Why Highly Intelligent People Are Messy, Stay Up Late, and Love Swearing

Being highly intelligent is both a blessing and a curse. While highly intelligent people are highly adaptable, passionately curious, open-minded, sensitive to other people’s feelings, happier with fewer friends, have high self-control and a great sense of humor, and can draw parallels between seemingly disparate ideas, — they are the ones who tend to be messy. They also stay awake longer, swear more, experience a degree of social apprehension, lack social skills, and are branded socially incapacitated geniuses.

Intelligent People are Messy

“If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?” — Albert Einstein
Are you disorganized? Well, it’s a good thing. In author Steven Johnson’s words: “the more disorganized your brain is, the smarter you are.”

In a study conducted at the University of Minnesota, researchers found that “a messy desk may confer its own benefits, promoting creative thinking and stimulating new ideas.”

“Prior work has found that a clean setting leads people to do good things: Not engage in crime, not litter, and show more generosity. We found, however, that you can get really valuable outcomes from being in a messy setting.
“Being in a messy room lead to something that firms, industries, and societies want more of: Creativity. Disorderly environments seem to inspire breaking free of tradition, which can produce fresh insights. Orderly environments, in contrast, encourage convention and playing it safe.”

Intelligent People Love to Swear

“Never use a big word when a little filthy one will do.” ― Johnny Carson
Is swearing a sign of intelligence? Well, believe it or not, the answer is yes. Swearing is linked to higher intelligence and a bigger vocabulary.

A 2014 study, published in the Language Sciences Journal, found that a rich vocabulary of swear words is a sign of rhetorical strength rather than the attempt to hide verbal deficits.

“People who frequently swear are more likely to have a bigger vocabulary than their clean-tongued peers. A colourful tongue does not mean the talker is lazy or uneducated. Instead, those who are more confident using taboo words are more articulate in other areas.”

Intelligent People Stay Up Late

“They call us dreamers but we’re the ones who don’t sleep.” — Anonymous

As many as five recent studies have found that people who sleep late and subsequently get up late aren’t lazy – in fact, night owls are smarter, brighter, richer, more active, and more creative than the better-regarded early birds.

Specifically, a 2009 study conducted at London School of Economics and Political Science found that late risers tire less quickly than those who make a point of getting up at the crack of dawn. The researchers concluded that “more intelligent children are more likely to grow up to be nocturnal adults who go to bed late and wake up late on both weekdays and weekends”.

“More intelligent individuals are more likely to be night owls. The effect of childhood IQ on three out of four measures of nocturnality is significantly positive, even net of a large number of demographic and biological variables expected to affect circadian rhythms.”