Artistic Talent: Do Intelligence and Creativity Use Different Parts of the Brain?
Well, most people think it's one or the other: either you're smart or you're creative. But according to a 2017 study from the Journal of Scientific Reports, creativity and intelligence are linked in your brain. All right, let's say you want to draw a portrait. Most people would classify drawing, sketching, and painting as creative, right?
But traditional intelligence plays an essential role in the creative process. When drawing, you rely on your attention to concentrate and your memory to recall shapes and lines. You make decisions, fix issues, and infuse your emotions every step of the way. In other words, the regions responsible for creativity and intelligence work hand-in-hand. Together, these areas of the brain recognize patterns, think outside the box, and solve problems in unique ways.
Many people think creativity and intelligence are separate skill sets, but they couldn't be more intertwined. If you're artistic, if you enjoy crafting, writing, or playing music, well then, you're probably smarter than the average person.
Self-Correcting
Intelligent people recognize when they're wrong. In fact, they point it out to themselves. When you're smarter than most people, you tend to argue against yourself. You make a point, support that point, then you think about all the reasons you might be wrong. It's like you're building an argument and a counterargument at the same time.
Why do smart people do this? Well, because they're not interested in being right. They're not trying to boost their own ego. They're arguing for the sake of learning, exploring, and challenging. They have the self-awareness to realize their ideas and opinions aren't perfect. This combination creates someone who's not only intelligent but also receptive and humble.
If this sounds like you, hey, you're smarter than the average person.
Regular Skepticism
As an intelligent person, you have strong opinions. You're confident about any ideas you express to the world, but you don't believe in just anything. On average, people can be pretty gullible. If something's interesting, exciting, or rewarding, most of the population will believe it without a second thought.
But intelligent people know when to slow down and ask questions. They know that a little skepticism pays off in the long run. It gives you the time to learn about what you're hearing or seeing. It allows you to think deeper about what you believe and why you believe it. Naturally, that careful reflection builds stronger, more intelligent values based on evidence and thorough arguments.
This doesn't mean intelligent people are stubborn. They have strong opinions, but they also recognize when someone else has a good point. Intelligent people know the world is not a binary place. Most of the time, right answers and wrong answers don't exist. Instead, there's a spectrum of opinions, some gullible and uninformed and others perceptive and insightful.
So if you're smarter than average, you take your opinion seriously. You're a regular skeptic, but you keep an open mind because you know that you're not the only smart person in the world, and those people have a lot to offer.
Emotional Overdrive
Are you often overwhelmed by your emotions, or can you keep a cool head under pressure? Less intelligent people let their emotions get the best of them. They have trouble recognizing when their opinions or behaviors are controlled by their emotions. Instead, they act without thinking and do things they regret.
Intelligent people feel the same emotions but learn to control their volatility. If you're more intelligent than most, you're good at recognizing and regulating your feelings. In other words, you can tell when you're not thinking clearly. As an intelligent person, you make fewer reckless mistakes because you don't let your emotions control your decision-making.
Childhood Reading
Did you read a lot when you were younger? Can you remember your favorite chapter books from elementary school? If the answer is yes, you're likely smarter than average. Reading is a widely supported sign of intelligence. It's a wonderful way to grow your vocabulary, challenge your thinking, and build your imagination. That's why smart people spend a great deal of their time reading. They like to ingest new information, learn about the past, and follow great stories.
But why is childhood reading so significant? Well, as a child, your brain is malleable and immature. It's growing more and more every day. So when children read, it facilitates all kinds of new growth in the regions of their brain that matter most. Think back on your favorite childhood books because those books made you the intelligent person you are today.
Uncommon Knowledge
Smart people assume others are just as smart as they are. You may use complicated words and enjoy discussing difficult subject matter only to realize most of the world doesn't understand what you're saying. Have you ever heard the expression common knowledge? If something is common knowledge, it's known by the majority of the population. Just take the four seasons: most people know there are four seasons in a year, spring, summer, fall, and winter. That's common knowledge.
But as an intelligent person, you assume everyone knows as much as you do, so your definition of common knowledge is very different from everybody else's. For example, is it widely understood that the brain is comprised of billions of neurons? Is it common knowledge that smart people rarely realize how smart they are? To you, this information may be old news, but your bank of common knowledge is more expansive than most. In other words, what's obvious to you may not be obvious to everyone else.
Difficulty Relating to Others
Many of the smartest people feel like outcasts. Growing up, your friends and family may not have seen the world the way you do. Over and over, your jokes, ideas, and comments were misunderstood. It felt like they're grasping a part of what you're saying but missing the rest.
This feeling of isolation is common among individuals with unique intellectual strengths. Without realizing it, those developed areas of your brain are changing, expanding, and streamlining different cognitive processes. Humor is a good example. Highly intelligent people may enjoy more complicated jokes because their brains jump three or four logical steps ahead. But these jumps rarely make sense to the average person, so the joke flies right over their head.
Thinking deeper than most sounds like a good thing, right? But it can be socially detrimental. You may feel like your friendships are incomplete, like no one really knows you. But the problem is you're not spending time with people in your intellectual range.
Intelligent Friends
When building strong, lasting friendships, you're more likely to bond with people of similar intelligence. These are the people who understand your ideas and sense of humor, people who make the same jumps and leaps, who come to the same logical conclusions as you do. This is true of everyone, no matter what your IQ is. You bond the most with friends and partners whose intellectual abilities are similar to yours.
If intelligence isn't your thing, your friends are probably in the same boat. But if you're smarter than average, your friends may be intelligent too. So take a hard look at your closest friends because their intelligence is a reliable reflection of yours.
Delaying Gratification
Do you practice long-term gratification? Are you motivated by long-term goals and distant futures? A 2008 study from the Association for Psychological Science found that intelligence is positively correlated with self-control. In other words, more intelligent people control their impulses, desires, and bad habits.
Just think about your own life. Are you motivated by short-term rewards or long-term accomplishments? Let's say you're at work. It's almost the end of the day, and you're looking forward to a relaxing evening on the couch. But five minutes before quitting time, your boss tells you about an amazing opportunity, a chance to further your career, but you'll have to work way later than you thought. Do you go home and enjoy your night, or do you put in the extra work to secure a brighter future?
More intelligent people choose the latter. They're willing to compromise temporary short-term rewards in favor of long-term achievements. Pay attention the next time you choose between short-term and long-term because that choice may tell you how intelligent you really are.
Lacking Explanations
A large percentage of intelligent people run into this frustrating situation. Let's say you're listening to a lecture on a complicated subject. As you're taking notes, the information is quickly clicking in your head. You feel confident that you understand everything your professor is talking about. But after class, another student asks you for help. They didn't understand a word of that lecture, so they're hoping you can explain it to them.
Even though you understand the information, you struggle to explain how or why it makes sense. So why does this happen? Well, many people have lopsided intellectual abilities. Your abstract reasoning skills are way above average, but your mechanical abilities are lagging behind. In other words, you have the brainpower to understand complicated subjects, and it makes perfect sense to you, but you lack the verbal skills to explain why to someone else.
Remember that everyone has intellectual strengths and weaknesses. No one is equally strong in every category, so go ahead and cut yourself some slack. You don't have to excel everywhere to be an intelligent person.
Conclusion
If you resonate with these traits, it's a good indicator of intelligence. Intelligence isn't just about being right or having facts but encompasses creativity, self-awareness, and the ability to understand and communicate effectively.
| Trait | Description |
|---|---|
| Artistic Talent | Interconnection between creativity and intelligence. |
| Self-Correcting | Willingness to recognize and admit one's mistakes. |
| Regular Skepticism | Ability to question and evaluate information critically. |
| Emotional Overdrive | Control over emotions and decision-making. |
| Childhood Reading | Early exposure to reading as a sign of intelligence. |
| Uncommon Knowledge | Broad and deep knowledge compared to the average person. |
| Difficulty Relating to Others | Feeling misunderstood due to advanced thinking. |
| Intelligent Friends | Friendships with people of similar intelligence. |
| Delaying Gratification | Prioritizing long-term goals over short-term rewards. |
| Lacking Explanations | Difficulty in verbalizing complex ideas. |
