People often throw around the term ‘genius’ when it comes to intelligence, but the way we understand this word is now always correct.

There are plenty of signs you didn’t realise could mean that you might actually be a genius, as proved by science.

1. If you like to stay up late

Staying awake late at night can be a sign that you have high intelligence. Studies were completed to show that children who were more intelligent grew up to be more nocturnal than their less intelligent counterparts.

There are many reasons why this is the case, one argument being that the recent technological advances make our brains reach for technology to search for stimulation at night, ignoring the impulse to rise and fall with the sun like our ancestors.

2. If you’re sarcastic

Believe it or not, sarcastic people have a certain wit that implies intelligence. Studies found a link between sarcasm and creativity, meaning people who use sarcastic humour are more likely to be intelligent as it requires more thought, allows the mind to expand and promotes conceptualization.

3. If you overthink and worry a lot

Overthinkers and worriers are actually some of the most intelligent amongst us. Overthinking and worrying about potential situations shows imagination, which links to a high creativity IQ, so the next time you’re worrying about something, harness the creativity instead.

4. If you have social anxiety

Social anxiety is a term that encompasses many different traits, attributes and behaviours. However, it can actually mean you have a high IQ.

If you think about it, people who have anxiety are constantly analyzing their surroundings, reflecting on what is happening, formulating ideas and processing information – all of this requires a lot of intelligence and studies support the idea that socially anxious people are generally more intelligent.

5. If you talk to yourself

Against popular belief, talking to yourself can imply you might be a genius or at least, you’re an intelligent human being, studies have found. Talking to yourself can alleviate stress, provides a cognitive boost and allows you to focus more clearly on the task at hand.

6. If you favour cats over dogs

Unfortunately for dog people, studies have found that people who prefer cats are more intelligent. Cat lovers were found to be more introverted, open-minded and more likely to be non-conformists. The animal you choose to favour is mainly dependent upon your personality type, the study found.

7. If you’re scatterbrained

It’s no secret that people who have a scatterbrain live a hectic life, but did you know that the ability to juggle various projects and work to your own timescales can actually be a strong indicator of high levels of intelligence?

Constantly thinking about multiple things at once and not being able to focus on a particular task means you’re constantly expanding your horizons and wanting to achieve more. The unique way your brain works can be used to your advantage and you can use it to unleash your creative genius.

So there you have it, 7 unexpected signs that you might actually be a genius. Intelligence and genius can be defined in so many different ways and there are also many ways in which it can be communicated.

Do any of these signs apply to you or somebody you know? Let us know in the comments.


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This Post Has 86 Comments

  1. Valerie Peterson

    I am a genius.

  2. PETERS

    7/7 but it doesn’t change anything.

  3. Stitch

    6 out of 7 ..
    do I really need CAT?? 😀
    Theyre just Bastards, ..

    1. Michał Zienkiewicz

      why not both ?

  4. Howard Purdy

    Everything but the first.

  5. Hippiefreak66

    6 out of 7. This could be a game changer, lol 😜

  6. Rosemary Summers

    Not a comfortable life. Constantly anxious, over thinking everything. Afraid to trust most people, analysing everything. Noticing every look and remembering every comment, every criticism going over everything one says being critical of ones own comments and expecting better from oneself. A lifetime of this is. It is not all easy.

  7. Ted Jordan

    Validation or vindication?

  8. G. Coronel

    Five of seven though I suspect number six is nonsense. I had a pet octopus, ha!

  9. JuniperGin

    My week attempt to sound clever when commenting in a Genius Thread.

  10. asma

    6/7 not a fan of cat though.

  11. Angel

    7/7. You say “genius”, I say “basket case”. Except for the feline love – that’s just common sense.

  12. Mohara

    7/7 hope that to be true… would make my life so much easier haha

  13. AGUINALDO

    And after labeling yourself a genius, then what? I think, there’s also a link between success with that traits unintended and having that traits because you want to make yourself believe you’re a genius.

    Posting things like this makes some people who believes they are geniuses subconciously imitates what sites are posting about geniuses and labeling theirselves geniuses becomes their achievement and their not knowing that that thought is what makes almost everybody unsuccessful.

  14. Amelia Alvarez

    7/7 but I am also eccentric and weird, that’s what other people and my family view at me! My mum used to say I was very introvert when I was younger and I used to play and talk to my pets: cats, dogs, rabbit, duck, chicken, and pigs. Nevertheless, I am smart the way I am!

  15. Amelia Alvarez

    7/7 but what about eccentricity and weirdness?
    How certain these signs are accurate? I read the article and although it says it was backed up by science, there are no evidence or references where these studies came from?

    1. Anna LeMind

      Amelia,

      you can find further information and references for each mentioned study by following the links in the article.

  16. Ron

    7 OUT OF 7. I talk to whoever is listening. I don’t really listen to myself any more than other people do.

  17. dude love

    “Genius” by Mark Twain

    Genius, like gold and precious stones,
    is chiefly prized because of its rarity.

    Geniuses are people who dash of weird, wild,
    incomprehensible poems with astonishing facility,
    and get booming drunk and sleep in the gutter.

    Genius elevates its possessor to ineffable spheres
    far above the vulgar world and fills his soul
    with regal contempt for the gross and sordid things of earth.

    It is probably on account of this
    that people who have genius
    do not pay their board, as a general thing.

    Geniuses are very singular.

    If you see a young man who has frowsy hair
    and distraught look, and affects eccentricity in dress,
    you may set him down for a genius.

    If he sings about the degeneracy of a world
    which courts vulgar opulence
    and neglects brains,
    he is undoubtedly a genius.

    If he is too proud to accept assistance,
    and spurns it with a lordly air
    at the very same time
    that he knows he can’t make a living to save his life,
    he is most certainly a genius.

    If he hangs on and sticks to poetry,
    notwithstanding sawing wood comes handier to him,
    he is a true genius.

    If he throws away every opportunity in life
    and crushes the affection and the patience of his friends
    and then protests in sickly rhymes of his hard lot,
    and finally persists,
    in spite of the sound advice of persons who have got sense
    but not any genius,
    persists in going up some infamous back alley
    dying in rags and dirt,
    he is beyond all question a genius.

    But above all things,
    to deftly throw the incoherent ravings of insanity into verse
    and then rush off and get booming drunk,
    is the surest of all the different signs
    of genius.

  18. what up russ

    6/7 there must be a smart power that the crazy cat parasite syndrome gives you.

    It is good to know that talking to yourself is not just a social taboo. I do it mainly to ensure an intellegent conversation.

  19. Aniket

    5 out of 7

  20. Douglas W Scott

    6/7 but I’m allergic to cats.

  21. Gabrielle

    I’m 1,3,5,6 & 7! Every since my awakening, I’m becoming a 4 as well!

  22. Maya Broman

    This is me. I’m not too sarcastic though.But this is me.

  23. Natascha

    1 – 7,with no.#3 I over think a lot but worrying meh ♉♈

  24. Teresa

    It’s unbelievable, as I was reading al the signs I had a small giggle going on inside of me, cuz as crazy as it is I have everyone of them‼️
    In regards to the sarcasm, when I come across someone who believes what they say is the only way as they are making you look like a idiot in front of other people, as they laugh I begin my methods of returning there kindness,
    It seems I can have a alternate answer with details that totally makes more sense than what they say. I don’t even know that I know,
    “does that make sense”‼️
    Through my school yrs I struggled and it was very upsetting. I wanted to be able to know what was going on it gave me stomach aches
    in elementary years. High school was different but the same. From my young years I remember always having anxiety around other kids & adults. In my mid 20’s I was dinoised with having ADD, after learning about it everything made sense.

    1. Peter

      “does that make sense”

      Yes its the same with me 😉
      We are not alone 🙂

  25. Aiste

    I know I shouldn’t trust internet too much but all of them actually apply to me. I’m quite surprised, honestly. And sarcasm is my favorite ‘language’ lol, I only speak it with my closest friends though, they know I don’t mean it in a mean way.

  26. - tisszy

    I always knew that being what other people considered ‘nuts’ or ‘weird’ was quite normal for me. Here I am with a brain the size of a planet … (thank you Marvin, you sweet paranoid Android)

  27. Gavin cookster

    Yes apply’s to me also

  28. Benjamin Raz

    Very nice article. Found myself in all of the signs. Thank You for telling me that I am genius 😀

  29. Kushal

    Dear writer, any scientific reference, do you have?

    1. Anna LeMind

      You can find further information and references for each mentioned study by following the links in the article.

  30. Fred

    This is exactly ‘me’

  31. Thuli

    is this true, cause if it true then I am hunderd percent genius.
    How come my academics are average though?

  32. Peter

    I deviate only in my preferred pet: I like dogs. And according to IQ, I am a genius, though I don’t believe that’s what makes me one. I think it has more to do with the way one’s cognitive and emotional strands are wound together.

  33. CL

    I am not a genius. Please, stop making me think otherwise, Mr. Internet.

  34. Crissy

    I have 5 out of 7

  35. Stephanie

    I was shocked as I read the signs. I have all 7. The one about talking to yourself just meant I was crazy. Lol

  36. R.J

    oh my God am a 1-6

  37. AG

    If you immediately jump to the conclusion that you are a genius after reading this article, you are not a genius.

  38. Jslone

    Omg.
    Omg
    I’m a genius!!!
    Yeah right.
    If you can calculate any given mathematical equation in less than 3 seconds then your a genius, not because you like cats.

  39. Kelly

    I have all of these in spades but I’m not convinced you aren’t just mocking me with this article :/

  40. Lindsey

    Oh my gosh, I was all of them! Well, I’m not sure about the Social Anxiety, but I hate being around people because they 1) annoy me and 2)make me self-conscious. I’ve always known I was pretty smart, but this means I might be a genius! Huge self-confidence booster, thank you!

  41. Lindsey

    And guys, stop saying that you’re not a genius because your grades and academics are average. That sort of thing, against popular belief, really means nothing. Intelligence is not what you know, it’s your capacity to learn.

    1. Prakash

      I lost the capacity to learn things. I’m a student and nothing goes into my brain.

      1. yrfrr

        Overload, that’s your problem.
        just chill out.

      2. Meito

        It is either you lack focus or your brain is overloaded because you squeeze all things discussed by the teacher in your head like a thick book. If lack of focus or attention is your problem, try counting to ten, but in every number, you have to make sure that your mind is empty and you are not thinking of anything. Just, complete blackness inside your head. you must feel that before you step onto the next number. Do that everyday. If overloading is your problem, try chilling out, as mentioned by yrfrr. You don’t have to take not of everything and every words in the book or words that your teacher utter. If your problem is not between those two, then we are experiencin the same thing. I feel like nothing is entering my brain, when reading or listening, but when it is exam time, my brain just surts out every right answers like a professional. I even slept while taking college entrance and scholarship exam, and I felt like i will not pass. Well 100% scholarship is what I got. I don’t know anyting about that kind of learning problem and it would be great to know all about it.

      3. Meito

        also, maybe you just don’t like what you are studying, because if you like something, you will have more attention to it comared to others.

      4. Meito

        Practice self-study. You can look up on tips is self-learning in the internet.

  42. Chanchana Sornsoontorn

    What is the science you are talking about?
    I have social anxiety and I am suited in many categories but I don’t believe anything so easily.
    Where is the peer-reviewed research paper?

    1. Anna LeMind

      please follow the links in the article – they will take you to the related posts on our website which cover all the 7 signs separately and contain the links to the related peer-reviewed research papers.

  43. Eric Murray

    I have all these problems and yes they are all true but they do not mention the obsessions that come from being a genius. I when I was nervous and still today will do multiplication in my head rapidly for hours on end to calm myself in a social setting. I also did to calm my mind at the end of the day because my mind operates in solving problems mostly abstract which can continue into the night. And no I do not suffer from mania though people would expect it but my mind is overactive with thoughts like a burting cylinder from the combustion.

  44. Manoj Dutta

    All signs are present within me except loving of cat so much

    1. Shandip.Th

      What is your ability?

  45. Özlem Yıldız

    All apply to me and I heard people referring to me as genius. Nowadays I feel as if I have exrataordinary ideas. But I don’t know. Maybe I’m just being manic.

    1. Meito

      same herebro… T_T and I cannot simply accet it because it iss not the best I have done and there are much more t learn that I don’t know. Being called a genius is something i cannot simply accept. we are on the same boat and situation bro hahaha

  46. ishan soni

    some sign are present in me.

  47. Shandip.Th

    That’s exactly happened to me.
    And why I can’t be a topper.

    1. Meito

      Maybe I can explain. Intelligent people tend to slack off, not like the toppers who do their best to be on the top. Intelligent people are often more lazy than most people, and will often only do what they want and not what they must because they tend to postpone things for later and they do other things first. But that does not mea that the toppers aren’t intelligent; it is just likely that intelligent people will not be doing the best project because they are too lazy and they don’t like that subject.

  48. Justin Porter

    That’s right, it’s not what you can absorb, it’s what you can connect and can grow exponentially to form better knowledge and reshape the meaning.

  49. mackenzie noel

    i guess i’m a genius

  50. Jim m

    I mean I’m all of them. I wouldnt say I’m a genius but above average perhaps.

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