There is this stereotype out there that people who are particularly intelligent tend to experience higher degrees of loneliness. The premise is that very smart people tend to attain eccentric traits, habits, and frameworks that the common person doesn’t understand or is incapable of attaining. People of higher intelligence have also been suggested to prefer solitude. This is a trend that has been confirmed by a few observational studies, but by no means is a hard and fast rule: I’m sure there are many gregarious intelligent people out there.
Yet, on the whole, this stereotype sort of makes sense. Individuals who are ambitious and have received the positive reinforcements from society to continue with their intellectual pursuits are rare just like high intelligence is a rare thing biologically. This makes an ambitious intelligent person doubly rare. Moreover, we as a society have this fascination with genius, making us easily fixated on the perhaps not-so-important proverbial “who’s the smartest person in the room” question. I think most people secretly want to be that person, if not only for very vain reasons. But after all, a person’s IQ, a highly biological trait, has been shown to be strongly correlated with other important life outcome metrics. Life, in this sense, is clearly not fair.
I think given this notion, it’s also easy to see how intelligent people can sometimes not do well in situations that prioritize teamwork, like at many US companies. I imagine the need for teamwork ostensibly comes from the need of organizations to work efficiently. One thing’s certain though, intelligence is a trait that is both multifaceted and difficult to measure. So let’s not jump to any conclusions about specific individuals here.
The Ivory Tower 
Leave a comment