I know more than one person like this, they are so amazingly smart yet with some of the most simplistic common sense things, their thoughts on some issues are almost comical... lol
How do you explain this? I am serious!
A. Yes, it is true that Genius Level people appear to lack common sense because their minds are so far above simple things that their logic doesn't make sense to the rest of us
B. No, it is just hard to understand them because they are so smart
C. Yes, Geniue Level People are so short on common sense that they sound as dingy as a dingbat on simple things
D. Other, see my comments below, or just open the "Genius with no Common Sense" survey
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Is it true that someone with a Genius Level IQ, more often than not, lacks common sense?
No, not specifically. I think what your witnessing is the difference between book smart and street smart. If some one is schooled and spends so much time in there books then they tend to miss out on life lessons. So that's where that comes from
BUT!..
Although that behavior is associated with having a high IQ, how much book knowledge you have dose not directly translate to how intelligent you are.
There are several people born into different life style that don't get the chance to go to school that are very smart, and can show in different ways.
-A perticularly talented con-man -Someone who grew up helping in the kitchen who is amazing at baking -maybe a back woods boy who can read a football field better then a scholar could read a book
High IQ can manifest in several different ways. And often people who develope a higher level of efficiency usually loose touch somewhere else. Such as knowing a book but losing "common since". We also can't forget the idea of the "idiot sevant"
Generally something I tell people about your IQ and I don't actually know this for a fact but it's something I feel about it...
Your IQ dose not mean how smart you are. Even an idiot can learn to get really good at one or 2 topics of they focus. But instead it's more like a battery, not dictating how good but how many things you can be good at.
A person with a high IQ will typically be better versed in more topics over all verses just really good at JUST baking or studying in school.
Obveously there are exceptions to any rule and there are people that don't follow this. Sometimes stupid people just see things differently and that perspective gives them a huge advantage in a specific topic.
A michanic might not be able to read a diagram properly but he can fix any car just by putting his hands on it. And better then anyone else, cuz it just makes different since to him...
I know this is probably WAY more then any one bargened for but... That's my opinion based on the things I've observed
Yes. The problem with having very high intellectual capacity is that those people tend to be very educated as well.
When all you do is read books, stuck in a lap or office the immense majority of your time, you don't get to experience real world interactions which sharpens your common sense and the world around you; thus, its like these people are a fish out of water and can't grasp the things and circumstances around them.
I agree, I think they overthink on simple things and I think they don't have good people skills. They don't seem to be "street smart". I prefer to be in the middle of low and high IQs because at least I can have a better understanding of both sides. I think they also come off as snobby and arrogant like they're better than someone with a low IQ. But the question is would they ever do menial labour work? No, of course not, but who's going to do it then? If you put a bunch of high IQ people on an island they would end up killing each other, so if you had a mix of IQs, it would be functional since you had people to do the "dirty work"
I can see that.. I mean most times things we consider to be “common sense” are so simple that people with higher IQ can possibly get lost because they have so much knowledge they can come up with more than one solution and can’t give a concrete answer.
It may seem that way, but really, it's more about their priorities. Musical geniuses don't spend a lot of time playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, because that song is so incredibly simple that to give it any attention would be a waste of their abilities. The same is true with a genius-level network guy, or security guy, or physicist, or programmer, or drug developer, etc. They're dealing with massive, super-complex problems constantly, and they simply choose not to distract themselves with mundane issues like remembering their phone number or doing their own oil changes on their car.
Yes, it also means that such people are often socially awkward - they're used to taking to the handful of other people on the planet who also understand the problems they're working on in incredible depth, and so talking to "normal" people for them is like you and I trying to hold a conversation with a really stupid dog or something - it's frustrating - so they do it as little as possible, and they aren't very good at it.
But that's fine. Those people work better on their own in relative isolation. I used to joke about programmers: you send them an email describing the app you need in great detail, you answer any questions they have, and then you go away for several weeks until they email you back with more questions or to tell you that the beta is ready for testing. And periodically, you drop off pizzas and sodas in front of their door and send them a text to retrieve them. Otherwise, you STAY AWAY and let them work.
I don't hide - I just work 70+ hours a week. Some days, I have "waiting around" time where I can post more, and some days I don't. But I rarely go a day without at least a brief read here.
there are different types of geniuses. It depends on what you refer to common sense because realistically common sense is uncommon. Vast majority of people don’t know how to apply knowledge to the real world. Most people are looking for someone to tell them what to do and majority of the times when things don’t seem right to someone that’s intelligent it may look like they don’t have any common sense. A lot of the times they are standing up for something they feel is morally right and that can mean many different things. One is not to file under the notion of bias. Another reason why is because it defies logic.
For me someone I question me about sports and I have no clue because I don’t pay attention to it.
I know my IQ has been tested on the higher side. But I don’t believe in the test. I do have my dumb moments for sure, more like social cues. I have to stack my knowledge of social cues in such a way that It’s much like a roadmap of how to interact with people with the lowest amount of brain function, unless it’s required. I know the back of my mind I have other things I’m working on even when I’m out and about.
People always judge me, and it’s normal how they judge me, because it works in their world and their brain has learned this. Example if I don’t call someone back that person will get mad at me and think I’m being selfish or they think I’m doing on purpose. I’m just forgetful simple as that. So what is common sense? Let’s first define that.
I would say yes , considering I use to work as a Government Armed officer at a Government site with these Genius Lab scientist , that when it came to testing things they were smart as hell but they were dumb as shit when it came to common sense things , like locking their car keys in their cars while car is still running like back to back days Or tripping and falling while walking , or spilling shit because they were clumsy back to back days , I use to just shake my head at the dumb shit they would do and think damn dude how many times have you did this shit back to back and you still haven’t learned from your mistakes , I always thought it’s going To be a matter Of time before they blow themselves up. I would constantly be dispatched to assist these dumb asses for the same things over and over lol I would just assume they had so much shit running through their heads that they just easily lacked common sense , so I say yes to this question lol
Yes that's pretty common. Thinking is just not always helpful but when you're used to it and it helps you out most of the time it's hard to not think. There are drawbacks to being smart but overall it's still useful or there wouldn't be as many smart people.
I think being smart gives you a higher chance of survival but if you have ten "stupid" guys and half die the ones that survive will probably have an advantage over smart guys because they're more action oriented, take more risks and they've learned from experience.
But of the ten smart guys less of them would die because they think before they act and only do the necessary things that will get them results.
As someone who has been told over and over that they're smart but can't for the life of me figure out why, I can say that this is definitely true to at least some degree. It could be that they haven't had much experience with the outside world, either by choice or because of other (preventable or otherwise) circumstances. Or, they think far too logically, unaware of their social standing or how they present themselves in the world, even down to what's happening to them at any moment. Does this mean that all people that lack common sense are smart? Quite the opposite. There's quite a few dumb people who easily have no sense whatsoever (one look at recent news should show some of these said people).
I heard a psychologist mentioned today that a genius kid is also a "special needs" kid. Their thought process is a bit different, they think about other subjects and ultimately, they should be treated differently. If someone is a genius at math and spends all his time in pursuit of getting better at it, it won't make sense to them why English grammar is all that important. For some people it would be common sense that English is an important day to day skill you should learn the basics of, for them it could be a waste of them for their potential to flourish.
My dad is pretty smart and often doesn't show common sense, but i think everyone has mind thats different. I tend to think outside of the box so i might be able to see things that others can't. Plus smarts in school doesn't necessarily mean smarts in the real world.
Well, since common sense is subjective, I don't think it's relevant to compare it to an objective value that is IQ. One person can have common sense in one community but none in another. For example, you could say that using a computer to browse the internet is common sense. Go to a tribe in Africa and explain them how they lack common sense because they don't know how to use a computer. It's ridiculous.
To me, common sense is a notion that is more about judging people than evaluating their capacities, knowledge or intelligence.
Well it's not entirely true but kinds is. A lot of high IQ people do generally have a good sense of basic logic and common sense. It basically depends on the kind of background and upbringing they have. But then again there are exceptions where the person despite being very booksmart or in conventional senses a genius, will often lack the ability to think in terms of common sense So I guess it depends on the person.
Did that come off as odd? It means you start up from the very basic of the assumptions and build up from there. It's a bit more difficult or better more time taking to do than just analogical what everyone knows is what I know thinking (at least to some degree)...(, maybe)
Geniuses are only smart people who hangs with other smart people and is voicing the commulative effort of all the smart peoples thought to appear even smarter then they are. Smart people don't want to lower themselves to normal people level because it's dull. And raising them to theirs level is usually beyond their capabilities. So they isolate themselves and work on their projects instead.
At least the main stream ones do, can't really blame them. They are to good at learning for their own good. So they can't filter all the indoctrination and nonsense they are thought and are completely consumed in a world of lies and manipulation. Someone who is a critical thinker is the truly intelligent one especially if they can see trough both government and conspiratorial propeganda.
The super smart or hi IQ function on a different level I have heard of a man so smart he could not tie his shoes his wife had to. A simple task is beyond their scope their mind can't fathom the movement needed to tie a shoe lace but they can design a super collider in their head go figure.
It can be true that's for sure. Just varies form person to person on that. But yes this is a thing that shows up with people who have above average I. Q but it also shows up in people with normal I. Q so don't think it actually matters
there is a certain group of sort of famous thinkers of a certain type who are lost in their own thoughts but they’re not representative of all high iq people. Generally iq is in fact generalized. Dumb people are dumb in lots of ways and in fact even more likely to lack common sense.
OK, I think I am dumb then because I am having a really hard time even understanding most of these answers... is being blonde a good enough excuse? ... lol
Well who's to say they lack it? After all "common sense" is man made. And genius people are humans too to what if their version of common sense is the right one and we're the one who overdo it? There's no way to tell for sure.
People like that often have some kind of syndrome like asperger's disorder. It's like a part of the brain, the social mostly, was lacking to balance the level of intelligence
@sensible27 Sheldon is a fictional character but Sheldon is based on real people who are like Sheldon and they definitely exist.
My father used to accuse me of lacking common sense and I had no idea what that meant. As a scientific person, my mind was rooted in logic and cause and effect. Without know all the constraints and rules on the system, one cannot adequate make predictions. "Common sense" is that unspoken untaught knowledge of constraints and rules of the social systems that we live in. In a sense, it's an extension of "human nature" and mastering human nature only comes with decades of experience.
I knew a guy who was a genius. Mainly, he was was really intelligent and he was a terrible liar. He didn't lack common sense, though.
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Anonymous
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+1 y
the exact opposite I can think of several dumb and dimwitted people who don't have the slightest bit of common sense. If anything from what I been told by others about myself is that since I'm a very intelligent person I have a very low threshold for sheer stupidity and a very low threshold for people with little to no common sense.
Its true i ask a surgeon why after using my grill when he said he would clean it. He through the grill in the tall grass thinking the morning dew would clean it. Dud
I don't think that's necessarily true. What I HAVE noticed in the few geniuses I've met, is they're often very focused on a particular thing that they seem absent-minded.
No, it most certainly is NOT true. It's just something not-so-smart people tell themselves in order to feel a little better about their inability to understand even moderately complex material.
My guess is 3. It is an optical illusion that the 3 are splitting into 4 I think.
I have a friend that retired as a Google engineer at 30 that would know. He now flies all over the world as a patented puzzle designer as a hobby. This kind of thing is right up his ally. He designs way more intricate puzzles than this one.
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