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Are less intelligent people more emotional?
Posted by satijournal • 6/30/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: Emotion, intelligence
Are less intelligent people more emotional than their smarter counterparts? It seems to me from experience that people who aren't so bright deal with things more emotionally. They get mad when people disagree with them rather than engaging in an honest discussion.
Anyone know of any studies done on this? Thoughts?
User Comments
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Take that back god damn you!!!!!!!-
*BLEEP* YOU, YOU *BLEEP*in' *BLEEP*!!!
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*bleep*in', *bleep*!!! Why the *bleep* are my *bleep*in' posts getting *bleep*in' bleeped?!!
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I don't know of any studies done on it - however I think it's safe to say that if a person cannot communicate what their problem happens to be, then what happens is that they get frustrated, hence emotional. The same can be said for not understanding something - it causes frustration, and then emotive responses.
What that tells me is that regardless of intellect, if a person gets frustrated they get emotional. I know very intelligent people who do not communicate well, and so react emotionally - and people without much intelligence react the same way. Also - some people are book smart, some people are street smart, and once either one is thrown into a situation they do not understand - the frustration level increases, and thus, the emotions. -
arrrghhh! how dare you bohohohohohoh! i am so offended! -
No, not less emotional. Maybe, in some cases, more aware of constructive ways to express their emotions.
But many intelligent and highly educated people also have strong opinions and get all worked up over ideas and because of those ideas are capable of much aggression and violence. -
Im a water fountain here. -
I have a friend who is intelligent, so much so that he over analyzes everything and kills every social relationship he's ever been in. But anyways, he got into an argument, moreso with himself, about homosexuality at a friends party, went into a mad rage, which ended out with my friends car being lit on fire (no kidding) along with another friends motorcycle that was parked nearby. Fortunately for him, no one pressed charges, (luckily my friends car was owned by her bf who she had just broken up w/ so she didn't mind), but I remember he went ape shit because no one would agree with him, or so he said at the time. -
Today you can't talk to anyone with different viewpoints. It always gets into an argument. If you are going to eat out, you have to eat out by yourself or with someone that agrees with you on everything. That is just the way it is today.
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Dont know about studies.. but experienced this sort of behavior.. both in real life and online -
I would think culture, social conditioning, verbal skills, etc would have a role in that. I don't think I have seen any research to support a view either way. -
Well, uhh, not sure about that one. I would never say I'm the brighest out there, but I've often been told I'm pretty emotionless. But I have ADD, which may be why, I guess. Shiny things excite me at times, and I have the tendency to blank out in the middle of a sentence. Maybe the ADD, is the cause for my lack of emotion.
hehe, dammit and speak of the devil. Nevermind, anyways, do any of you guys ever use Getafreelancer.com? I have mixed emotions about that place. But I don't know, I like facebook for my online time though I never use it. What new computers are out right now?
But regardless I have never been the type to say I was a genius or anything, but I've come to find emotions as a distraction rather than anything productive.
Oh! oh! I should add that maybe it's the sense of anonymity online that gives people a sense of security when overly displaying emotions in arguments and the like online. Being able to hide your face and say what you like could have a decreasing effect on one's IQ.-
GetaFreelancer is a rip off. if you're looking to buy cheap work go there, but if you are a provider, don't because no one wants to pay you what your work is worth.
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I think affect and intelligence are measured separately and don't have a direct correlation. Affect, or the objective manifestation of emotion, has more to do with temperament. I refer to the Five Factor Theory a lot which measures aspects of openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Those aspects correlate with the ease of expressing emotion more directly than the aspects that presume to "measure" intelligence (things like long- and short-term memory, processing ability, and metacognition). Of course, conditions like environment and experience further mold an individual's emotional responsiveness. I've seen people with low cognitive processing ability who were wildly emotional and those with completely flat affect. I've seen people with very high processing skills who were very unresponsive emotionally, and some who were very demonstrative. I don't see where the two are directly related, based on what I know.
A lot of the time, excessive emotionality occurs because of frustration, or disguises the fact that there are no facts to back up one's side of the discussion. I just want to know who you got into it with!
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I have a highly intelligent friend, who also has ADD. He gets absolutely pissed off if you tell him you don't like Star Trek. So no, I think emotional intelligence and any other type are separate.-
No, it is not, I said it because WTR said that he might be less emotional because of his ADD. Not everyone that has ADD is emotionless.
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Is ADD a sign of poor IQ @@????
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Hey! I'm gonna take that as a personal stab at......Oh look! a quarter!
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I have ADD so it is personal for me.hmmm..where was i again?
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I have a mild ADD, it happens a lot among scientists, you can almost say we need it to do everything at the same time. So, no, I don't consider myself less intelligent or less emotional for it.
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Personally, over all these years, I've come to like it. If you don't let it get you down ADD can be really fun. I mean being entertained for me isn't that expensive.
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No. I think they are just as emotional. I think intelligent people react differently - most I know analyze their feelings and then store them away, regarding them as 'unnecessary'. I do this, and I believe it's kind of unhealthy; I wish I could express my emotions as easily as some do. -
When I've worked on a team of programmers, there was almost always someone who would get pissed off during the meetings. That person would always be a pretty average or below average developer.
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We can go another route with this.
People with higher intelligence and abilities, like say in your programming scheme, tend to have a sense of confidence, or conceit about them. As a result, there are less motives to become frustrated over. So you may see them as being less emotional compared to those with lower abilities or intelligence and the frustration that comes with trying to keep up and prove themselves.
It's not about because he's lesser in ability he's obviously more emotional, it's just different triggers for each. In this case it simply becomes a technique debate. While someone may be more prone to emotion when his ideas or results aren't on par with someone of higher skill, if you challenge the "better" and I'll use that term loosely, and take out or challenge their confidence, you'll more than likely see an emotional outburst. -
Would that make Dick Cheney highly intelligent.... or does he just bottle it up until one day he shoots someone in the face? -
@Agit8r - BUWAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
*snort*
hahaha
chuckle.
Giggle.
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I don't think so... there are many cases of geniuses who were emotionally immature (Mozart), mentally ill (Nash), prone to rage or depression (Michelangelo/Leonardo), self-destructive (name a writer or musician of your choice), etc.
Just because you judge programmers... well, that isn't a spectrum worthy of conclusion. How do you know that "average" developer isn't also a cosmologist on the side, a natural musician or perhaps brilliant at fixing motors? There are many variations of "intelligence."
I worked in IT for ages, and I've known some mutant smart programmers who couldn't change a tire to save their lives, couldn't organize their time and projects logically, couldn't spell or punctuate (which can unfairly make a person look illiterate, even if they are quite bright), and one threw regular shrieking tantrums if someone over-cooked popcorn in the deaprtment microwave.
Intelligence is something you are born with. Knowledge is something gained over time. Based on your buttons, emotions are completely normal, and fluctuate per-situation in every human -
That's understandable because art is largely an emotional pursuit. Engineering is an analytical pursuit and so emotions should play a trivial role.
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Bah. Nash was a mathematician. Michelangelo was an engineer/architect. You make it sound like there are no analytical artists, or no emotional engineers? LOL…you had such an agenda with this question. I wasn’t creating a divide; I just listed some geniuses (not all of whom were ‘artistic’) because your question tried to equate lesser intelligence with emotion, which clearly isn’t a standard.
Besides, artists aren’t just emotional loons. Given the knowledge of anatomy, perspective, light, and even mathematics needed for visual arts…everything from painting to sculpture to photography has systems of analysis. The factual verification and research needed to be a writer? The practice and discipline needed to be a musician? Those can also be very technical pursuits with “particular methodology” – just like engineering. -
Michelengelo was not an engineer or architect.
Da Vinci was, not Michelangelo. He was a trouble maker, pure and simple. -
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni was absolutely both, in addition to being a sculptor and painter (his least-favorite pursuit). He designed unique staircases and domes, engineered structural portions of both the Laurentian Library and the Medici chapel along with Brunelleschi, and was responsible for the remodeling of the ENTIRE Campidoglio in Rome! I've been there.
However bad-tempered his reputation, his work on the Sistine Chapel, David, Pietas and various buildings are exquisite. Not only was he an architect, he was CHIEF ARCHITECT for St. Peters Basilica in the mid-16th century.
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Well there are people with high IQ but the EQ is low.
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True. EQ is more important for determining a person's success. So are people with a low EQ more emotional?
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I don't think they're more emotional, just not as mature.
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I don't think this is true at all. I am a highly emotional person. I cry easily. I get angry easily. As I have gotten older, I have learned to keep my anger in check and not go into rages, but it took a long time to get to that point. I have always been considered highly intelligent, just not so stable emotionally. My IQ is in the top 5% of the population. I graduated at the top of my class in high school, with honors in college.
I think emotionality has more to do with maturity and childhood experiences more than anything. -
I can't believe you're all talking about me like this. What a bunch of #%*@##!! -
Hey! I have no hair!
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yea,but your not dirty and old,haha.ur cute
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oh yea,I've been meaning to say something to u about celtic music,the celtic woman just played memphis,I couldn't go but I saw it on tv,and loved every minute!!
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Hehehe*blush* aw shacks they're there huh? That's cool news.
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were u meaning to say,shucks? hahaha
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I think that people who are less articulate and not as well schooled in language are more apt to come off that way in the virtual world. This is due to frustration. There is a reason for language, a reason for sometimes long, and often esoteric words. Words of that nature are often more specific in their meaning and can help people communicate an exact meaning of a difficult concept more clearly, making their arguements more effective. I don't think it really has anything to do with intelligence or emotion in a general sense.-
Expressing emotion has nothing to do with intelligence. Being more emotional can result from hormonal changes. I have heard of studies where men were given estrogen and they experienced crying more often. I would go as far as saying that someone who is able to express emotion is probably much healthier than someone who tends to hold in their emotions.
I do think that being overemotional can affect your judgment and your ability to think clearly at times. If someone has an anger management problem then it does reflect on how others view them. In a heated discussion the one who keeps his/her cool and is able to think clearly tends to have the upper hand. But this doesn't mean that the person is more intelligent.....just a little more savvy.
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yea,I agree with that,j
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@HollytheHousewife oh yeah that's what i mean. my accent got in the way
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Haha
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good question!
however by my understanding, what you stated is just seemingly true. emotion and intelligence are 2 different qualities but not necessarily contradictary to each other. in a lot of case, highly intelligent people can be very emotional, because sensiblity or passion (they belong to emotion right?) can coexist with wisdom. on another hand, un-intelligent people can be un-emotional too because they could be less sensitive than intelligent people.
for those people get "mad" when other people disagree with them, they are certainly not intelligent. but i won't call them "emotional". they are simply stupid.-
for those people get "mad" when other people disagree with them, they are certainly not intelligent. but i won't call them "emotional". they are simply stupid.
You shouldn't talk about right-wingers like that. Not in this forum, anyway.
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What I was refering to was in how people deal with making decisions. Do you approach non-interpersonal problem solving mainly using logic or is there an emotional element?
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If it's not personal, then logic rules for me.
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Sati: By non-interpersonal do you mean discussions about ideas?
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There have been some people of extremely high intellect who were also deemed insane or psychotic. Prisons are full of them. Sometimes the higher the degree of intelligence, the more difficult it is to reason with people. Intellect and emotions are like two parallel lines that often don't intersect. -
More likely people who are more emotional appear stupider because at the moment of passion some of that brain capacity locks down. Also, passion can be a source of strength as well, enabling you to handle pain and suffering from the outside, but in terms of sheer logical power, it will compromise you momentarilly.
(You generally judge intelligence by optimal abillity, as many works of intelligence [art and science, for instance] are not timing dependent.)-
Sad to say i am guilty of that one. Discussions like this one makes me feel passionate. I gonna get medication
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No. -
Well I saw this movie based on a true story. A beautiful mind. It was about a scitzo who was very emotional and I do believe he one the nobel peace prize,and he was also genius smart,I would even call him a savant,so I think emotion has nothing to do with one's intelect. Also I'm an emotionial person,and I could be prez of the usa IF I wanted to,or anything else,IF I wanted to.
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Emotive decisions tend to seems stupider in hindsight than logical ones. This probably has an effect on our perception.-
Geekier language for exactly what I said. Bravo.
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highly intelligent people lack one thing necessary to function well - Common sense!
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Um, no.
As I mentioned here: www.kobrascorner.com/fury/stupid-shit.php
"Common sense is nothing to be proud of.... What actually constitutes as common sense? Having the same biases, misconceptions, and delusions and making the same assumptions, fallacies, and misinterpretations as the other mentally deficient simians in your community?" -
VK: I think you're confusing common sense, which is basically just intelligence that doesn't have to be educated or learned, with folk wisdom. True common sense no one has to teach you and actually does work quite well for 95% of life. Although you are right to point out that there is a fine line you can cross, as long as you know when to change gears with your mental stick shift you should be fine.
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Without common sense we'd walk off the first cliff we came across.
I think you're talking about received ideas, which is a different thing. False notions about how the world works and is constructed, which science can correct if we let it.
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Well there's also "emotional intelligence" which is basically understanding your own emotions and what triggers them, and then learning to suppress/channel them correctly & productively. But a lot of brilliant people CLEARLY don't have this skill and are socially inept, while a lot of uneducated people show ridiculous amounts of patience and wisdom in trying circumstances.
Then again, if you're already moderately intelligent, you're more likely to understand the importance of cultivating emotional intelligence in the first place. So.... -
I've not noticed a correlation between intelligence and emotion among people I have known or do know.
My mother in law is both the most intelligent person I know as well as being far and away the most emotional person I've ever experienced.
I've meet some not so bright people who are almost scary calm.
I'm neither idiot or genius and am very calm.
Someone mentioned perception in relation to this question.
I know I've often watched another persons emotional reaction to something and was 100% bewildered as to why they were reacting as they did thinking their reaction was senseless.
I look at all the emotion over the death of M. Jackson and cannot relate in anyway and believe the persons to not be at all rational.
I suspect their reaction and my considerations of their reactions doesn't really say much of anything about their intelligence or my own.-
I look at all the emotion over the death of M. Jackson and cannot relate in anyway and believe the persons to not be at all rational.
I can understand that. John Lennon's death in 1980 got me a bit emotional. But I rarely get emotional when it comes to technology or something that involves critical thinking.
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I guess it's more a personality trait than intelligence. I know some bright people who get emotional when they're talking about Microsoft vs. Macintosh, which is pretty silly. Somebody mentioned this already, but maybe it's a matter of maturity.
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I remember Lennon's murder and have to admit I did feel a tad emotional about it myself.
I can also relate to the computer thing.
I'm not sure emotional is the word but I do become frustrated knowing that Linux is a superior product to Microsoft and having MS users tell me other wise. -
Ditto.
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i think it all goes back to childhood. if you have been raised like a spoiled brat then yes you end up acting like a spoiled brat all your life. that also means throwing tantrums if you can't get what you want.
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I think people that are more intelligent tend to be more numbed to feelings in general. -
I don't think so, only less paid/less respected/less friends people who always ends up emotionally. -
LOL how about rich people acting like that?
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Perhaps. But it really depends on the individual.
A person who is not inclined to having skills of reasoning, would not know how to reason out his own feelings and would often seek alternate avenues to deal with them or express them out. Often the consequences of his actions, influenced by his emotions would not be for the best, for him and for others.
Another person who is intelligent, might not address his emotions directly and bottle them up. It's just a start to bottle up one's emotions, that ain't healthy. -
IntoTheAzureSea: now you got me thinking there.
so wisdom is having that voice of moderation from within. it is being able to have control over the spiritual,physica,emotiojnal and mental aspect of existnce. -
It's a good argument. However, it's a tough question to answer. I don't know of any studies, but I know of both the intellectual and the less intelligent,each of whom show too much emotion at the wrong time. So, I'm inclined to believe that perhaps it's more a matter of ones social experience that makes one able to control their emotions better. But heck, what do I know eh? -
its hardly a yardstick to measure i guess.. dont know, never judged from this aspect.
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