I have various feelings towards IQ test, but I think that sometimes studying, manipulating objects, reading (all of which will help one do well on IQ tests) can be coping methods/ habbits/ hobbies...and thus make one do well on IQ tests (at least I think that this is partly true with my son).

As for making people look like dummies...well I guess you could. Or maybe people would just end up really disliking you behind your back. (Does anyone really like the show-off quarterback? Or person that can speak 4 languages?)

On the other hand, if you On Occasion, help someone with their taxes (math/reading skills), help someone move things around the house (strength), help them pick out artwork (color sense)...they'll likely end up being grateful, at least for a few weeks.

I don't think that you need to Devote your life to helping others, or Change the World...I think just lending a hand on those common everyday things...is nice.

Hanging out with high IQ people is what convinced me that a high IQ can be used badly, in addition to being excruciatingly boring. Especially when the high IQ is academically validated. Spare me the lectures, friends. Reading the book is on my Round Tuit. I'll get "around to it" one of these days. It didn't take long of pointing the finger at my high IQ associates before I realized there were three fingers pointing back at me.

I AM that person who speaks 4 languages. More, actually. Can't help it. It is more OCD than accomplishment. I have things to learn in all of them. It makes my day when I can couple my own learning with somebody else's learning and/or personal needs.

it seems to me you couple it with your experience and big heart adn use it to comfort others here. often, wehn you can see a thing, you can choose how to respond to that thing, and i think you do that xo

Huge hug for you sweetie... I imagine when you use it to make others 'look like dummies' is when you're royally pissed off.... Sometimes we react... I think that taking time to think about this in itself is using it wisely
It's hard to bite ones tongue when really really angry.. Maybe that might be a good future test??
You use your wit and wisdom along with kindness all the time on here Arf and all of us benefit from it on a daily basis.... I'm very thankful for it.... Big hugging for you sista....xo

IMHO... IQ shows the ability of an individual to intake, retain, process, utilize, and apply information. the scoring system just tells us how fast we do that. analytically void of personality, emotion, or mental state. hell people study for it while children ace it. (i was 2yrs old) a lot of people get mad at me for making them "look bad" because my natural ability to do those things landed me a really high score. now if you take away that score with its pressure and just look at the qualities -intake, retain, process, utilize, and apply information- i'm driven to learn. i want to know things. i want to know things about things. the more i learn the more there is that others take offense to when i offer an option they hadn't thought of or understand and apply a concept effortlessly they have spent half their life chasing.

now of course there are benefits too. it puts me in tune with other's needs sometimes before they know it themselves. i can help them express themselves. often with a gentle nudge. i've seen you do that arfie. it can also be used to protect us. i can strip down an unwanted attack or accusation so fast they don't know what hit them. so loosing my temper can get quite messy.
living with a high IQ and PTSD is not easy. we can become our worst enemy. at the end of every day i go into analyze mode. i break down every conversation. every DS board response or post. every decision. still left asking why in the end.
in the end for me, its a realization that i'm gonna be the genius, but i'm still gonna need somebody else to fix my flat tire.

p.s. i find other smartypants IQ people annoying and boring too. But you my dear arfie are more than welcome to come over and contemplate with me while we blow bubbles and dine on ice cream sandwiches.

***Sorry about the language thing....I've been trying to learn Spanish along with my kids. I'm pretty pathetic, but making SLOOOW progress. My son's been comparing himself to a kid in school that's fluent in three...which is really where the thought came from. I've been watching Caillou in Spanish on youtube. I'm actually starting to follow it... (Gilbert!, gato loco)***

A high IQ is only one of many, many gifts in the human genome. Among those many manys are things like empathy, art, generosity, music, athletics, crafts, cooking, spirituality, etcetera, etceteri. All of those gifts can be used badly more easily than they can be used well.

"Overcompensating" was/is a huge theme in my personal therapy. The theory which resonates in my own strictly personals is that what I am overcompensating for is a very low self-esteem. I still feel like that little white trash whore that got stuffed into the playground trash can. When I am overcompensating, if I can't dazzle THEM with brilliance, I will baffle THEM with bullshit. Choose your THEM. I can take on all them THEMS and a few you ain't thought of. Too bad I look like a delusional moron doing it. . . I really can pontificate in multiple languages.

I still don't quite know what I am reaching for here, but the brain fart of the moment is that when I am feeling securely balanced, I don't need recognition of any of my gifts. Especially not when I manage to use them to be helpful.

When I use my gifts to be hurtful? Be gentle. I am feeling fragile. . .

I would for sure say the value of high IQ comes in how it is used. I could score a high iq on a test but be as dumb as a rock in day to day living. i think it comes down to what we have experienced and how we apply it. the brain takes us where we let it. many use it to harm, many use it to help or create and many do nothing with it at all. i might be off on the subject here. i dunno! haha

i'm sorry you are hurting arfie, extra gentle hugs

I have a high IQ and I do believe that sometimes when I see other people react a certain way or think a certain way all I tell myself is everyone is special and we are all different and thats the beauty in everything. If i can make someone smile or laugh during my day to day life that would mean I have achieved something. It's more for me proving to myself that I can do what I have set out to do rather than wait for someone else to validate me. I hope that makes some sense. I'm failing with my words recently so apologies. Its just that kind of the week,

This one is not especially painful for me. I have been feeling especially well balanced lately, with lots of people asking to lean on me. At least, I think that is what they are asking. . . Each new *request* calls for new boundaries, etc., etc.

Kinda wondering where all this fits into my personal psycho cycles?

Still not sure what I am reaching for. Maybe just psychobabbling. . .