Whenever an employer is trying to employ some person, he has to assess the intelligence of the person. We often have to judge the mental ability of someone, whose advice we intend to take. But there is no shortcut method of judging a person’s mental ability; we have to depend on some signs which are indicators of intelligence. Practice of Intellectual Humility When some interviewer intends to assess a candidate for a particular job, say, in finance, it is a common practice to ask some question the answer to which is unknown to the person and observe the response. If the candidate is intelligent, he will simply admit his ignorance of the subject, rather than avoid a straight answer. This admission, which is a sign of “Intellectual Humility” reflects the person’s intelligence. Expression of Intelligence is Often Obvious There are some actions intelligent people do which separate them out. Often smart people love reading and maintain social distancing which less intelligent people don’t. Intelligent people are often street smart which let them compete against highly qualified people. Demonstration of metacognition “Meta” means something which is self-referential. Intelligent people often try to analyse themselves as well as talk about their thought process. They know their weaknesses and how to overcome them, so that they can perform best. Curiosity Does Not always Kill a Cat One of the most important signs of intelligent persons is their curiosity. They know well enough that if we have to solve a problem, we must observe it from all perspectives. Curiosity is observed in other animals also. A study involving three language-trained chimpanzees showed that the most intelligent one was also most curious. As chimps are considered our predecessors, this shows that humans also have the same quality. To Simplify Complex Problems This is by far the most important quality in an intelligent person. This quality is often seen as genetic, as the person himself cannot explain it. However, it is a taken idea that if we break up a complex problem in to a set of simple problems, it becomes easier to solve. The above five points are some of the factors by which we can judge an intelligent person. However, there should be no universal benchmark of intelligence, as all of us know that a fish can’t be termed unintelligent because it cannot climb a tree.
