I’ve oft wondered if smart people are generally nicer than those not-so-smart? Philosophically speaking we would be forced to reckon that the answer would vary depending on peoples views of what intelligence really is.
Smart, as in Book smart, with little to no common sense? Or Smart as in very intelligent, with little to no ignorance? There are several combinations of varying degrees of intelligence.
Of my own personal opinion, I have noticed that the more intellectually and socially intelligent someone is, the less likely they are to be mean or ignorant.
Of course there are people out there who are smart and mean. That is a given, but those who choose to be mean in my opinion are demonstrating their lack of social grace, and subsequent ignorant unintelligence.
Now, there are people in this world who are intelligent and find that from time to time they are mean to someone. Sometimes it is okay to be mean. i.e. If some punk teenage kid ignores a cross walk and almost hits your baby in the carriage you are walking infront of you, then shouting expletives in his direction is fine by me.
Are Intelligent people then intrinsically nice?** Does being mean to others – when not warrented – signify that someone is lacking a certain facet of what it takes to be very intelligent? **
I just heard someone on CNN describe the sniper as an evil genius.
An evil genius!
And I always thought comic books were the domain of the evil genius.
The Joker is an evil genius. Lex Luthor is, without a doubt, an evil genius. The Riddler just might be an evil genius. Hell, I’ll even go into the realm of literature and admit that Professor Moriarty was probably an evil genius.
If this sniper guy is an evil genius, don’t be surprised if Bat Man or Superman pop around the corner sometime in the near future.
Anyway, to answer the OP, yes, apparently there are evil geniuses in the world.
Nope. I know plenty of honestly intelligent people who are, plain and simple, jerks. I’ve had the misfortune of knowing several people who were jerks because they were intelligent, feeling that others were beneath them to be nice to.
You’ve heard the expression “he doesn’t suffer fools gladly”? This comes to my mind when thinking of intelligent people who are not easy to get along with. Still, I think smart people may have a tendency to consider what they are about to say more carefully, not make blanket statements, avoid snap judements, etc. The result of this kind of thinking could be a pleasant (or at least not mean) personality. Ignorance, on the other hand, leads to bigotry and hatred.
I do not think that is what the OP is about necessarily.
I say I must agree. I spent the better part of my career – now retired – as a marketing analyst and senior partner to a decent eclectic little marketing and ad firm. I have met hundred of people over the years that were pretty much the slime of humanity. Some were pretty intelligent but those that got off on making someone look bad or went out of their way to cause mayhem, showed me that they were not really that smart. Sadistic maybe but not exactly Steven Hawking material.
Was Einstein a mean or nasty guy? Not from anything that I know of the guy.
I know what Legomancer is saying, I think we all do, but I do think Phlosphr is asking something else entirely.
I do think very intelligent people have a tendency towards beng a little nicer and less crude. So Yes. I agree with the OP.
This is precisely what I am saying in the OP. I beleive this whole heartedly. I’d love to conduct a study where I work, on niceness. Develope a small battery exam to take with some intelligence scales attached to them and see if niceness has a qualifiable/verifiable connection with intelligence!!
I disagree with your Coda. Looking down on someone is looking down, whether it is for skin color or being “dim.” Both are a form of ignorant meanness.
I feel that there a certain segment of the smart people population who for whatever reason feel they must constantly “prove” their smartness by “proving” that others are stupid. Its very cruel, not to mention annoying.
So, on the whole I’d say that smart people are no nicer than average.
My boss once told me I was “almost always the smartest person in the room, and you don’t suffer fools.” And that was AFTER I had made a long-term effort not to be judgmental and off-putting.
I think that many intelligent people, particularly those with “innate” intelligence come to a point where they grasp an issue instinctively, clearly and with a complete lack of understanding or patience for those who come to a different conclusion.
There’s also an entire subcategory of intelligent people who have virtually no social skills. These people are not deliberately mean or rude, but have a blind spot when it comes to interpersonal relations.
Of course, ignorant people have character flaws, as well, but that wasn’t the question. I’d have to say there is no correlation.
I’m gonna go with the OP. I’ve thought for a long time that people who are both “smart” AND possessing decent social skills are more likely – although obviously not always, as nearly everyone has mentioned – to be nicer people.
It’s not hard to imagine why. Smart people tend to be empathetic. Smart people understand how they may affect people’s feelings. Smart people think ahead and consider the effects of their actions on others.
I would agree with the last sentence of the OP: if an otherwise “smart” person is mean and insensitive, then they are missing a vital part of human intelligence – that is, it is “smart” to be kind and it takes a certain “smartness” to be considerate of others.
This isn’t to be dismissive of “nice” people who are “less than smart”. Rather I would argue that nice people are possessed of a certain social intelligence that governs how they treat other people. The relationship between “smart” and “nice” is thus circular.
And this I believe is quantifiable through study. I plan on presenting this to one of my classes and seeing if they would be interested in taking on a research project of this nature. Fascinating stuff if you ask me. I wonder if there could possibly be some type of equation for niceness to come from all of this. i.e. someone in posession of certain social qualities would show a tendancy towards niceness and forethought in different social interactions. Hmmmm.
I think you are missing an important point. That being that it is not unusual for high intelligence to be coupled with difficulty socializing. The whole geek thing is not entirely a myth. Many very intelligent people just plain suck at interacting with others.
So I think you have to distinguish between the highly intelligent being intentionally cruel as opposed to being cluelessly cruel. I know some people with blazing intellects who can offend an entire room full of people and never be aware that they have done it.
In order to be “nice” you have to have the social know-how to determine what is “nice” and what is “mean” in any given circumstance. A lot of very smart people don’t have the social skills to do this consistently.
Degrace I am not sure I can agree with you completely. The people you speka of with blazing intellects who can offend an entire room are missing a key point, and its not just lack of social skills. Intelligent people who understand what they are going to say before they say it, and who think before they act show a certain key element that others who offend don’t or can’t or choose not to.
The Geek Stigma attached with those who are intelligent and not very social does have some significance here. You said:
This is true, but lacking in social skills does not mean that that person will rip anothers head off for being ignorant. I haven’t met very many bully/geeks. The intelligent-geek/type – people that I know are actually quite nice once you get to know them.
I was a little unclear on how you were defining “mean”. I think intelligent people are less likly to be mean on a petty manner. IMHO, inately intelligent people are not as likely to shouting obsenities out of frustration. And educated people are more concerned with not appearing unintelligent by giving in to frustration. However, actual cruelty is another matter altogether. I doubt any correlation exists there.
It seems to me that you’re taking counter-examples of non-nice, intelligent people, and saying that “well obviously these people are missing some facet of intelligence.” So in other words - are nice people nice? Yes, they are. Are intelligent people nice? Sure, if you include “being nice” as a requirement for “intelligence”.
However, I have seen many, many intelligent, geeky, intellectuals who are rude, condescending, insulting, obnoxious, and downright mean. If I wanted to get fired, I could say even more. If you met these people and knew about them, you’d have no doubt they’re smart. You’d also have no doubt that they’re thoroughly unpleasant people.
I’ve known (know) plenty of ‘not-so-smart’ people who were very nice and well mannered. They may not be able to name the curent president of their own country but they weren’t jerks.
I also think social skills and niceness are two sperate qualities. Just because someone had difficulty in say getting a date does not preclude a level of niceness. Of course, the inverse is true in that there are some social butterflies who are mean and cruel.
and Phlosphr
Really?
You find that the more intelligent are less likely to be ignorant? What do you mean by ignorant?
I think I come at it from the opposite side: I’m more likely to think a person is stupid if they act like a jerk at our first encounter. I realise that this isn’t always an accurate assumption, but it’s the feeling I usually come away with.
Well if you are going to limit “meanness” to only include violent busrts of temper I would tend to agree with you. But if you are talking a woman walking into the room in a butt ugly dress and asking, “What do you think?” Then I think the less than intellegent people whith some social skill are going to say, “My that’s very unusual.” or something of the sort while the geek, more interested in accuracy, is going to say something like, “That’s a butt ugy dress.”
An extreme example yes but I have personally witnessed things of this magnitude, things that just make a room go quiet all of the sudden while everyone thinks, “Did he really just say that?”
That is the kind of social cluelessness that I am talking about. Not being intimidating but being too honest or being wildly inappropriate just because they don’t have a clue about interacting with others. While this isn’t exactly mean behavior it sure isn’t nice.
These same people can be loutish, bigoted, offensive, demeaning, etc. All things that are usually considered “mean”.
To the OP, I’d say that I know plenty of intelligent people who are outwardly very nice…but away from the scene they become back-stabbing, Judas worshipping, assholes. With intelligence seems to come a whole wide arena of areas about which they can criticise someone.
[Best Frasier voice]“My God! Can you believe he doesn’t know Sartre?”[/Frasier]
So, I was recently reading a non-fiction book about social aggression in girls. An interesting point was that “girl bullies” AKA “mean girls” are usually highly intelligent AND highly socially adept. They were able to easily manipulate adults, who most often believed them to be “very sweet” people. Meanwhile they were very cruel to their peers, but escaped
I believe it takes a high level of intelligence to achieve this. Unintelligent people are not believed when they are two-faced, simply because it takes intelligence to get keep your facts straight while maintaining two or more personas (I also believe most intelligent people are more adept liars).
I give this as an example of people are intelligent AND socially skilled, yet who still persist in cruelty. I sense you are a man. I think if you speak to women of your aquaintence, EVERY ONE will remember a “mean girl” who got away with it in their childhood. Not all smart, social people have worthwhile outlets for their intelligence.
