While
online yesterday I found an infographic that presented the conclusions from
several different studies about intelligence. Each of these studies evaluated
different things to see how they indicated a person’s IQ. Two of them were
based on genetics, two on family dynamics and the remaining four on things that
can change throughout life.
The
two based on genetics are being tall, and being left-handed. I guess one of the
two isn’t bad.
The
family dynamics were being the first born, and having music lessons, which cuts
out a whole lot of kids who come from poor families. My own son, has never been
able to have them, because they weren’t offered in school and we couldn’t
afford them, yet he’s extremely intelligent, even if he isn’t first born.
Three
of the remaining four things involve your health. One was being thin. One study
correlated healthy mind with a healthy body. According to that study the
intelligent people took better care of their physical health, and one of the
other studies agrees with it. They concluded that highly intelligent people
were non-smokers. However, another study said highly intelligent people, at
some time in their adult life, used, yes, I said used, illegal drugs. It seems
contradictory for a person who intelligently takes care of their health by
staying a healthy weight and not smoking to engage in risking behavior like
drug use which is proven to destroy a person’s health. I’m intelligent enough
not to engage in such risky behavior.
The
last one was being a cat owner, well I’ll generalize it to cat person.
Apparently cat people tend to be introverted and pursue more intellectual hobbies,
you know, like reading and writing.
As
I discussed this list with my daughter it occurred to me that she could prove
them wrong. Okay, she is a thin, non-smoker and being ambidextrous can claim
left-handed, plus she did have a little bit of music lessons in grade school.
She is however, my middle child. She’s also intelligent enough not to use
illegal drugs and although we consider her tall in my family I sincerely doubt
those doing the study would consider her petite 5’4” frame as tall. Plus as she
pointed out, she is a dog, not a cat, person. However, her hobbies are more
intellectual ones. Namely the reading and writing.
Recently,
to enroll in college, because she hadn’t been able to take the ACT, she took
some entrance exams. When her counselor saw her scores she commented that she
had never seen such a high grade in language arts before, it was off the charts,
and my daughter did it fresh out of high school. And though her math scores
were lower, they were still high enough she didn’t have to enroll in remedial
math classes but could start with college level classes.
So
she gets four out of eight. Then again so do I. Seems to me we’re doing pretty
good in the intelligence department.
Anyway,
the whole thing got me thinking about how we have this tendency to judge people,
trying to put everyone in neat little categories, and I find myself repeating
my favorite saying.
No
two people are exactly alike.
Think
about it.
Putting
people into neat little categories says we’re all alike in some ways. That it’s
impossible for a cat lover to be an extrovert or a dog lover to be an
introvert, or an intelligent person to be fat or a smoker, or the middle child.
Be
intelligent.
Think
outside the box.
Smile.
Make the day a brighter day.
