The other day I took a random online quiz. No, I wasn’t trying to find out what Harry Potter house I belonged to. I already knew that it was Ravenclaw, the house known for intelligence, knowledge, and wit! Rather, I took an actual IQ test for the first time in my life.
On this particular test 100 is considered average and 130 plus genius level. I got, drum roll please….110! Suggesting that I have above average intelligence if you want to take a random online test at face value. If you don’t, there’s another way you can measure my intelligence: how well I’ve been following social distancing guidelines.
Fast Company explains:
“A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences indicates that people who comply with social distancing guidelines have better working memory capacity, which is an indicator of intelligence.”
The articles adds that, “Working memory capacity measures how much information can be held in the mind for brief moments, and is strongly correlated with smarts, comprehension, and problem solving. ‘We propose that this [failure to social distance] may be associated with the limitation in one’s mental capacity to simultaneously retain multiple pieces of information in working memory,’ write the authors, who say that people with more working memory have increased awareness of the benefits (versus the costs) of social distancing.”
Considering how well I’ve been following social distance guidelines….I haven’t seen any friends or family for four months and often go out of my way to avoid even coming anywhere close to other humans I think it’s safe to say that my IQ test score was no fluke! Can you say the same?
Does following social distancing guidelines mean you have higher intelligence?
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