I laugh easily, Why are people surprised when they find out my IQ is 130?

Question

For some reason people make the association with laughing easily with not being bright, where is the world does that association come from?

Hollywood, your right I am pretty also

Answer 1

Its probably because your pretty also!They seem to act that way more if your pretty and Smart!It looks and sounds like both!For Some reason,poeple,MEN and WOMAN,think if you have any kind of looks your Stupid or not as Smart as them!But girlfriend,The laughs on them,Because that goes to show you their Stupididy!LOL!Best Wishes,Hollywood

Answer 2

One reason is that the general public doesn't really understand IQ very well and has an incorrect idea of what certains types of intelligence are.

Another reason may be rooted in the scars left on the WWII generation and passed onto the next generation. People were so horrified at Hitler's ability to get power, and there was the presumption that Hitler was an "evil genius". His reputation wasn't - among much of the general public - seen as being a seriously damaged "mental case" incapable of being a human being. It was that he was "so smart". People are also familiar with Einstein and how he was sloppy-looking (which a PBS special said he effected for his own image). These are the two well-known and very intelligent people that even non-history-aware people know about - and neither of these people necessarily represent all people with well above average IQ's.

Besides the "evil" part of high intelligence, there is an awareness of an apparently connection between people who are "math wiz's" and mental illness. Math intelligence, these days and over the last few decades, is often one of the only types of abilities recognized as "intelligence". Nobody pays attention to the non-mentally ill math wiz's or to people who have high intelligence but haven't had the opportunity to demonstrate it through math-related accomplishment.

Also, there is often a belief that people who are happy, nice, friendly, etc. are too stupid to understand how miserable life is or to realize why they shouldn't be "satisified so easily". Maybe more from the 60's than anything else, it got "established" that it wasn't "cool" to be happy or to laugh.

In reality, a well developed sense of human and the ability to see that humor in many things in life is a sign of well adjustedness and of a certain level of intelligence (if someone hasn't been damaged to the point where the sense of humor that would have accompanied his IQ was deadened).

There have been studies (which, however, have also been questioned) (The Terman Studies): School children who had demonstrated very high intelligence in elementary school were followed into their adult lives, and these studies determined that highly intelligent individuals tend to be more well adjusted and find more happiness in their lives than people with less intelligence.
I am not familiar enough with what the issues were related to any questioning of the results of the Terman Studies (done - I believe - beginning the in the 1950's, but I could be wrong).

Finally, beginning around the 1960's when schools and others were aware of the technology boom that was about to occur, people in math/science fields were seen as the people with the most promise for their financial futures; after all, this was where the big money would be made. Students who excelled in verbal-related skills were generally not even recognized as being of any particular intelligence (other than "how nice" it was that a kid got 99% in all their tests of verbal skills).

With the "verbal students" overlooked in many schools, and with the general belief that grades must equal intelligence and high grades in math/science equalled the most intelligence, many types of intelligence were overlooked. In addition, because academic achievement was (and still tends to be) associated with intelligence, and because sometimes the kids who are driven to the point of needing to be Number 1 - either by pressuring themselves or by parental pressure - may not, in fact, be the most well adjusted students. Still, with equating academic excellence and intelligence, what it amounts to is the world often doesn't even know that any of the other intelligent people (who may be more well adjusted and have a sense of humor) exist.

Answer 3

I'm not sure, but I have a guess. I hear people say, "The greater the mind, the greater the need for entertainment." Perhaps it suggests that the entertainment has to be truly amusing for a "smarter" person. I laugh according to my mood, I suppose. In general, though, I don't laugh too terribly easily. My IQ is 175, I believe.

Answer 4

Maybe the assumption is coming from another direction-- maybe it's not your tendency to laugh a lot, maybe you are doing other things that sort of signal people that you are not so smart...? Or maybe they're just HOPING you're stupid, if you catch my drift.

I've been told that my IQ is around 160 (not that I care). People assume that I'm stupid just because I'm a girl, let alone that I like to laugh loudly at inappropriate times, I act like a jackass, I hang around with people who are dorkish and immature, and I do a lot of risky things that most people who consider themselves "intelligent" would never consider doing.

I can honestly say that I find the fact that most people consider me dumb to be an advantage. That means they don't expect anything from me-- therefore, my life is much less stressful.

I hope this was helpful!

Answer 5

Intelligent people are usualy stereotyped as being very serious, bookworm type people. People just assume that someone with an IQ such as yours would rather have their nose in a book instead of laughing at bad jokes.

Answer 6

Laughter is said to exist to "ease the pain."
We laugh at someone else or something else being the butt of cruel jokes. It's thought of as childish, since they can't control themselves or express their surprise in any "dignified manner."

So what, let them think whatever they want.

BTW, savants have mega IQs but look mentally retarded. Use that as an example.

Answer 7

I think that most people who make that assumption are also the people who make the assumption that humor is the lowest common denominator (unless it's sarcasm, clever satire or something British). They probably assume that, as an intelligent person, you should be above such things as laughing at pratfalls, potty humor, Johnny Knoxville or whatever happens to make you laugh. The assumption is, you laugh at something stupid, therefore you must be stupid.

Answer 8

Because sometimes people dont associate a sense of humor with intelligence, instead they asociated with being amused easily. I laugh easily too, it doesn make you stupid. It definately has nothing to do with having balls or a lack of thereof. ;)

Answer 9

You laugh easily because you get jokes they only wish they could get :) Its perfectly normal for you to laugh easily and be intellgient, really being intelligent has nothing to do with laughing....

Answer 10

My IQ is slightly higher than that, and I laugh easily also.