Psychologists came into the daycare center today to find children who have "might" have above average intelligence (for a research project). The psychologists said that an easy way to spot young children with above average IQs is how they feel about others around them. Putting certain disorders such as Autism or Williams syndrome aside, children who are extremely empathetic or apathetic towards other people, tend to have higher IQs. Is this true perhaps in anyone's personal experience?
Extreme Empathy or Apathy = Intelligence?
- Thread starter CutsieMarie89
- Start date
I AM THE EPITOME
Registered Member
dunno the science about it but it seems logical. Being apathetic or empathetic allows people to understand different emotions and perspectives thus opening more doors to information. I am personally both and I can see how it can increase my/ones IQ because they accept and think more openly.
Emotional IQ is just one part of what makes up total IQ. Im not saying it cant be used as an indicator for a high total IQ, but in and of itself it doesnt really mean much.
If you're apathetic why would you bother?
Simultaneously?
And how does a lack of emotional response - apathy - allow you to understand different emotions?
Enmos
Valued Senior Member
Out of the six kids that scored high enough to be apart of the research, the top two were exactly what the psychologist said. The highest test score is extremely empathetic and the second highest extremely apathetic. So I guess the psychologists knew what they were talking about, at least for this case. Especially the apathetic kid. He could not possibly care less about anyone or anything other than himself.
That sounds more like extreme self-centredness than apathy.
Although I can see how being really smart could come across as apathy under many circumstances.
So then what's the difference? If it doesn't involve this kid directly he doesn't care about it. He doesn't care about anything. Starving people, victims of crimes, someone falls and scraps their knee. He really doesn't care. Doesn't feel anything. Where as the super empathetic girl runs crying to everyone. She's deeply pained by other people's suffering, she takes it personally. Where as most just find a happy medium. You feel bad for the victims of a crime, but not enough to break your back helping people you don't even know.
Not quite "if it doesn't involve this kid", see below.
On the contrary, they usually care deeply about something that's highly interesting to them, which comes across as apathy because it's not "what other people care about".
Nope, not a question of "not feeling" it's a question of "ordinary stuff" not being a big part of their world view.
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OK, I am not sure, if it's wise to be honest about this kind of thing, but here I go.
I've been treated for extreme empathy for almost 4 years now. Pills, this and that; now off the pills I am in psycho theraphy, which is by the way, gives the best results. Of course, I am an adult. I didn't have a standart IQ test when I was a child. But regarding empathic issues, and hypersensitivity of any kind, doctors tend to measure your capacity as a first thing. And in some cases, extreme empathy causes 'apathy' as a result. People with extreme capasity, also tend to be underdeveloped in social behaviours, fail to function in standart scales, go over both ends in case of reactions.
So it makes a lot of sense to me. Besides, it is also a process ending in apathy. For example, you have an extreme empathy, you try to make a 'sense' of the world and people around you, like you are the one experiencing anything you could sense. As this is impossible, you become apathetic towards everything, also become alienated to your society and to yourself.
But isn't that what apathy is, not caring or feeling or being moved by what most people find moving? He doesn't care or at least does a really awesome job of pretending not to care about things that most people find moving. I mean he isn't a robot, there are some things he gets passionate about like gay marriage, his mothers are lesbian. But on a whole those somethings are few and far between and they usually must directly affect his life.
Is it?
I was under the impression that apathy was an actual lack of any emotional response, not simply responding to something that others don't.
I.e. from the high IQ guy's POV it's other people that are apathetic in that case.
Pretend?
It's a differing set of interests...
Directly affect? Not really, except that they're his interests.
Is it actually apathy or a more tightly focussed interest?
Everyone's "apathetic" to some (a large number of things).
How do you feel about the cancellation of TSR2?
The price of Guinness?
The colour of my kitchen?
Is it?
I was under the impression that apathy was an actual lack of any emotional response, not simply responding to something that others don't.
I.e. from the high IQ guy's POV it's other people that are apathetic in that case.
Pretend?
It's a differing set of interests...
Directly affect? Not really, except that they're his interests.
Is it actually apathy or a more tightly focussed interest?
Everyone's "apathetic" to some (a large number of things).
How do you feel about the cancellation of TSR2?
The price of Guinness?
The colour of my kitchen?
That's what the dictionary said. He isn't 100% apathetic about everything, just about stuff that most people would be moved by he isn't making him apathetic towards those things. Miss empathetic doesn't care about everything, but she cares about more than most just like he cares about less than most.
Well, Asperger Syndrome, which is related to autism, is associated with above-average intelligence. People who suffer from this disorder tend to suffer from an extreme level of social apathy. Their indifference toward the very existence of other human beings can run so deep that they can actually be considered to have a mental illness. It's not that they have any hard feelings toward others. On the contrary, if they can be motivated to think about other people, their feelings are generally benevolent or benign. It's not that they don't care about you. In fact, they might happily spend the best years of their lives working on some kind of project that is supposed to help improve your quality of life, just because they decided at some point that you are a nice chap. To put it roughly, though, they tend to be very surprised when they remember that you actually exist.
I think that it would be more accurate for these scientists to state that children who have negative or sociopathic emotions toward other children just tend to grow up to be really really stupid.