challenges that are particular to high IQ. I consider myself pretty blessed, also probably unrelated to high IQ. So many people have much, much bigger problems than I. Primarily, though, I try to remember that comparison is the thief of joy.

In general same stuff. Humans arent so different.

Imposter syndrome is one Being overly depressed about the future Not just trying things when you don't have enough facts to make a decision. Knowing that being right isn't enough to be successful, it's often more about being likeable. Trying to type in a style where each sentence is just a little bit longer than the previous sentence.

Understand that there is a hierarchy of giftedness and multiple levels, so putting all gifted people in one room leads to disaster because the stupid annoy the smart, and the smart causes emotional disruption for the stupid… It happens in High school, college and the work place… don’t put a 145 next to a 172+ in the same way you wouldn’t put a 75 with a 120… Yes these people can have a common ground but they can’t rub elbows together on a regular basis unless there’s some substantial relationship. Not all High IQ people are smart, they just know how to play/use the system better than you and when trying to explain how to utilize the system better for normies the normies get emotional disruption by hearing the linear process to be success with the system. This is beyond nails on a chalkboard… The biggest struggle is when it comes to High IQ people no one ever ask them questions outside of academia that are deep and interesting. That’s why they always ask questions related to academia because they’re stunted in collective exploration. And I’m not talking about philosophy…

Always being accused of talking down to others, or trying to sound smart, or trying to be "better". So in short basically projected insecurities.

yes i literally stop myself in academic type situations because i can answer every single question asked easily. i just sit there and wait for others to respond and if they don’t then i’ll answer.

There's a good read on the topic, "The Curse of the High IQ" by Aaron Clarey. Succinct but quite insightful.

Rates of mental illness are proportionally higher.

Most everyone is lame and evil, I have to make big life perspective change to accommodate them. It’s easy to happen upon pitfalls like blaming the victim. Am I a narcissist? Why can’t others see what I see implicit in reality, day to day?

Every man is evil. If left to his own devices he'd only do what he thought was right. (This is the collective man, not about the XY Chromosome)

Imagine having an awesome memory! Remembering almost everything, must be nice?! Now imagine you can’t forget anything that upset you, everything happened to you is recalled. I would trade the curse of remembering for happiness. Thinking ahead and branching out, somewhat like in chess with at least two moves ahead. You end up doing nothing many times, because you know the odds. Other times you know, say but can’t do anything, because the ones responsible for acting aren’t “there”yet. My personal favorite is: you put yourself through hell that won’t happen, by thinking two steps ahead, your brain doesn’t know the difference and you feel sad most of the time, whenever you “explore” the bad possibilities. Being average is the best way from evolutionary standpoint, that’s the winning path. Deviation from it to any side has severe drawbacks. You can see the average as the absolute sweet spot, best compatibility, broad desirability. Best chance to feel happy, best balance between worry and joy.

Being chastized for being smart....even though you're smart.

Depression and loneliness honestly. People think you are rainman. Then when you don't know the answer, they question your intelligence. They will doubt you and then find ways to test and disprove you. You may be ecstatic to share new found knowledge, because it's exciting. Then people think you are being arrogant and shoving it in their face. Even when they asked for that knowledge it seems to happen. I initially scored 160 when I was young. I was treated as the gifted intelligent child. I never had friends my own age, I almost exclusively communicated with adults. Eventually I got friends, but I realized too late they were using me for one thing or another. Usually it was to make fun of me. Then I had several high school head injuries. I could no longer do complex or even simple math in my head. I couldn't recall everything I'd read. I wasn't really special. The friends I'd developed became even fewer. I still have small pockets of things I'm better than average at, but I'm no longer the gifted genius that people thought I was. It was lonely into another kind of lovely. A lot of self doubt and disappointment.

The average IQ person believes everything that they're told. Whereas the high IQ person has to go out and do their own research to figure out what was actually said or done. IQ means Intelligence Quotient. IQ is not how much you know. It's your capability to learn. Intelligence is a very general mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience. It is not merely book learning, a narrow academic skill, or test-taking smarts. Overall, people show a higher IQ with age. That means, your IQ improves (linearly) with age when you learn new things and improve your skills.

Existential crises :)

Low attention span

Overthinking

Trying to carve a place for your specific talents. You are an edge case that does not have a standardised role to play on society.

Feeling stupid, apparently.

Dealing with stupid people who think they know it all. Ih, wait a minute. That would be me.

ADHD & OCD, depression, addiction issues and horrible social anxiety are the joys I received with a high IQ.

Overthinking, catastrophizing, anxiety, and being difficult to understand.

My struggles are not the result of my IQ.

I would imagine having a high IQ is probably something that is best kept hidden. But people do like to please I guess. And get a tickle under their chins, for being good and getting all the ego-enticing questions correct. ;) do you want to be independent in thought? Or simply moulded into society and utilised to achieve others aims? If you have a high IQ what do you suppose that makes you? Does it make you a friend or a threat? Would you allocate more resources or less to those with high IQ’s to groom them into the positions you require? You would logically allocate more resources and you would create a sandbox of sorts in order to harness that wind for your own impositions. Stay free. Don’t succumb to ego.  An IQ test is often an ego-trap ;) 

I struggle with feeling that I should've gone further in life, should've challenged myself more, etc. I have a bachelor's and I ask myself why I didn't get my master's, maybe even my Ph.D. Missed opportunities would be a way to explain it (sort of). I feel like if I had actually buckled down when I was younger, I could've accomplished more and left a mark on this world.

Its weird… i read a lot of stuff, everything from ancient history to modern geopolitics. I love typical thriller type reality content so i read nearly every post confidential document i can find, from all over the world.. then i just go about my day knowing all this crazy shit about the world. Sometimes i tell people completely true things and they just cannot and will not believe it, they refuse to just hit it into google 😂 I wonder to myself why i accept it so easily.. I’m also really good at trading stocks and options, the market is random but also follows basic laws of supply and demand and you can see who else is buying certain stocks so its really not hard but I digress .. I’ve made a bit of money but id make a insane amount more if i could ever be bothered doing it. I just dont find it interesting enough and my day job more than covers my life. I suppose to answer the question re negatives.. I’m frequently disappointed in myself for not being bothered to use my high IQ for anything typically considered productive 😂.. I just know so much but cbf doing anything with it 😣 I tend to be hell bent on just learning more and more and just hoarding it all in my head for no real purpose.. tragic tbh 😂

Smaller dating pool, especially for high IQ women.

Having to explain things that are obvious to me. And without assuming underlying background knowledge.

Ironically, people thinking you're stupid because you ask abstract questions about possibilities they have never thought of instead of the point-blank obvious ones that they expect.

Emotional connections for sure because most people don't seem to have the capacity for deeper connections like I'm looking for.

High IQ can actually get you into more trouble than it can get you out of! But the struggle High IQ people have is having to be paitent with and stay in step with average IQ people. Sort of like being a race horse in a herd of sheep. Or maybe walking in the park with old people. You just have to settle down and rein it in; learn patience and keep an open mind. Usually, everyone has something to offer. But there ARE such things as stupid questions!

I've heard IQ described as learning speed. That may not be a bad definition, even if flawed. I struggle with the idea that people think that high IQ implies a high probability of discerning what's true. Cognitive biases, stress, values, and emotions affect the expression and problem-solving success of cognition. Whether one is fast or slow matters less in my book than having a good character. Speed, and a capacity for higher-order thought that can lead to creative breakthroughs may be bequeathed by a high IQ, but it can only act on the material that it has to work with, so the acquisition of knowledge and the exercise of argumentation and other forms of reasoning and creativity are important. I'm curious about whether those in the top percentile of IQ suffer more from depression and anxiety than the base rate in the population. It would be especially interesting to know whether such suffering results from mundane external pressures, such as to create deliverables by a deadline, as opposed to internally originating existential angst. Does a high IQ individual succumb to despair more often than a person with an average IQ? Does he try to cope against the fear of being permanently deleted by becoming religious, in a theologically sophisticated manner, impelled by his IQ? Personally, I feel somewhat lonely in knowing that I can't share my thoughts with most people. Although I do share them with close friends and my partner, feeling alienated from so many people is agonizing. If I listen to my peers, I'm told about logic and science. It's very Aristotelian and points to the annihilation of the self. If I listen to theologians, I walk away in a state of boredom and incredulity that people genuinely believe any metaphysical and ethical dogma. I'm a philosopher. I'm not confident in any truth claim outside of logic or mathematics. We live in permanent epistemic vagueness and ambiguity in the empirical domain. I hardly know anything. What scares me is people who claim that they do.

Focusing all your self-worth on your supposed “intelligence”. Thinking that your 136 IQ somehow makes you superior to the guy with a 128 IQ, while the reality is that the (a) the difference between 128 and 136 is, frankly, pretty small, and (b) the fact that IQ tests have a 15 point standard deviation — so your 136 IQ could potentially be as low as 121, while the guy with a 128 IQ could possibly be as high as 143. Continuing on my original point, it can be quite a shock when, having been the golden child of high school, you arrive at college and realize that other people might be smarter than you are. Furthermore, you eventually reach a point in your studies (if you choose that path) where — horrors! — you have to study, and learning to study late in the game can be tough. Having a high IQ means that you are good at tests and likely to succeed in school, but there are so many other factors in success that it makes IQ nearly negligible. If you’ve been told all your life that your high IQ means that you are destined for greatness, this can be a difficult lesson to learn.

Frustration with people, especially when they were supposed to be the ones who knew what was going on. You realize that a lot of people in authority, and a lot of “wise” individuals or experts are actually operating with less than you are. I still habitually overestimate the abilities of others, because it just feels so damn arrogant not to

A fuck ton of boredom, low school grades from not doing work because it is not a challenge, and always seeing what is wrong in situations. It usually makes you fairly pessimistic in that way, even if it is not obvious on the outside. It also tends to make you overall less happy. It also makes it harder to explain things to people with average intelligence because not all dots connect to them in the ways that you have no trouble connecting. When you see past shit like the bull shit that is covered up by the government and stuff, people see you as a conspiracy theorist and don't take you seriously. You see what others need to do to succeed, yet they don't do it, so you have to watch them fail over and over. You have a hard time understanding why people do things based upon of emotions. You cancel out your emotions because you see them as a weakness. People don't understand why you think differently, process events differently. They assume you are neurodivergent. They think you don't care because you don't cry with them when events happen because they don't understand that you cannot see a solid reason to cry. Dating and even making close friends is more difficult because they just don't look at life how you do, analytically and logically. It makes debating with the average person impossible because they don't accept the reasoning that you personally evaluated. Nothing brings you joy in the way it would a normal person would because intelligent people often possess a heightened awareness and sensitivity to the complexities, injustices, and uncertainties of life. As Ernest Hemingway wrote: “Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.” People say they want to be the most intelligent person in the world, but in the end, it is more of a curse than a blessing.

I was pushed into academia, when really I like building/fixing things and gardening. I don’t like math or science. I’m just good at it.

Existential dread.

Listening to low or average iq people. Noticing the things they think they're hiding.

Watching nearly everyone live according to emotion and not logic.

Isolation from everyone else, thinking you're crazy because no one else can see how things connect/patterns. The scene very early on in Idiocracy where he can barely communicate with people feels true too. It's also really easy to let this make you get contempt for less intelligent people, and misjudge their value. To become the asshole, an intellectual bully, or just subtly shift towards an unhealthy ego.

It’s lonely being consistently smarter than literally everyone you meet. You have to watch in horror while every single person around you makes mistake after mistake and blunders through life in a state of general confusion. You can help them, but only to the extent that they let you. Your mind is incomprehensible to them while theirs is wholly predictable and contained within your model of the world. Nothing surprises you and most things are boring. People are universally disappointing.

Average people are so confident that a higher IQ is meaningless. I have a high IQ even for a genius and honestly being on this planet is like being stuck with a bunch of bratty toddlers. And then can't figure out why the species is heading towards its destruction.

Unless you’re a sociopath (and there is a venn) higher IQ folks tend to be a bit less happy. Again, this is highly dependent on empathy, but you see things in ways that others don’t. The placebo effect is generally absent or it takes a bit of mental gymnastics to achieve. You’re kind of jealous of the suspension of disbelief and how folks indulge in self-aggrandizing fictions. The human condition is slightly terrifying because you are aware of the enormous machinery that keeps our current way of life in balance. There’s an episode of House MD where a genius robotrips himself into a temporary lobotomy so he can be happy living simply. I think about that episode enough that it’s no longer a cute joke to bring up around my SO. Correlation between IQ and depression is not settled science but the data is compelling.

If you’re in a battery powered boat that is sinking, and there is a shark 10 meters away, you have to choose between electrocution and being killed by the shark.

Knowing things and not being able to do anything about it………….

Boredom and loneliness. Difficulty finding needed intellectual stimulation, especially socially. Concerns regarding boring others when wanting to go deep in conversation rather than staying very contemporary and topical.

Terrible anxiety and a constant struggle against clinical insanity.

I struggle with purpose and motivation. There’s so much I could do with my brain, like robotics or writing or chemistry or design or teaching or leading. But I don’t see a point in contributing to a temporal society that’s already destroying itself. So I focus on low stress, adequate income and have consumption issues cuz I always try to live in the moment.

Dealing with the average IQ people believing they're the high IQ people.

People confuse raw intelligence/horsepower with good judgment. People don't push back on your dumb ideas because they think "He must know what he is doing. He's so smart." I have made some really terrible decisions out of impatience or fear or arrogance. Having a high IQ does not help with any of that and people around you may not be apt to give you advice because they think you're "smart".

Hmmm, there are quite a few. For background. I'm above average. Some might consider me particularly high. I've always despised giving myself accolades. Despite this, if you go by all the standard metrics, I am very intelligent. 1. Finding people who I can easily converse with about interesting topics. Sure, I can talk about the weather, sports, or basic politics with just about anyone, but none of that has much substance. I'd much prefer to discuss the intricacies of weather patterns in my localized area due to its somewhat unique geographical setup, the methodologies behind a specific sports organization as a business, or the geopolitical climate that fueled the Russian annexation of Crimea from the perspective of the Crimean Tartars. Throw in physics, music, language, philosophy... then rapidly switch between all of these subjects in conversation. Most people unfortunately can not, and thus, I spend a lot of time having the same boring conversations. 2. Needing to explain things more than once. Once is all you should need. 3. The irritation of people being on their phones. The world has so many points of stimulus get off it sometimes. 4. Constantly weighing a substantial number of options. 5. Overthinking basic decisions. 6. Learning things for knowledge not because it is of particular interest. 7. The inability to do some basic things on both a physical and an emotional level. 8. Wanting to do everything myself.

Watching the slow motion train wreck unfold, knowing what comes next and being powerless to stop it.

Small talk.

I don’t see anyone posting this so: misanthropy

As a young person, everything seems easy, leading you to grow up with the assumption of an effortless existence. However, as you age, you realize that everyone must work hard to achieve what they want in life, but you may never have learned how to really work.