In general, does it take a smart person to realize fairly easily that someone else is smart?

Question

I know that this sounds like an odd question, but I have really wondered about it due to my recent experiences. I have been around other intelligent people throughout much of my life, be it in grade school, college, and beyond.

Recently, I have started a career change and am temping while exploring my options. The people I work with at my temp job aren't complete idiots but at the same time they aren't the brightest people in the world.

For the first time in my life, its not automatically understood that I am smart. On one hand, I shouldn't really care, but it still bothers me. There is a certain amount of training involved for the job which I find ridiculously easy, but the supervisor still is always double checking my work and overexplaining things. I need a job while I apply to grad school, but this is driving me crazy.

So, does one need to be smart to understand "their own kind". Any advice on how to handle this situation would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Pretty much, yes. The problem isn't so much that they underestimate your intelligence (which they do), but that they overestimate their own, and use that as their personal barometer.

Ever see actors try to play an intelligent character when they clearly don't know what it's like to be intellgent? The parody that ensues pretty clearly shows that the average person's idea of hyperintelligence is pretty far off the mark.

There is no way to handle it. Just try to appear competent, and eventually, they'll get off your back unless they're certain types which absolutely must micromanage you, which is more of a personality issue than an intelligence issue.

Answer 2

To answer your question No! it doesn't take a genius to see how smart another person is. It's all a matter of wisdom and intelligence combined to be noticed as a person who is amongst the ordinary people. You mentioned a career change, so you have to give credit to those that have been there before your for a period of time to know how things operate in the workforce. There's the knowledge of your job...based on the job description - how well you perform and how you feel about your job while performing it - there's the knowlege of how everyone works - the do's and does not's - keep yourself in line with who and what you say cause word gets around and the rest is really up to the individual on the receiving end..in other words listen just don't say alot, don't be judgemental towards what you hear - practice the in one ear - out the other technique - you'll gain alot of respect / and if word gets it that doesn't make sense - use ignorance not drama cause that's exactly what others want to see from you - if the job appears to be easy - talk to your supervisor and get his opinion on what he thinks of your performance - maybe he's being cautious based on how others trained but to be effective use the honest and open policy. Let him know how you feel about the job and ask him if there are more challenges( being as confident as you are) to expect because it sounds like you are anxious or maybe even suggestions on how to get things on the lighter side. Remember smart goes a long way - so common sense is the best thing that can make people stand out since it is useless for others to know how smart you are, but a great tribute when you have both smart and common sense. I hope that this helps you to think how to become a part of a new surrounding - at the same time accept those around you without criticism - what goes around - comes around. Smile and enjoy the moment!

Answer 3

As i can see from what you have said is that probably for the first time you are doing in which you have a natural talent or may be a genuine interest and that's why you find it pretty simple to follow. Every one in this world is smart at something or the other. Show your supervisor that you are capable of handling the job without much difficulty. I am sure things will change in your favor soon enough.

Answer 4

There could be a few different things going on here.

First, people don't walk around with their IQ's stamped on the foreheads, but even if they did you could have an IQ of 150 and go try to learn a job at, say, McDonalds and have trouble in the beginning because a decent IQ doesn't mean a person automatically knows how the burger machines work or where to get the frozen whatevers out of the back or how a floor has to be mopped at 9 on the dot, etc. So it is possible that the people you work with just assume that because you are a temp and they have been there for a while (and are the ones who know what they need you to do) that they should explain because that's only fair.

At the same time, the world has prejudices. People don't think high IQ's come in people who look like, say, Goldie Hawn or Jayne Mansfield (160 plus, I believe). People tend to think really intelligent people have to look like Einstein or some version of the absent-minded professor. People also can't imagine how a person who works in the mail room may have a higher IQ than the person in the corner office who has three advanced degrees. As a result, people form opinions of you based on the job you do.

People who are surrounded by the "trappings" of intelligence (such as college) are assumed intellilgent even if they have only slightly above average IQ's. People who surround themselves with the trappings of money are assumed to be wealthy. Etc.
Your job (even if it were permanent) is not one of the jobs that gets any particular automatic respect, and as a temp its worse still. So you may be dealing with "job prejudice".

You may actually, too, be one of those people who assumes that the college degree means you are more intelligent than, say, some person in the office with only an associates degree but with enough time at the company to have become management. Maybe you are the one who is doing "job prejudice" against some of these people because you think your degree automatically makes you more intelligent than some of them. It is quite possible they know the job down to every detail and need things in a certain way for their own purposes; and they may believe it is important to make sure a temporary person understands the whole context of a project or task. It is even possible that you don't know as much as you think you do about that company or department, and maybe (as in the case of the person above at McDonald's) you really aren't quite as competent in that job as someone else would be.

There's also the "IQ 120 Factor", and that's when people have an IQ of about 120, which is nicely above average and which means they can graduate college for the most part; and as a result, they begin to see themselves as among the more intelligent in the population. They see other people who aren't quite as intellligent and come to feel, as I said, among the smartest. What they don't realize is that while they are plenty intelligent there is always the chance the person they're dealing with could have a much higher IQ. People tend to think everyone else is like they are. Nobody imagines other people as more usually. Egos sometimes make some people assume everyone else is less.

People who have the benefit of college degrees - if nothing else - have an "official verification" that they are of at least a certain level of intelligence. They can, however, come to view that degree as far more significant in the "real world" than it really may be. They can build their identities on it, particularly if they are from families where others didn't finish college; and then one day in the real world they get shocked that nobody cares about anything but whether a particular job in a particular company is done right.

You may actually be underestimating the intelligence of some of the people you describe as not being "the brightest people in the world" because, as you know, a person's intelligence doesn't always get advertised. At the same time, you may be dealing with people who aren't as intelligent as you are and don't understand that they're underestimating you.

IThere's nothing particularly wrong with a supervisor who double-checks the work of a temporary employee. There may also be nothing wrong with the supervisor who believes it is unfair to expect a temp to just know how something should be done and then be unhappy when she doesn't do it that way; and who believes it is fair to explain - and at times even risk being redundant by over-explaining.

Its a temp job. Just go do it and don't assume things about people. You don't want people assuming things about you. People are all so different it is so common that there are misunderstandings. In fact, its kind of a miracle that anybody understands anybody else ever. For all you know, the lady who comes around and empties the trash could have an IQ that would knock the socks off you and those people you work for......

Answer 5

There are a lot of dumb people out there. So yea....if someone is smart, then u, as a smart person, can tell that he/she is smarter than the rest cause that person stands out. You feel like there is more in common and you finally feel like you can have a meaninful conversation with someone who can keep a conversation going and know what is being talked about. Too bad you are in that situation where your smarts are being doubted. Im sure there is some place better to work that will treat you at the IQ level you deserve.

Answer 6

1. Don't worry — just get out of this temp situation ASAP. The boss sounds repetitively compulsive. Staying there won't help you one bit to focus on your grad work. You'll be too upset with these people. You don't need this distraction.

2. Who cares what imbeciles think? Keep your perceptions of them to yourself. You never know who you will be competing against down the road.

3. You have 'smart radar' right? You can usually tell if someone is fabricating their intelligence quickly, right?

4. Move on. Then, you can concentrate on connecting with peers that are your intellectual equals.

Good luck and warm regards.

Answer 7

Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself. Talent, however, instantly recognizes genius...

Remember these words, and you'll be at ease.

I understand what you're going through. I find that there is nothing more bothersome than fools with wit.

Answer 8

i think that you should sum how show ur boss that you are capibale of doing what is needed to be done without instruction. and to answer ir question....i think that their is different types of smart (book smart, street smart, people smart, ext) and if your book smart it is easyer to see others like you.

Answer 9

Maybe the folks at work are deliberately annoying you because they find you as pretentious and arrogant as I do.