Do you intellectually intimidate people?

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steppinthrax
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09 Feb 2014, 12:11 pm

I don't show off my abilities, but as people get to know me they quickly can figure out that I"m above average. I have a plethora historical facts and knowledge that I can start talking about and keep going for hours and hours. I've avoid doing this, but people will tend to find that my thinking is "different" and they will either stay away from me from that point or they will treat me different in front of others. This causes me to generally stay away from people because they will most likely treat me different. I've even been told by others in my life that "this person is jealous of you" or "this group is jealous of you" (employment).

I even noticed this with doctors who had worked with me in the past. They slip up during therapy and show some jealousy etc....

Do you guys often have this issue.



bumble
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09 Feb 2014, 12:19 pm

I was bullied a lot because of my academic ability. People think I am showing off. I was just trying to use my skills and never for one moment thought they would piss anyone off.



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09 Feb 2014, 12:25 pm

Yes, but as I'm not the sharpest stick in the bunch I feel it appropriate to question the intelligence of those who would label me 'smart'.

I think it's my response that intimidates.



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09 Feb 2014, 12:28 pm

No, other people intellectually intimidate me. It's very rare that I win intellectually. Usually that happens when I'm talking to a small child or a person with learning difficulties.


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09 Feb 2014, 12:31 pm

Pobbles wrote:
Yes, but as I'm not the sharpest stick in the bunch I feel it appropriate to question the intelligence of those who would label me 'smart'.

I think it's my response that intimidates.


I'm much the same way. It's not so much that I'm 'smarter', as it is that there's a disconnect of interests between me and most people I meet- and those interests all happen to have something of an 'intellectual' label. Couple this with my already standoff-ish attitude, and people are not all that keen to sit with me during the lunch breaks. I'd love to chat with some of them, but the interests just don't match. I also prefer to use a rather formal register of speech.


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09 Feb 2014, 12:36 pm

Apparently, but I've also being intimidated intellectually by the very person I intimidated if one of my weak areas is in question.

I find 'true intelligence' to be an incredibly vague and stereotyped concept especially considering the fact that most people seem to narrow 'intelligence' down to one's ability to utilize 'logic' when dealing with certain types of math. I don't see how using logic in math is substantially different to using logic in any other subject or situation, nor do I see why it's considered more prestigious than other intellectual areas. The way I see it, if you do math long enough you will build 'knowledge' the same way you would if you were studying biology or any other study.

4:30AM, if I'm not making sense I'll edit this when I wake up next.


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Caz72
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09 Feb 2014, 12:38 pm

Joe90 wrote:
No, other people intellectually intimidate me. It's very rare that I win intellectually. Usually that happens when I'm talking to a small child or a person with learning difficulties.


same with me. i do have learning diff as well as autism. my husband have learning diff and adhd but still is more intellectual than me.



steppinthrax
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09 Feb 2014, 12:42 pm

Norny wrote:
Apparently, but I've also being intimidated intellectually by the very person I intimidated if one of my weak areas is in question.

I find 'true intelligence' to be an incredibly vague and stereotyped concept especially considering the fact that most people seem to narrow 'intelligence' down to one's ability to utilize 'logic' when dealing with certain types of math. I don't see how using logic in math is substantially different to using logic in any other subject or situation, nor do I see why it's considered more prestigious than other intellectual areas. The way I see it, if you do math long enough you will build 'knowledge' the same way you would if you were studying biology or any other study.

4:30AM, if I'm not making sense I'll edit this when I wake up next.


This is what I found too. Those that are intimidated by me. Tend to find areas where I'm weak and intimidate me. I think it's done to make them feel better.



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09 Feb 2014, 12:44 pm

CyclopsSummers wrote:
Pobbles wrote:
Yes, but as I'm not the sharpest stick in the bunch I feel it appropriate to question the intelligence of those who would label me 'smart'.

I think it's my response that intimidates.


I'm much the same way. It's not so much that I'm 'smarter', as it is that there's a disconnect of interests between me and most people I meet- and those interests all happen to have something of an 'intellectual' label. Couple this with my already standoff-ish attitude, and people are not all that keen to sit with me during the lunch breaks. I'd love to chat with some of them, but the interests just don't match. I also prefer to use a rather formal register of speech.


It does usually spark the 'what exactly is intelligence, anyway?" conversation. Others label me as smart because I'm perceived to have excellent general knowledge and usually a larger vocabulary than most of the people I speak to. I point out that my computer has a dictionary and a file browser that makes the speed and quality of my recollection look very primitive in comparison, yet nobody thinks my laptop is intelligent.

If I were genuinely intelligent, I'd be drawing conclusions from the things that I have learned and solving real problems, like cancer, or astronomical puzzles.



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09 Feb 2014, 12:55 pm

I don't know if 'intimidate' is the right word, but I learned as a kid that nobody likes a know-it-all, or a teacher's pet, or a show-off. So I learned early on to just keep quiet, and often pretended not to know the answers to things in school, so I wouldn't get picked on.

It's interesting how we get bullied for our strengths, as well as our weaknesses. :?



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09 Feb 2014, 1:11 pm

Yes. I was even told that I should 'stop being clever' when I asked why nobody would be friends with me. I moved schools eventually and even there a group of people hated me for the same reason. They were constantly trying to get me in trouble with the teacher.

Luckily I am in a good school now where I get respected for my intelligence, despite my weirdness :D



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09 Feb 2014, 1:34 pm

It depends on the subject. If its abnormal psychology, yes I "intellectually" intimidate people. I have even taught psychologists and psychiatrists things they didn't know and technically I never went to med school! Sometimes I even use words (not psychology) that others don't know. I don't know if its exactly intimidating, but its kind of sad that these people don't know these things. Outside of my special interests, I am the exact opposite. I am intellectually intimidated by 99% of the human population. My IQ is very, very low. In the Borderline Intellectual Functioning range. My problem solving isn't there. My overall vocabulary is missing, outside of a couple of words that some people doesn't know. Now in my weather class in college I scored the highest on every single test given. Its because before I went to the community college, I went to flight school and learned about weather there as well. And going back even further, when I was little all I would do is watch the weather channel. So of course I was ahead in that subject! I even scored high on the test the teacher warned about, "No one ever passes the first test. Most people get around a 50% or lower." I got an 86%. He graded on a curve so it equaled 100% for me. The next score was around a 50% on that test from my brother. We both took that class together. Another time I blew away the class was in high school. Biology class. On the final test I got 106%! But intellectually I am all over the place. gifted in some areas and intellectually disabled in others.



Epsilon
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09 Feb 2014, 1:35 pm

Kaedra wrote:
Yes. I was even told that I should 'stop being clever' when I asked why nobody would be friends with me. I moved schools eventually and even there a group of people hated me for the same reason. They were constantly trying to get me in trouble with the teacher.

Luckily I am in a good school now where I get respected for my intelligence, despite my weirdness :D

It's the opposite for me. I used to be in an accepting school but moved for more academic challenge. Now people react differently and at times seem intimidated.


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09 Feb 2014, 1:40 pm

One thing I often have to assist people at work with is our computers and software, since some of them are very inexperienced (flash drives are a common subject...). I think people assume I'm smart because of the association between computers and intelligence, but I try to play it down because I don't want to be intimidating or make people feel like I'm looking down on them for not knowing.



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09 Feb 2014, 2:01 pm

I might, I'm not sure. But I think the combination of reasonable level of intelligence with being very scattered makes me seem in another plain. I try not to intimidate, though. I don't want to, and it annoys people.



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09 Feb 2014, 2:17 pm

No. My mind is a warehouse of trivia, but people find it interesting, not intimidating.


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