Research suggests that highly intelligent people get bored easily and spend more time thinking, behaviour that comes across as 'laziness'. A study by the Florida Gulf Coast University looked at a group of 'thinkers' and 'non-thinkers', studying their activity levels over the course of a week.
Smart people get bored easily.
If you're smart, curious, and have a love of learning, you might find you quickly lose interest in anything once you've figured it out. The execution side of performance might bore you, and you'd rather constantly be learning new things.
Intelligent people get bored easily – Being curious and being smart are not the same thing. If a person has both of these qualities, they may start getting bored easily. Some success comes about as a result of creativity, but others come as a result of becoming an expert in a niche area.
There's an association between boredom and intelligence, according to several studies. However, the common belief that it equals lack of creativity or capacity for recreation is a mistake. In any case, higher intellectual abilities are definitely indicative of less boredom.
Being a genius isn't as simple as being smart or having a high IQ. While intelligence is, of course, a prerequisite of genius status, there are other things at play here – including creativity, self-awareness, and an innate ability to ask questions few others have ever asked.
They try to think from various viewpoints. They try to understand how their actions affect everyone. Feelings happen in our brains and are connected to thoughts. Intelligence is about caring about what happens in the world around you, how you fit into it.
Albert Einstein: “Creativity is the residue of time wasted.” The trouble is that we live in an age in which we never get ourselves the chance to be bored.
Moreover, intelligent people also struggle with love because they value their freedom and independence. They might not be ready to give up their single lifestyle for a committed relationship. Or, even if they are in a relationship, they might still feel the need to have some “alone time” to pursue their own interests.
Boredom isn't a symptom of ADHD. It's a common result, though. Kids and adults with ADHD need more stimulation than most people. Not having it can lead to behavior that's confusing and challenging.
Staying Up Late
Intelligent people are more likely to have different sleep cycles (or circadian rhythms) than people with a lower IQ. In fact, research indicates that there's a strong correlation between intelligence and bedtime. That is the higher your IQ, the later you'll stay up.
Those with an IQ of over 125 tended to go to bed around 12:30 a.m. and wake up around 8:00 a.m. on weekdays, and go to bed around 1:45 a.m. and wake up around 11:00 a.m. on weekends. Those of normal intelligence tended to sleep from 12:00 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. on weekdays and from 1:15 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. on weekends.
A recent study published in The Independent suggests that less active individuals, “the lazy,” might be more brainy than those who are constantly active: “Findings from a U.S-based study seem to support the idea that people with a high IQ get bored less easily, leading them to spend more time engaged in thought…
The smarter the person, the faster information zips around the brain, a UCLA study finds. And this ability to think quickly apparently is inherited. The study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, looked at the brains and intelligence of 92 people. All the participants took standard IQ tests.
Notably, the average IQ score falls between 85 and 115. A score above 140, meanwhile, is considered to be genius level.
This isn't necessarily true, and while not all quiet people are necessarily smart, highly intelligent people will often refrain from speaking if they are accessing a situation. They will take some time to think about what was said and prepare an adequate response, and they find silence better than pointless small talk.
Studies have also found that higher IQ is associated with more mental illness, including depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder.
The cliche that intelligent people are emotionally immature may be more false than true because research does show that emotional intelligence is associated with academic achievement and academic achievement is an indication of intelligence.
Recap: 4 Reasons highly intelligent people fail
They are born into bad circumstances, poverty, a toxic family, a lack of resources and opportunities. They suffer from mental illness, which creates myriad other barriers to career advancement and better paychecks. They lack people skills or are arrogant.
Feeling unsatisfied by an activity, or uninterested in it, can lead to boredom. Boredom may occur when you feel energetic but have nowhere to direct your energy. It may also occur when you have difficulty focusing on a task.
Fearful that the Germans would beat WWII Allies to a nuclear weapon, physicist Albert Einstein wrote to FDR, urgently pushing America's A-bomb development. But after the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he and many scientists on the project publicly expressed deep regret.
Boredom is the root of evil; it is that which must be held off. Idleness is not the evil; indeed, it may be said that everyone who lacks a sense for it thereby shows that he has not raised himself to the human level.
Some psychologists believe that the ability to listen to another person, to empathize with, and to understand their point of view is one of the highest forms of intelligent behavior.
For example, raw speed in processing information appears to peak around age 18 or 19, then immediately starts to decline. Meanwhile, short-term memory continues to improve until around age 25, when it levels off and then begins to drop around age 35.