The power of intellectual confidence…
December 20, 2023. Happy Birthday to me!
Research from about 8 years ago suggests that humans who are confident in their intellectual abilities also tend tend to have a higher IQ.
In other words, humans with an over-the-top, nosebleed high, intellectual confidence simply do measurably better on academic tests.
If I may indulge my love of Cinema Therapy, and hold out Holly Hunter’s iconic performance as the quirky and insufferable Jane Craig in Broadcast News, as a case study.
Humans with higher IQs tend to agree with statements such as “I believe my own ideas are superior to others.” I have had clients tell me them remember feeling a deep resonance with Jane’s assessment of the socially awful circumstance of being so intimidatingly brilliant.
Jonathan Rosenbaum, in his review for the Chicago Reader, lauded Holly Hunter's performance as "something of a revelation: her short, feisty, socially gauche, aggressive-compulsive character may be the most intricately layered portrait of a career woman that contemporary Hollywood has given us"
I see it differently, with the benefit of 2023 hindsight, of course: Jane Craig is perhaps one the the earliest Neuro-divergent leading female roles in popular cinema… but in 1987, we just didn’t have any words unmarinated in neurotypical sensibilities other than gauche, arrogant, and aggressive.
Jane Craig was inspired by CBS News producer Susan Zirinsky. Before filming on Broadcast News began, Holly Hunter shadowed Zirinsky to grok how things worked in a real, actual newsroom. Hunter also cut her hair into a "bob" style haircut in order to more physically resemble Zirinsky.
Obviously, I’ve never met Susan, and I don’t mean to suggest that she is necessarily neurodivergent.
But it’s probably safe to say that Susan is no stranger to being the smartest human in the room.
The intellectually “arrogant” tend to be seen by others as dominating the social group. They are also perceived as being extraverted…. when in fact they might be only occasionally emphatic.
Intellectually arrogant people tend to migrate towards the center of attention…
On the down side, according to this research, intellectually arrogant humans are not as well liked as the humbler human lesser lights on the cognitive horizon…
Professor Wade C. Rowatt, study co-author, said:
“One possibility is that people who view themselves as intellectually arrogant know what they know and that translates to increases in academic performance.”
The researchers surmised from the data that intellectual humility would be correlated with better results on coursework — but that wasn’t what happened…
How the study was conducted
The researchers surveyed over 100 college students, the natural fodder of many social science studies.
The researchers believed that intellectual humility would be linked to better results on coursework.
However, it was the intellectually arrogant who got the best scores.
LOL, but Dr. Benjamin R. Meagher, the study’s lead author, says wait a minute! Humility is a vital human value:
“What I think is important about intellectual humility is its necessity for not only science, but for just learning generally — and that applies to the classroom, a work setting, wherever.
Learning something new requires first acknowledging your own ignorance and being willing to make your ignorance known to others.
People clearly differ in terms of their willingness to do something like that, but that willingness to learn, change one’s mind and value the opinion of others is really needed if people and groups are going to develop and grow.”
Final thoughts…
It’s interesting to read a study from 8 years ago that assumes that we can measure what are most likely twice-exceptional students alongside the merely bright.
Their effort to somehow measure “humility” as a constant across neurotypes reveals the depth of the neurotypical hegemony shaping this study at the time. .
For the gifted, twice-exceptional… “aw, shuucks…” is not only a waste of words…it’s intellectually dishonest.
Said the multi-exceptional, quintessential American poet, Walt Whitman…
“If you done it, it ain't bragging.” Walt Whitman
Be well, stay kind, and Godspeed.
RESEARCH:
Benjamin R. Meagher, Joseph C. Leman, Joshua P. Bias, Shawn J. Latendresse, Wade C. Rowatt, Contrasting self-report and consensus ratings of intellectual humility and arrogance, Journal of Research in Personality, Volume 58, 2015, Pages 35-45, ISSN 0092-6566, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2015.07.002.
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092656615300039)
