Some people like to think the world of themselves. And while there’s nothing wrong with a healthy dose of self-assurance and a little bit of cockiness, we might sometimes think we’re a tad bit smarter, more good-looking, and better at things than we actually are.

When it comes to intelligence, one study found that 65% of Americans believe they’re smarter than the average American. And not all of them are wrong: more educated respondents, for example, correctly assumed their intelligence is above average.

But how do we measure intelligence? Are there any signs that betray a non-intelligent person? Two people online were probably wondering the same thing when they decided to ask what the giveaways of low intelligence are. What do you think, Pandas? Do you agree that we can measure intelligence by a single behavior? Let us know in the comments!

#1

Only use one source of news and believe it fully instead of looking across a number of different sources.

Image credits: MastodonPristine8986

#2

They talk about being an alpha male.

Image credits: mediapunk

#3

Absolute insistence that scientists are all lying because they are in the bag of government grants while Ignoring the three scientists who are Making three times money shilling for corporations.

Image credits: gerryf19

#4

Often wrong but never in doubt.

Image credits: TheGynechiatrist

#5

No self awareness.

fckiforgotmypassword:

Self awareness is a pretty big one. There’s a lot of people I know that would hate themself if they were able to meet themself.

Image credits: idahoward

#6

Instead of having a good point in an argument, they call you names and insult you.

Image credits: _90s_Nation_

#7

Sexism, racism, ableism.

And, even worse: The toxic assumption they have all the awareness they need and could never learn to do better.

A lack of awareness of your own privilege.

Image credits: Dry-Criticism-7729

#8

They don’t just not take the time to listen to other opinions, they actively shoot them down.

EmmaDaBomb:

A lot of debates you see online are going to be people trying to yell over one another. Most of the time, people pick apart grammatical errors or things that they didn’t phrase right and use it as the base of their whole argument.

An intellectual debate shouldn’t include yelling. Hear another person out before disagreeing with them.

Image credits: g_dawg_51

#9

I feel like people who ride motorcycles without wearing at least a helmet have low intelligence.

Image credits: omg-its-bacon

#10

Thinking that they know how everything works. Typically, from my own experience, the smarter someone is the more they admit just how little they actually know.

#11

They tell you about the time they scored 450 in an online IQ test.

khanfusion:

Over my years of the Early Internet, it was always easy to spot to a pseudo-intellectual by how readily they dropped 200 or close to 200 as their score. Because they didn’t know that’s a ludicrous score to lie about.

Image credits: freshprinceofponciau

#12

Using complex words without fully grasping what they mean. I do it sometimes, it makes me sound photosynthesis.

Image credits: DBD1906

#13

No critical thought. I knew a lady who got suspicious of the donkey charity adverts on TV because “if they’re helping new donkeys, why are they still showing the old ones.”

Image credits: bordercollie_adhd

#14

Not trying to figure something out before they ask for help/ no desire to learn.

Image credits: blopp_boop

#15

When they never questioned the beliefs they grew up with.

Image credits: Alone_Stress1921

#16

Laughing or mocking people for asking dumb questions.

Intellectual humility is the only way we learn.

Image credits: anon

#17

Well I’m not sure you can reliably guage intelligence by just looking at behaviour, but people who try to get on the train while others are getting off score pretty f**king high in my book.

#18

Not being able to distinguish facts from opinions.

#19

They can’t tell the difference between arguing and engaging in constructive discussion. Also they get angry when you make them work there brain.

Image credits: Affectionate-War-786

#20

The inability/unwillingness to try understand someone else’s point of view, and how their personal experiences contribute to that view. It doesn’t mean you have to accept it, or agree with it, just try understand it.

Image credits: Murky-Fox-200

#21

Repeating conspiracies they have not really researched. Because as someone that has, it’s like the writer of most of them didn’t think the logic of it to fill completion, so you run into a story with no purpose, ending, motive, or even plot. How a ton of them have to be believed in total isolation but this specifically they are willing to give the benefit of the doubt, not the reasonable or rational and educated argument.

#22

They have strong opinions about topics they don’t really even understand the basics of.

#23

Their entire personality is based off trendy identities based off Tiktok, Tumblr or Twitter.

#24

They see the world in black and white. There is no nuance. No understanding of the other side of anything. There is only right and wrong; and conveniently they are alway on the side of ‘right.’.

#25

Hate people that don’t look/act/think like them, people who are cruel. Greatest telltale signs. People with low intelligence tend to show distain towards things they don’t understand, or that don’t fit their world view.

#26

Kinda an oddly specific one, but people who brag about doing dangerous things and thinking they have the biggest c*ck in the world for it.

I had a coworker once who was bragging about the fact that he was going over 100 on the freeway that morning and my manager looks at him and says “you were going over 100 in your shit car with your pregnant girlfriend?”

#27

Repeating rhetoric, you have heard, but not being able to actually explain what it means.

#28

Not being able to learn from mistakes. There’s a Chinese proverb that says that…

Smart people learn from their mistakes, but the really wise ones learn from other’s mistakes. When it comes to fools, sadly they (edit typo) do NOT learn from anyone’s mistakes.

As long as you can learn from mistakes, you are at least half as more smart than you really need to be to succeed in life…

#29

Casual littering is one that gets me.

#30

Celebrity worship i.e. the Kardashians.

#31

Not being able to put yourself in the other persons shoes and and understand why they may feel the way they do about the situation.

#32

They think they’re always right. Not curious / open to learning.

Image credits: passthepeazzz

#33

They have a hard time understanding how a concept in one context could apply to another context.

Image credits: conspiracydawg

#34

No opinions, they simply absorb others opinions and way of thinking without context and make it their own, if you ask them why, they’ll reply with idk.

Image credits: SinisterDick

#35

They base their personality on political matters.

#36

Telling you how smart they are.

#37

Lack of curiosity.

#38

Inability to process hypotheticals and the IF scenario. That’s really the main development people have gone through intellectually over the latest handful of generations. We can entertain, not just what is, but what might be or what could’ve been. It helps us think in abstract ways that allows us to for example categorize information which is immensele useful in the types of tasks a modern society requires. It helps us with basic skills like arithmetic (“IF you have 5 apples and then remove two how ma–” “But I don’t have 5 apples though”). One of the most important abilities it gives us is the ability to put ourselves in someone else’s place (“How would you feel IF you were treated the way you treat others?” “I’m not, though”).

#39

They don’t know the difference between their there they’re.

#40

When they make a claim and you ask for sources to how they reached that conclusion and they just keep saying look it up yourself the information is out there.

#41

People who “don’t get” art or literature. *”It’s just a picture/statue.” “Reading is lame.”*.

#42

They pay for twitter.

#43

They get angry at seatbelt laws.

#44

They fall for simple scams.

#45

If you go around assessing people’s intelligence as if it was some videogame stat, you should be your own first suspect.

#46

Believers of starsign mumbo jumbo.

#47

They act like they are smarter than anyone else. They really believe they are. Flat out. No matter the education they have, they know more about any subject you bring up.

#48

Thinking being louder in an argument means you are winning.

#49

People using talking points to sound smart, but miss the topic entirely.

#50

Posting f**king arithmetic problems with basic order of operations s**t and claiming “oNlY gENiuSeS cAn sOLvE tHiS”