[ExI] 12 Little Things That Show People You’re Intelligent

Thu Feb 4 05:05:42 UTC 2021

I view intelligence and wisdom as two different things, though definitely
related. And now there is a formal academic study of wisdom, which I find
fascinating. This list of key qualities of the wise is taken from Stephen
S. Hall 's book, "Wisdom: From Philosophy to Neuroscience..."

"1. *Emotion Regulation* – Studies at Stanford University, including brain
imaging experiments, have shown that older people process emotion
differently than younger people on average. They are less likely to dwell
on the negative, tend to value relationships more, and rebound from
setbacks more quickly.

2. *Compassion* – Electrophysiological measurements of the brains of
Buddhist monks in the midst of compassion meditation have identified a
unique pattern of brain activation, known as a “gamma oscillation,” which
may coordinate and synchronize mental activity in disparate parts of the
brain during empathic understanding and acts of loving-kindness.

3. *Moral Judgment* – Cognitive neuroscientists, in a series of brain
scanning experiments over the past decade, have identified a neural circuit
involved in moral reasoning, and have shown that moral judgment can change
depending on whether we are physically close to another person (“up close
and personal” judgments) or are acting at a distance.

4. *Humility* – Business psychologists have shown that the combination of
intense professional will and extreme personal humility are *the* essential
traits in turning a good company into a great company; by contrast, CEOs
who rank high in narcissism measures tend to be leaders—but bad ones. They
put personal drama and egotism ahead of company performance.

5. *Altruism* – Scientists have used brain-scanning experiments to identify
a tentative circuitry in the brain that monitors situations of social
injustice, and seems to prompt a form of behavior known as altruistic
punishment—decisions in which a person sacrifices personal gain to punish a
rule-breaker.

6. *Patience* – A sense of imagination about the future, a capacity which
resides in the brain’s prefrontal cortex, helps suppress the impulse for
immediate gratification, according to brain scanning experiments, and helps
people plan goals and remain optimistic about the future.

7. *Sound Judgment* – Building on a huge amount of neuroscience that has
been investigating decision-making, scientists are now teasing apart the
process of neural valuation—how the brain attaches value to various
choices. This may turn out to be the neural answer to a question asked by
philosophers for centuries about the central challenge of wisdom: how do we
decide what is most important?

8. *Dealing with Uncertainty* – Scientists at Princeton University, UCLA
and elsewhere have been investigating how the brain reacts when it
encounters the unexpected. Animal experiments suggest that habit allows us
to react more quickly when the world is unchanging, but that in an
environment of great flux, habit slows down our neural ability to adapt to
changing circumstances."

https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/2012/07/16/wisdom-studies/

This was taken from the U of Penn website and was written by Ben Dean, PhD.
And so if wisdom is a predictor of successful aging, I had better start
getting wise! Lol
Interesting Research Findings About Wisdom
"Wisdom is a positive predictor of successful aging.  In fact, wisdom is
more robustly linked to the well-being of older people than objective life
circumstances such as physical health, financial well-being, and physical
environment (Ardelt, 1997; Baltes, Smith, & Staudinger, 1992; Bianchi,
1994; Clayton, 1982; Hartman, 2000).

In a fascinating study of women through midlife, Hartman (2000) found that
those women who made major changes in the domains of love and work were
higher in the development of wisdom by midlife. Interestingly, she found
that making life changes in the 30s appeared to have a particularly
positive effect on the development of wisdom.

Experiencing stressful life events across time can facilitate the
development of wisdom--up to a point.  People seem to benefit from
stressful life experiences, particularly if they respond well to them.  But
as the ratio of negative to positive life experiences tips in favor of the
negative, wisdom is inhibited (Hartman, 2000).

Wisdom is distinct from intelligence as measured by IQ tests (Sternberg,
2000).  Indeed, Sternberg goes so far as to suggest that intelligent,
well-educated people are particularly susceptible to four fallacies that
inhibit wise choices and actions.  You can read more about these fallacies
in Sternberg's entertaining book Why Smart People Can Be So Stupid (2003),
but I will summarize them here.  As you read the list, see if you can
generate relevant examples of famous political and business leaders who
have been susceptible to these fallacies!

   - The Egocentrism Fallacy: thinking that the world revolves, or at least
   should revolve, around you.  Acting in ways that benefit yourself,
   regardless of how that behavior affects others.
   - The Omniscience Fallacy: believing that you know all there is to know
   and therefore do not have to listen to the advice and counsel of others.
   - The Omnipotence Fallacy: believing that your intelligence and
   education somehow make you all-powerful.
   - The Invulnerability Fallacy: believing that you can do whatever you
   want and that others will never be able to hurt you or expose you.

Developing Wisdom
In addition to watching out for the four fallacies listed above, consider
the following wisdom-building activities compiled, in part, by psychologist
Jonathan Haidt:

   - Read the works of great thinkers and religious leaders (e.g., Gandhi,
   Buddha, Jesus, Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela).  Read classic works of
   literature.  Contemplate the "wisdom of the ages."
   - Think of the wisest person you know. Try to live each day as that
   person would live.
   - Look up prominent people in history and learn their views on important
   issues of their day.
   - Volunteer at a nursing home and talk with residents about their lives
   and the lessons they have learned.
   - Subscribe to two news editorial publications that are on opposite ends
   of the political spectrum (e.g., The National Review for the conservative
   perspective and The Nation for the liberal perspective).  Read them both
   and consider both sides of the issues.

Remember that wisdom, like all of the character strengths we will cover in
this series, exists on a continuum and can be developed with effort."

I like the pointers he gave for developing wisdom in one's life. What would
you add to his list?

https://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/newsletters/authentichappinesscoaching/wisdom

John  : )

On Tue, Feb 2, 2021 at 4:44 AM spike jones via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

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> *…*> *On Behalf Of *Dave Sill via extropy-chat
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> *Subject:* [ExI] 12 Little Things That Show People You’re Intelligent
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> https://medium.com/the-ascent/12-little-things-that-show-people-youre-intelligent-without-you-having-to-say-it-a9dd8f34f53f
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> TL;DR:
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> 1. Showing up on time.
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> 2. Dressing appropriately.
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> 3. Remembering the little things.
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> 4. Holding the door open.
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> 5. The art on your walls.
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> 6. Your shoes.
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> 7. When you take notes.
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> 8. The state of your desktop.
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> 9. Spending money wisely.
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> 10. How you invest your time.
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> 11. The foods you eat.
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> 12. Your circle of friends.
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> --
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> Dave, the interesting thing about this is that so many of them are
> undefined.  For instance… dressing appropriately.  Who gets to decide what
> that is?  The latest fashion designer?  If someone buys and wears that
> fashion when it isn’t practical doesn’t indicate intelligence to me, it
> indicates gullibility which is nearly the opposite.
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> Consider the really objectively-smart crowd, as measured by stellar
> performance on a competition math test.  Sure, it is argued the geek crowd
> really isn’t intelligent, because they are nerdy and socially maladjusted.
> Well I ain’t buying it.  They are intelligent.  But… we do dress weird.  We
> show up at a funeral in a T-shirt with Maxwell’s equations on there and
> crap like that.  I see it as not so much a lack of intelligence but rather
> a strict dedication to hardcore non-conformity.
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> Remembering little things: I am a champion there, for I can name by memory
> all the subatomic particles in the mainstream quantum theories.  But that
> might not be what they meant.
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> Holding the door open: eh depends.  I remember doing that and getting
> yelled at: Close the damn door!  You’re letting flies out!
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> Art on your walls.  Heh.  That can be anything.  It says more about the
> judgmental yahoo deciding he is an art critic and assuming he is
> intelligent.  Harumph.  (Hey cool I may be on the road to recovery from
> becoming post-ghost Scrooge.  I have scarcely harumphed in months.)
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> Shoes.  Shoes, well OK I will buy that one.  Some shoes really are just
> stupid.  Those spike heel thingies, oh mercy.  Risky.  I come close to
> hurting myself every time I put them on, and never mind the risk of
> forgetting and answering the doorbell, having the neighbor see me in them.
> Dumb.  Don’t go there.  While not there, stay not there.
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> When you take notes.  I will buy that.  Doing that during a lecture:
> smart.  Doing that while driving: not smart.
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> State of your desktop: note he didn’t actually specify what that state
> should be to indicate intelligence, so no actual information there.
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> Spending money wisely: subjective.  No score.
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> How you invest your time: again subjective.  The writer is really saying
> if you choose to invest your time the same way she does, then she will
> consider you intelligent.  But she doesn’t say.  No score.
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> The foods we eat?  OK what foods are smart?  No score.
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> Your circle of friends: OK no worries I figured out a good way to work
> that one.  Get a bunch of really smart people together, then mutually agree
> to be enemies.  But don’t let on.  Get together and pretend to tolerate
> each other’s revolting presence.  The unsuspecting judgmental types fall
> for it: they see the gathering and assume we are a bunch of friends, and
> that we are all smart, so I must be smart too.
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> Dave I like your list better: they are all defined:
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> >… some obvious omissions like:
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> Be polite and respectful.
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> Be a good listener.
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> Be open minded.
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> Pay attention.
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> Keep your promises.
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> >…I'm sure we could add dozens more.
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> -Dave
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> Well done sir.  I would add: is capable of solving a system of
> simultaneous differential equations with complex roots.  But that would
> give me an unfair advantage.
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> I like unfair advantages.
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>
>
> spike
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