Psychology | Life | Insights

100% Trait of A Truly Intelligent Person

Perhaps, you already know it

Do you know really smart people? Perhaps you are one of them? Have you ever wondered what all extremely intelligent people have in common?

All of them have one thing in common. It’s a sense of humor.

Wait, what? Sense of humor? Not education, talent, smart parents, good habits, secret genes, or anything else?

All smart people have an extraordinary sense of humor. There was even a study on this topic. The very fact that it exists speaks for itself.

There are reasons why a sense of humor is correlated with intelligence.

Come up with a joke is not that easy

Saying a freshly invented joke aloud is even more difficult. It requires bravery. When someone told a joke there are only 2 results. First, it was a good one, lots of laught. Second, it was a bad one, embarrassing silence.

Smart people usually have the first scenario, others — the second one.

There is no recipe for a perfect joke. The theory of humor doesn’t exist. You can learn how to joke, but nobody can explain how to joke funny.

Each joke is a unique combination of facts, associations, and images. A good joke is an art. Humorous art, of course.

To master this art you need to:

• know a lot
• connect facts
• think fast
• be creative

All the above are traits of a truly intelligent person.

You need to know a lot

To create a fun fact you have to know a lot of boring facts. Later the bright intellect can turn boring facts into fun facts. That’s how humor works. If a person does not know anything, then there is no hope for a good joke.

Powerful intellect is often associated with deep knowledge. Thus, humor is the result of applying this knowledge. But knowledge alone is not enough for a great sense of humor. Similarly, broad knowledge is not enough to call a person “intelligent”.

You need to connect different facts

Any fact in itself is not funny. To make a joke, you need to combine different facts and images to create a hilarious situation.

The process of interpreting and analyzing various facts is the very essence of intelligence. Smart people see connections and relationships where others don’t.

To come up with a joke smart person has to associate things in such a way to trigger a smile and laugh. It’s not something everyone can do.

You need to think fast

Usually, we joke at the moment. Most people are not professional stand-uppers or comedians. We do not write scripts with jokes in advance. We have to joke in a specific situation here and now.

You have to think fast. There is a tiny moment in the dialog between phrases. That’s all you have to come up with a joke. There is no time for deep analysis. All you have is 1–2 seconds.

The joke window is small. This is a window of opportunity. You use it now, or you never use it — pretty much like life. Smart people use this window of opportunity. You should do the same.

Final Thoughts

Smart people have an excellent sense of humor. Both jokes and intelligent people make this world a better place to live.

Joke more! Prove that you are smart enough to do it!

P.S. If you liked this thing, follow me and clap a couple of times. Good luck!

You can support me directly with your Medium subscription. It helps a lot!