5 Reasons Why Incredibly Smart People Often Lack Social Skills

ExpandedConsciousness.com shares:

Highly intelligent people are often stereotyped as “nerds” and “geeks” who can solve the world’s toughest problems, but struggle when it comes to carrying a conversation with another human being. Sound like someone you know? Maybe it reminds you of yourself? Don’t worry about it too much because there are good reasons behind why smart people sometimes find it difficult to be a social butterfly.

Here are five reasons the highly intelligent can seem as though they lack social skills.

High intelligence can also mean high levels of anxiety

It’s been found several times over that highly intelligent folks tend to have more anxiety than people with less brain power. Not only is there an increase in overall anxiety, but also specifically in social anxiety. Anxiety, as you may know, can cause one to act irrationally and reclusive. Another aspect of this is the notion that the smarter you are, the more aware you are of what’s happening in the world around you, thus you have more to worry about.

They don’t really like mundane conversation

It sounds a bit “uppity,” but oftentimes smart people struggle to muster the necessary enthusiasm to engage in small talk and mundane conversation. If it’s not something they’re interested in, or something they feel they cannot contribute to, they’re likely to just not say anything at all.

They over-analyze everything they say

Because intelligent folks only speak when they have something important to add, they also place a bit more importance on the things that they say. Unfortunately, this also means that they tend to worry a lot more about what they say, leading to bouts of social anxiety. Others might think what they say is totally fine and normal, but in the smart person’s head, they’re going over every single word and response, criticizing and worrying.

When they speak too enthusiastically about intelligent subject matters, they sometimes feel isolated

While it can be hard to get a highly intelligent person to talk about small things, it can also be difficult to get them to shut up once they’ve started talking about something they’re truly passionate about.

Read more HERE.

Source: http://expandedconsciousness.com/2017/04/09/social-skills/