Psychologists and other experts have come up with many ways of looking at human intelligence. You’ve probably heard of IQ (intelligence quotient) tests. These assessments are specifically designed to measure aptitude and ability.
But intelligence isn’t all about IQ, and here’s why:
- IQ tests measure specific skills like reasoning, memory, and problem-solving. They can’t capture the broader picture of your capabilities overall.
- IQ tests don’t assess important traits like creativity or emotional skills.
- People from different backgrounds have varying levels of familiarity with test concepts and structure, so low scores may not always represent actual intellectual abilities.
- A 2016 research review suggests people with autism often have higher intelligence than standardized IQ tests indicate. This intelligence is simply imbalanced in ways that can negatively affect social interactions and task performance.
Many experts believe a single test can’t give a clear picture of intelligence, in part because there are multiple types of intelligence to consider. Wondering how intelligence shows up for you? Here’s a look at 10 signs of varying types of intelligence.
1. Empathy
Empathy, commonly described as the ability to experience things from someone else’s perspective, is a key component of emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence refers to your ability to understand emotions and express them in healthy and productive ways.
Acknowledging your own emotions is an important first step; however, people with high emotional intelligence generally have a pretty good awareness of what others think and feel as well.
High empathy usually means you can sense when people are struggling, often through subtle signs in their body language or behavior. Empathy can also show up as a deeper level of consideration and acceptance of the varied experiences of others.
Like any skill, empathy develops when you use it, so learning more about others and expressing your concern for them can foster even stronger emotional intelligence.
2. Enjoying your own company
Need plenty of time to relax and recharge on your own? You might already recognize your introversion, but you may not know that finding fulfillment in your own company can also suggest intelligence.
According to a 2016 study looking at the potential impact of friendship, population density, and intelligence on happiness, people with greater intelligence felt less satisfied with life when they spent more time socializing with friends.
The more time you spend socializing, the less time you have for introspective thinking and pursuing your own interests and projects. So, you could easily have several close relationships and cherish the time you spend with loved ones as long as you get enough time for yourself.
3. Understand yourself well
Knowing what you need from your interactions is just one part of self-awareness. Your personal sense of identity also relates to your perception of your – traits and abilities, life values, key life goals and desires.
A well-developed sense of self signals a high level of intelligence, since a strong self-identity typically means you feel secure in who you are, know where your skills lie and have the confidence to make choices that reflect your beliefs.
It can take time to discover these things about yourself. Even once you’ve established your identity for yourself, it can still take some effort to feel comfortable expressing yourself freely, setting (and honoring) your own boundaries and choosing a path that aligns with your values.
4. Curiosity
Perhaps simple explanations never satisfy you. You enjoy reading, art, and exploring other languages and cultures. You ask thoughtful questions that get to the heart of an issue, spend hours delving into the mines of the internet to explore a new interest, or take things apart simply to see how they work.
Curiosity, in all its forms, appears closely tied to intelligence.
In a study conducted in 2016, researchers exploring potential factors that might impact openness looked at data following 5,672 people from birth to age 50. They found that children who had higher IQ scores at age 11 tended to show greater openness to experience at age 50.
When you want answers to your questions, you go looking for them. So, you continue learning throughout life perhaps even more than you expected. Instead of accepting “That’s just how it is” as an answer, you strive to find out why. You’re more likely to see the full picture of a given situation.
5. You observe and remember
Often praised for your powers of observation? Noticing what happens around you can suggest intelligence. Working memory is your ability to store and work with specific pieces of information. In fact, the ability to notice and observe can relate to different types of intelligence:
- Good eye for patterns? Maybe your observations show up in your creative work. These are elements of spatial-visual intelligence.
- Great memory for things you read or hear? That’s your verbal-linguistic intelligence at work.
- A deep understanding of nature may even be a type of intelligence, according to Gardner. Naturalist intelligence might show up, for example, as an innate ability to recognize patterns or changes in a natural environment.
6. Body Memory
Intelligence can show up in a physical context, too. Maybe you can’t explain how to get to a specific restaurant, but your feet know the way even though you only walked to that part of town once, several years ago. Or perhaps you pick up complicated dance steps after your instructor demonstrates them just once.
High bodily-kinesthetic intelligence can translate to better dexterity and coordination. You remember patterns of movement and you can also replicate them without much effort. This can make you pretty good at sports and other physical activity, but it can also improve your skill with fine details.
7. Facing the challenges in life
Life isn’t always simple, and some people find its complex twists and turns easier to face than others.
Adaptability is a key component of intelligence. It describes your ability to adjust to new situations or changing events. This trait can also connect to resilience, which is your ability to recover from adversity.
Maybe you stand up to uncertainty, ready to meet whatever comes your way head-on. Even when things don’t play out the way you hoped, you bounce back quickly, ready to keep trying. These characteristics emphasize your intelligence particularly when you weather adversity with a sense of humor.
8. Interpersonal skills
Strong interpersonal skills also indicate intelligence. For instance, take conflict resolution. Maybe you have a gift for peacemaking between disgruntled coworkers or quarreling friends. Even when you were younger, you found it easy to calm sibling battles or cheer up frustrated parents.
This skill has several components, all of which tie back to intelligence:
- You read the body language of others, which can offer the first clues to conflict.
- You use these signals to ask questions and listen empathetically to get a full story from both sides.
- You encourage those involved to consider other perspectives.
- You help strategize potential solutions to the problem.
Getting along well with others may not automatically translate to academic genius; however, most would agree it’s a useful form of intelligence.
9. You are good at managing your emotions
Everyone deals with painful or unwanted emotions from time to time. That’s a normal part of life. The way you handle these emotions can say a lot about your emotional intelligence, though.
Generally speaking, people with high emotional intelligence can – recognize complex emotions, understand how those emotions affect choices and behavior, respond to those emotions productively, exercise self-control to express feelings at appropriate times and express feelings in safe and healthy ways.
Like other aspects of emotional intelligence, emotional regulation skills develop with practice.
10. You have a pet
Pet ownership appears to have a positive impact on mental health for many people. As people with pets often feel less lonely, find it easier to manage stress and experience fewer symptoms of depression.
How, you might wonder, do those benefits relate to intelligence?
Let’s say you talk to your pet when you’re upset. Like talking to yourself, venting your frustration to a pet that always listens can help you process pain and distress, leading to an improved mood. It’s a good way to manage emotions. And good emotional regulation, as noted above, is a key sign of emotional intelligence.
- Does the type of pet say something?
In an earlier study, researchers looking at 418 students found that the 66 participants who described themselves as cat people earned higher scores on measures of self-reliance, abstractedness, and general intelligence.
Those who considered themselves dog people earned higher scores for warmth, social boldness, and liveliness.
According to another study exploring different personality traits in dog people and cat people, dog lovers tend to score higher on the Big Five traits of extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Cat lovers scored higher on measures of openness and neuroticism. Openness, as you might recall, has been linked to intelligence.
This doesn’t necessarily mean people who choose canine companions are less intelligent. These findings simply offer some insight on how your unique abilities might guide your pet preference. Certain traits associated with dog people, like extroversion, might even suggest higher interpersonal intelligence.
