http://www.prometheussociety.org/articles/Outsiders.html
http://www.triplenine.org/download/IQ_and_the_Problem_of_Social_Adjustment.pdf

The second article quotes parts of the first, but they’re both worth reading. Clearly this is a known phenomenon, though rarely discussed openly. I suspect this is one of the reasons why high IQ societies exist – to facilitate discussion among individuals who are frequently misunderstood by the general populace.

BTW As a high scoring INTJ on the MBTI scale I’ve come to believe that personality type may factor into this as well.

I was reading a wikipedia article on self-esteem and it had a number of ideas like the following, linking narcissism with abuse:

“Violent criminals often describe themselves as superior to others – as special, elite persons who deserve preferential treatment. Many murders and assaults are committed in response to blows to self-esteem such as insults and humiliation. – Rajbir Singh, Psychology of Wellbeing, 2007″

I think when someone complains that you “think you’re better than everyone else”, what they’re really referring to is the narcissist’s tendency to justify abusive behaviors based on a sense of superiority.

The prevalence of narcissistic personality disorder (once again, according to Wikipedia) is about 1% (though it may be seriously under-reported, because how many narcissistic people are going to realize they have a mental disorder and seek help? I read somewhere that in college aged males, narcissistic personality disorder is way more common – something more like 1 in 6 of them has it).

Even at a prevalence of 1%, there is one narcissist for every two gifted people. Gifted people are often shy whereas narcissists are known for having no empathy and some of them probably make quite a memorable impression.

I’m thinking that people who respond venomously to harmless comments and claims to giftedness have probably been traumatized by narcissistic abuse and are now touchy about anyone that claims to have more abilities than someone else.

Essentially, I think narcissists have been giving gifted people a bad name.

I think we can turn this around, though, if we promote the following ideas:

– Abuse is NEVER okay, no matter how awesome you are.
– Everyone has rights, regardless of their ability levels.

People need to protect themselves and they need to make judgments in order to do that. The main difference between the narcissist (or other potentially problematic types like the sociopaths and the scammers) is that they don’t care about other people’s feelings – because they have no empathy.

The no empathy distinction is a much better way of detecting the narcissists than assuming that everyone who has unusual abilities must be abusive. Maybe if we politely suggest that they attempt to make the distinction based on empathy, they will stop assuming all gifted people are bad people.

IQ 140 is not so special[...]. That alone does not make one a genius. Mine is around 150 but so what?

1) If your IQ is 150 then you are, by definition, a genius. If you truly are at 150 I’m surprised you can’t make that distinction.

2) I can’t imagine what blog you’ve been reading that makes you think for a moment that I’m megalomaniacal. I describe myself as “a genius — for what it’s worth” and you see arrogance? It wasn’t a judgement call; it’s a technical definition.

My friend,

IQ 140 is not so special. There are plenty of losers and idiots with extremely high IQ’s e.g. Chris Langan. That alone does not make one a genius. Mine is around 150 but so what? I studied math at a top university and am an applied mathematician, so what? There are tens if not hundreds of thousands of ppl like me. I am nowhere near being a genius. I know because I’ve seen truly brilliant ppl who still do not deserve the label of genius. I think you need to go out more often and see the bigger world. That’ll help cure your megalomania. It’s truly sad seeing sites like this on the web. Wake up buddy. See more ppl. Get a real job. Work hard. Read good books. And get a life!

This sounds like something akin to dyslexia to me, which is to say a specific disorder of some sort that would require therapy or training of some sort. Whether or not you think you need therapy for emotional issues, I would think you need help for the direct communication issues. You sound as though you are simultaneously dealing with two separate significant issues.

“What is it exactly that hinders me?
I am a 19 year old male who is a little fed up and wants to know what is wrong with me. I have trouble interpreting what I hear. Note that this occurs only intermittently. I hear the stream of sounds coming out of someones mouth but occasionally I can’t decipher exactly what words were spoken. Thus, I can’t translate those sounds into their corresponding meanings.

This works the other way as well; more often than not it is difficult to form my ideas into words. Writing is not so bad becuase I have time, but conversation is a challenge. I tend to make myself seem stupid when trying to explain a complex idea to someone. Sometimes the only way I can convey my thoughts is using larger words and longer sentences; I avoid doing this so I’m not percieved as a jackass. Then when I try to use simpler words, what I say fails to represent my idea, and I sound stupid. (This is most prevalent in a debate-like conversation where different ideas are being argued and defended.)

After some research, I found that it may be auditory processing disorder. I have always utilized other peoples body language, lips, facial expressions, and eyes during conversation to help me in case I miss something they say. I actually enjoy observing people and trying to collect as much data as I can to try and guess their thougts and intentions. Also, I have always been adept at detecting lies.

Regardless of the nature of this problem, it has caused me to be socially awkward for most of my life. In addition, I avoid phone conversation because chopped up words and the lack of visual cues really doesn’t help my predicament. These difficulties multiply when I’m nervous, so you can imagine how my game is with girls (abominable). I don’t want to see a shrink or some other professional as I can still excel in school. (I failed out my first year(09-10) of college, but for reasons unrelated to my learning ability or aptitude). I just want an answer and maybe some additional ways to cope.

I welcome all opinions.”

Yes some people are vain assholes who deserve to be hung by their toenails in a moldy cheese cellar – they think they are so much better than everyone else that they feel it justifies taking advantage of them in every way conceivable. They become exploitative businesspeople, abusive “lovers”, and all kinds of other nasty sorts of jerks.

It may actually help the situation that people like you are willing to rove around reading blog posts you don’t like and notifying them of the problem.

However, you’ve got the wrong guy.

There is a fine line between stating a truth that you cannot change and being excessively prideful. You don’t choose to be gifted and you can’t choose to change it. It is part of you, just as much as being gay or white or black or old or young. It isn’t something Fred can change.

Being gifted affects your whole life, making it difficult for anyone to relate to you. When you think constantly, like a gifted brain is wired to do, nobody wants to follow to the complicated places that thinking takes you to – except another gifted person. Sure he could hit himself over the head with a two by four every morning until his brain stopped thinking – but then he wouldn’t be himself.

Who wants friends you can’t be yourself around? The very definition of “friend” is to have someone that can understand the real you.

Fred wants someone that can understand the real him. Fred was only trying to point out that he is very different from everyone else and that it is extremely hard for him to find anyone that understands.

Fred’s blog is not by any stretch of the imagination a vanity press – if you’d have read it, you would realize that this is his THERAPY.

You have come to a lonely guy’s attempt to heal and insulted him. You have made yourself look like the bad guy here, rodya.

You have to be careful when making the distinction between a gifted person who is saying “I’m lonely because the misunderstanding is this big” versus a jerk saying “I am better than you by this much”.

Fred is just the lonely type of gifted, not vain.

I had more to say, though I figured you would understand from that single sentence alone if, indeed, we were to relate upon the topic of genius and depression. Hint: it concerns vanity.