Quick! I need to get answers for a paper I have to write!

[Shinigami Unity]

So I need answers from at least 4 different people to use in a psychology paper I have to write. The question is:

Name 3 characteristics of intelligent people.

Thanks! My Grade depends on it! 3nodding  

[Shinigami Unity]

Maybe I shouldn't have made this thread sound like I was cheating. crying

The assignment is to ask people.  

[ThisEmptySoul]

The title does make it sound like you're trying to cheat. Perhaps you should rethink the heading of the thread.

One thing I want to ask before I answer is how are you defining "intelligent"? Some people use the word simply to mean being sentient... capable of thought, understanding, and learning. Under that kind of classification, all humans would be labeled as "intelligent". "Intelligent" can also mean being educated or, by stricter definition, being particularly astute with "above average" knowledge.

It is hard to answer the questions without knowing exactly what it is you're asking for.  

[Shinigami Unity]

I know. I tend to jump into things without thinking sometimes.

The point that they're trying to get us to understand is that there isn't a clear cut set way of measuring intellegence. I asked 20 individual people and I got 7 answers, though I had to prod a bit. In our discussion forum we have to do every week, we were asked whether we felt SAT or ACT scores and high school grades are a good measure of intellegence.

But the answers that I did get were pretty interesting. The best one I got was from a guy in the IT department where I work:

1: The ability to use knowledge that you have gained in previous experiences and apply it to the present.
2: The Knowing what you know and also knowing what you don’t.
3: Being able to think outside the box and develop different viewpoints.  

[rainbowlady1]

That person in IT had it RIGHT ON .... smile .

Intelligence is just not a HEAD thing ... it's not just a brain, solid item, thinking, remembering the steps and answers thing.

I know some pretty smart people who know alot of FACTS, but their INSIDE common sense is totally WHACK !! LOL ...

Looking from a HOLISTIC approach means the INNER and OUTER intelligence needs to be taken into account. SAC scores might indicate a high memory intelligence, but like your IT person indicated, it's MORE than that. Intuition, that "gut" feeling, being AWARE to listening to that kind of inner sense KNOWING .... that is all a part of it as well.  

[ThisEmptySoul]

I agree with his answer wholeheartedly.

So it seems that part of the exercise was to let the person answering the question define what they think is "intelligence" rather than just giving characteristics of what you would define as "intelligent".

As far as SAT and ACT scores are concerned, I don't think those are necessarily an accurate measure of intellect as they mostly measure speed and memory. A person that gets the job done the fastest is not always the one that does it the best. And having a good memory doesn't mean that you know what you're doing. This reminds me of when my father would complain of the new guys fresh out of trade school that got really high scores, but didn't know how to actually do their job. They were book smart, but in real world situations, they were incapable of applying that knowledge to their job.

Are you still needing answers to this question? Though I think the guy you quoted pretty much has it covered, I could still come up with my own answers if you need more answers.  

[Shinigami Unity]

Nah, I already wrote my paper.

I do have a nasty habit of waiting til the last minute and then realizing I needed to do some prep work to do my stuff. -_-

I've seen that a lot in many of the fields I work in - and it's one of the things I'm debating with the director of the company I work for right now. He thinks that my diploma is everything that I am to the company.

My emphasis is database admin. It's not going to teach me how to work at a telephone/internet company.

Although I am curious what your answers would be.  

[ThisEmptySoul]

When I was in 8th grade, I had a teacher that had a poster on the wall that said, "If it wasn't for the LAST MINUTE, nothing would get done around here."

I can't say for sure what I would have answered before you shared the other answers, but aside from those characteristics, I would add:

1: Patience. Realizing that some things take time and figuring out how to best utilize that time.

2: Levelheadedness. Being able to complete a task, express thoughts, or listen to others without losing one's temper or otherwise being emotionally overwhelmed.

3: Humility. Knowing, accepting, and admitting one's own faults and maintaining a belief that, no matter the accomplishments made, they are no "better" than anyone else. {"Better" indicating one's life value in relation to another's}

I suppose some would say these are more so qualities of "wisdom" rather than "intelligence", but I find it hard to consider someone truly intelligent without them also being wise to an extent.  

[Shinigami Unity]

I completely agree wtih your answers. I really think "wisdom" and "intellegence" go hand in hand.

As someone who is impatient and easily ignited, I can see all the time how unintellegent these characteristics are. So I try to change them, but eh. Change is hard and time consuming - maybe someday I'll be different.  

[ThisEmptySoul]

Hard and time consuming indeed. I find it very admirable when someone is able to keep calm in extreme situations. I try my best to at least outwardly appear as such, but sometimes I'm still raging on the inside. I also tend to get a little full of myself at times, but luckily there's almost always someone that comes along and puts me in my place.  

[bandaidd]

ACT and SAT are more indicators of family size and income than measures of intelligence or even predictors of scholastic success at the college/university level. There have been many many statistical analyses done on this subject.

The big question is: what would be a better substitute?

Even IQ tests are skewed toward people in industrial mid to upper class societies.