The Results & Features of a Person with a High IQ | Jordan Peterson

Summary

In the video, Dr. Jordan Peterson discusses the significant impact of high IQ on various life outcomes, including health, longevity, and success in education and occupation. He highlights IQ's predictive power over wealth and its association with physiological factors like brain size and neuron efficiency. Peterson also addresses the mystery of industriousness, which doesn't correlate with IQ despite its strong influence on planning and execution of long-term goals. The video emphasizes the importance of nutrition in IQ development and the historical context of its impact.

Takeaways

• 🧠 IQ is a strong predictor of health, longevity, resistance to post-traumatic stress disorder, occupational status, educational success, and income.
• 👶 Being born with a high IQ (at the 95th percentile) is a more powerful predictor of long-term life outcomes than being born into a wealthy family.
• 🤔 The relationship between IQ and physiological integrity of the cortex is suggested, possibly influencing emotional and motivational responses.
• 🚫 High IQ does not necessarily correlate with reduced impulsiveness or organized behavior, as personality disorders can coexist with high intelligence.
• 🔄 The correlation between IQ and industriousness is surprisingly zero, indicating that industriousness is not a cognitive feature and is a mystery yet to be solved.
• 🏗️ Industrious people are capable of effective long-term planning and execution, but this ability is not linked to their IQ levels.
• 🧐 The nature of what makes people industrious is unknown and remains a significant challenge for researchers.
• 📏 People with higher IQs tend to have slightly larger heads and brains relative to body size, and their neurons have thicker axons for more efficient signal transmission.
• ⚡ High IQ is associated with faster reflexes and simple reflex tests, indicating a physiological component to intelligence.
• 🧠 The risk of developing Alzheimer's disease is lower for those with high IQ, potentially due to a more robust brain capable of sustaining damage without noticeable effects.
• 🥗 Nutrition is a significant factor in IQ variation, with historical associations between IQ and nutritional status being more pronounced in the past.

Q & A

What is an IQ and why is it considered a good predictor of various life outcomes?

An IQ, or Intelligence Quotient, is a measure of cognitive abilities and it is considered a good predictor of life outcomes because it correlates with health, longevity, resistance to post-traumatic stress disorder, occupational status, educational success, and income.

According to the video, which factor is a more powerful predictor of long-term life outcomes: being born into wealth or having a high IQ?

Having a high IQ is a more powerful predictor of long-term life outcomes than being born into wealth, especially when considering the 95th percentile for intelligence.

What is the relationship between disgust sensitivity and IQ as mentioned in the video?

The video suggests that higher IQ individuals tend to be less sensitive to disgust, although the exact reason for this correlation is not clearly understood.

How might the physiological integrity of the cortex relate to IQ?

The video implies that IQ might be related to the physiological integrity of the cortex, suggesting that a more powerful cortex could have more inhibitory capacity over fundamental motivations and emotions.

Why might the relationship between IQ and industriousness be considered a mystery?

The relationship between IQ and industriousness is considered a mystery because despite the common assumption that intelligence would be associated with long-term planning and industrious behavior, the correlation between the two is actually zero.

What does the video suggest about the ability to not procrastinate and its relation to cognitive features?

The video suggests that the ability to not procrastinate, which one might assume to be a cognitive feature, does not seem to be correlated with IQ, indicating that it's not a straightforward cognitive trait.

What is the significance of the industriousness trait in relation to IQ, according to the video?

Industriousness is significant because it is as potent a predictor as IQ, yet the exact nature of what makes people industrious remains unknown and is a subject of ongoing research.

How does the video relate the size of a person's head or brain to their IQ?

The video suggests that people with higher IQs tend to have slightly bigger heads and brains when controlled for body size, and their neuronal axons are thicker, potentially allowing for more efficient electrical message transmission.

What physiological differences are associated with higher IQs in terms of simple reflexes?

Higher IQs are associated with speed in simple reflex tests, indicating that even at a basic processing level, there is a physiological component to intelligence.

How does the video connect high IQ with the likelihood of developing Alzheimer's disease?

The video suggests that individuals with high IQs are less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease, possibly due to a more robust brain that can sustain damage without showing significant effects.

What historical perspective does the video provide on the relationship between nutrition and IQ?

The video indicates that 150 years ago, people's IQ was closely associated with their nutritional status, but modern societies have reduced this association due to improved nutrition availability.

Outlines

00:00

🧠 High IQ and Its Impact on Life Outcomes

In this segment, Dr. Jordan Peterson discusses the significant effects of having a high IQ. He explains that an IQ score is a strong predictor of various life outcomes, including health, longevity, resistance to post-traumatic stress disorder, occupational status, educational success, and income. Peterson illustrates this by comparing the long-term benefits of being born into a wealthy family versus having a high IQ, concluding that the latter is a more powerful determinant of life success. He also touches on the relationship between IQ and physiological aspects such as brain size, neuron axon thickness, and reflex speed, suggesting a correlation between high IQ and a more efficient brain function. Furthermore, he mentions the lack of correlation between IQ and industriousness, which is a mystery that researchers have yet to solve.

05:01

🌱 Nutrition's Role in IQ Variation

The second paragraph delves into the influence of nutrition on IQ variability. Dr. Peterson points out that nutrition was once a major factor affecting IQ levels, with historical data showing a strong association between the two. However, in modern societies, especially in North America, the direct link between nutrition and IQ has been diminished due to the general availability of food, despite variations in diet quality. This has reduced the cultural differences in intelligence that were once prevalent, indicating that while nutrition still plays a part, its impact on IQ is less pronounced in societies where basic dietary needs are met.

Keywords

💡IQ

IQ, or Intelligence Quotient, is a measure of cognitive abilities relative to one's age group. In the video, it is highlighted as a strong predictor of various life outcomes such as health, longevity, resistance to post-traumatic stress disorder, occupational status, educational success, and income. The script discusses how a high IQ can be more advantageous than being born into wealth, indicating its profound influence on long-term life outcomes.

💡Predictor

A predictor is a variable that can foretell or estimate the value of another variable. In the context of the video, IQ is described as a 'very good predictor' of several life aspects, emphasizing its role in forecasting an individual's health, success, and resilience.

💡Longevity

Longevity refers to the state of living a long life. The script mentions IQ as a predictor of longevity, suggesting that individuals with higher IQs may live longer due to various factors associated with cognitive abilities.

💡Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

PTSD is a mental health condition triggered by experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event. The video script points out that a higher IQ can be a predictor of resistance to PTSD, implying that cognitive abilities might play a role in how individuals cope with traumatic experiences.

💡Occupational status

Occupational status refers to an individual's position or rank within their profession. The script indicates that IQ is a predictor of occupational status, suggesting that higher cognitive abilities can lead to more prestigious or higher-level jobs.

💡Educational success

Educational success is the accomplishment of educational goals or the attainment of a high level of education. The video script notes that IQ is a predictor of educational success, indicating that those with higher IQs are more likely to excel in academic pursuits.

💡Income

Income is the money received on a regular basis for work or through investments. In the video, it is mentioned that IQ is a predictor of income, suggesting a correlation between cognitive abilities and financial earnings.

💡Disgust sensitivity

Disgust sensitivity is the degree to which a person is affected by things they find repulsive. The script discusses a study that found a correlation between higher IQ and lower disgust sensitivity, hinting at a potential link between cognitive abilities and emotional responses.

💡Conscientiousness

Conscientiousness is a personality trait characterized by being careful, thorough, and disciplined. The video script connects conscientiousness with disgust sensitivity, suggesting that orderly people, who are more conscientious, may be more sensitive to disgust.

💡Industriousness

Industriousness refers to the quality of being hardworking and diligent. The script highlights the lack of correlation between industriousness and IQ, despite the common assumption that intelligence would naturally lead to industrious behavior, indicating a complex relationship between cognitive abilities and work ethic.

💡Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease is a progressive neurological disorder that causes memory loss and cognitive decline. The video mentions that individuals with higher IQs are less likely to develop Alzheimer's, suggesting a potential protective effect of cognitive reserve.

💡Nutrition

Nutrition refers to the intake of nutrients necessary for health and growth. The script notes that nutrition is a significant predictor of IQ variation, with historical context indicating that in the past, a person's IQ was closely tied to their nutritional status.

Highlights

IQ is a strong predictor of health, longevity, resistance to post-traumatic stress disorder, occupational status, educational success, and income.

Being born with a high IQ is more advantageous than being born into wealth, as it is a more powerful predictor of long-term life outcomes.

Intelligent people are less sensitive to disgust, possibly due to a stronger cortex's inhibitory control over emotions and motivations.

High IQ individuals may have a physiological basis for their intelligence, such as thicker axons for more efficient neural communication.

There is no clear correlation between IQ and industriousness, suggesting that the ability to engage in long-term planning is not solely an intelligence factor.

Industriousness is as potent a predictor as IQ, but its underlying mechanism remains a mystery.

People with higher IQs tend to have slightly larger heads and brains, adjusted for body size.

High IQ is associated with faster simple reflexes, indicating a physiological component to intelligence.

Individuals with a high IQ are less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease, potentially due to a more robust brain.

Nutrition plays a significant role in IQ variation, with historical associations between IQ and nutritional status.

Modern societies have reduced the cultural variability in intelligence due to improved nutrition.

The relationship between IQ and personality disorders is complex, as high IQ does not necessarily prevent impulsive or disorganized behavior.

IQ tests, such as counting letters in a string of text, are fundamentally associated with intelligence and the manipulation of abstractions.

High IQ individuals may have a more efficient brain, capable of sustaining significant damage without noticeable effects.

The video discusses the difficulty in understanding the relationship between cognitive features like the ability to not procrastinate and industriousness.

Dr. Jordan Peterson invites ideas and research on the mystery of what makes people industrious, as it has been a long-standing challenge in the field.

Transcripts

in this video Dr Jordan Peterson

explains what are the results of having

a high IQ and how to know if you have a

high IQ an IQ is a very good predictor

of Health it's a predictor of longevity

it's a predictor of resistance to

post-traumatic stress disorder it's a

predictor of obviously occupational

status it's a predictor of educational

success that's a predictor of income

it's very powerful predictive and

here's another

way of conceptualizing its effect so

imagine that you could choose

how you were going to be when you were

born this is in North America because

it's going to vary by Society at least

to some degree you get to be born into a

family that's at the 95th percentile for

wealth or you get to be born at the 95th

percentile for intelligence

who's better off at the age of 40. and

the answer is the person who picks being

born with an IQ in the 95th percentile

at Birth it's more powerful predictor of

long-term life outcome than familial

wealth

so

and it shows up everywhere like one of

the things we did recently was look at

disgust sensitivity we're going to talk

a little bit about that when we talk

about conscientiousness because orderly

people seem to be more sensitive to

disgust than disorderly people that

seems to be why they're orderly

but the higher you are in IQ the less

discussed sensitive you are

now we don't know exactly why that is

maybe it's because you know maybe you

could make the inference that IQ is is

in related in some way to the

physiological Integrity of the cortex

you know rather than the limbic system

which you know is the source of say

emotions and motivations

um and the the more powerful it is the

more inhibitory capacity it has over the

more fundamental motivations and

emotions you could make that case the

problem is is that in intelligent people

don't necessarily seem to be any less

impulsive

so

and you can have a pretty vicious

personality disorder that's

characterized by extremely disorganized

behavior and a complete inability to put

long-term plans into operation and still

have a high IQ

so

what are the things we really can't

figure out it's just a hell of a thing

to try to figure out is like the

relationship between IQ and

industriousness is zero

and that just makes no sense to me

because most of the brain models are

predicated on the idea that your ability

to engage in long-term planning

is a factor that's associated with

intelligence

but then industrious people seem to not

only engage in long-term planning they

seem to do it right so that if they're

more industrious they put their plans

into operation then the plans actually

work

but it's not correlated with IQ

so that then I can't figure out well

obviously the industrious person in some

way is able to regulate their own

behavior you know they're not

procrastinating for example and you'd

think that that the ability to not

procrastinate would be a cognitive

feature but it doesn't seem to be and we

have no idea what makes people

industrious and we can't figure it out

so it's this incredibly potent predictor

it's just about as powerful as IQ and we

have no idea

what it is

so

so if you you know if you think if you

have a smart idea about that and you

want to pursue it like feel free because

there's a big mystery there that no

one's been able to crack and we've been

at it for a long time and have had

almost no success you know we had people

do things like we give them sentences of

ends M's and U's sort of randomly

distributed and then we'd have them

count the U's you know like a whole page

of sentences

they're not sentences they're just

strings of letter count the U's how

useless you know you think that someone

industrious would do that better it's

like they don't that's an IQ test

the people who can count the use faster

have higher IQs almost everything that

you would do that would

where it has to do with manipulation of

abstractions of any sort even something

that basic seems to be fundamentally

associated with IQ

people with higher IQs have slightly

bigger heads if you control for body

size they have slightly bigger brains if

you control for body size the axons on

their neurons are a bit thicker so the

the electrical messages seem to travel a

little bit more efficiency efficiently

they are slightly faster in simple

reflex tests so it goes right down to

the level of because they're simple

reflex light goes on push a button

there's not many neurons mediating that

response you know chains of neurons

there's only a few neurons communicating

so that you can do that but even if that

relatively simple processing level

IQ is associated with speed so there's a

physiological component you're less

likely to develop Alzheimer's disease if

you have a high IQ and maybe that's

because your brain is just more robust

you know so you could sustain damage say

of up to 50 percent of your brain and

you wouldn't even show it if you're if

you have a sufficiently high IQ whereas

if you're you know if you're on the

bottom end of the IQ distribution you're

much more you seem to be much more

susceptible to to physiological damage

nutrition is a big predictor of IQ

variation

so and a lot of that's been hammered out

of modern societies you know so 150

years ago people's IQ was pretty tightly

associated with their nutritional status

but now you know there are very few

people in North America who don't have

enough to eat even though there's some

variation in quality of diet and that's

flattened out a lot of the

uh cultural variability and intelligence