13 signs you're smarter than you think you are

Shana Lebowitz,Áine CainJan 12, 2023, 02:47 IST

Potential signs of high intelligence include worrying often.Urbazon/Getty Images

Potential signs of high intelligence include being messy and worrying a lot.
As it turns out, smart people tend to sell themselves short.

As Shakespeare put it in his romantic comedy "As You Like It": "The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool."

In other words, smart people often underestimate their brain power.

That idea is backed up by a Cornell University study conducted by social psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger. The phenomenon — now known as the Dunning-Kruger effect — is the tendency for those with low abilities in certain areas to overestimate their own competence, and those with higher abilities to assume the task is simple for everyone.

If you're not too sure about your own intellect, it could indicate that you're pretty intelligent — thoughtful enough to realize your limitations, at least.

Here are some subtle signs that you are considerably smarter than you think.

Drake Baer and Chelsea Harvey contributed to a previous version of this article.

You learned to read early

A 2014 study found that reading from an early age could increase verbal and nonverbal ability.Thomas Lai Yin Tang

You worry a lot

People who tended to worry and ruminate a lot scored higher on measures of verbal intelligence according to a 2015 study.5m3photos/Getty Images

You're curious

Having a hungry mind generally makes one more inquisitive, according to Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, a business psychology professor at University of London.REUTERS/ David Moir

You're messy

According to a 2015 study from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, disordered environments prompt people to be more goal-oriented.AG-ChapelHill/Getty Images

You didn't have sex until after high school

Adolescents with higher working memory ability were less likely to have sex, according to 2012 study.bymuratdeniz/Getty Images

You're a night owl

Higher-IQ teens said they stayed up later and woke up later on both weekdays and weekends, according to a 2009 study by scientist Satoshi Kanazawa.ullstein bild / Getty

You don't always have to try hard

While there are certain innate abilities that can't always be learned, constantly pushing yourself beyond your comfort zone, is the only way to master a particular skill — regardless of your intelligence level.Dean Mitchell/Getty Images

You took music lessons

The verbal intelligence of 4 to 6-year-olds rose after less than a month of music lessons, according to a 2011 study.Paula Bronstein/Getty Images

You're the oldest

First-born children are more likely to perform better on cognitive tests than their younger siblings based on research from the Journal of Human Resources.Yulia Garipova/Getty Images

You've used recreational drugs

There is a link between high IQ in childhood and the use of illegal drugs in adulthood, according to a 2012 study.Getty Images

You're left-handed

Recent research associates left-handedness with "divergent thinking," a form of creativity in which you come up with novel ideas from a prompt.Grace Cary/ Getty Images

You're funny

Smarter students wrote funnier New Yorker captions based on a 2011 study.Carlo Allegri/Reuters

You drink alcohol regularly

British and American adults who scored higher on IQ tests when they were kids drank more alcohol more often in adulthood than those who had scored lower, according to a study by evolutionary psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa.Kevin Trimmer/Getty Images

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