People Online Break Down 25 Subtle Signs That Someone Is Actually Really Intelligent

They aren’t afraid to say they don’t know the answer to a question.

They can genuinely consider an idea which opposes their worldview without necessarily accepting it.

They are curious about everything.

To be intelligent you need to be knowledgeable and you cant be knowledgeable if you are never curious.

They can switch up the way they talk to match the person they're talking to without sounding condescending. They listen to how others learn and explain it in that person's language of understanding

They admit to changing their mind about something

I think intelligent people are more willing to calmly debate/discuss, rather than argue. Like, you explain to them why you disagree, and they listen to you and ask further questions about your viewpoint before offering a different perspective; as opposed to an unintelligent person, who would just resort to insults when other people disagree with them.

When they explain something they make you feel intelligent.

People who use analogies to explain concepts to others. It’s a form of code-switching and integrating concepts on the fly is a clear indicator someone is both socially and conceptually intelligent.

Edit: As many have pointed out, not all analogies are helpful or make sense to others. So a useful analogy that creates an “ah-ha!” moment for someone is a wonderful thing. An analogy is an association; a mental process of connecting an idea or thing to a relatable image for someone who can then “see” and digest the initial representation.

Not using analogies doesn’t mean someone can’t be intelligent. And “Social Intelligence” doesn’t mean social ease and charisma, it means an awareness that one”s own understanding and experience often has to be translated in ways that others can relate to.

Admitting when they're wrong and being willing to learn from mistakes.

Explaining something complex in simple terms. Knowledge is so vast that they can talk about in the easiest way for someone else to understand.

They apply knowledge from one realm into a new and relevant situation.

For instance one person described a situation (might have been on Reddit) where they were a new assistant in an academic research lab and fixed a snag that stumped all the senior researchers including the professor. The team was trying to video record their project using a strobe light and their footage wasn't working as planned.

When no one else made progress at diagnosing or solving the problem, the most junior individual spoke up and suggested that the strobe could be out of phase. They remembered that video typically records at a rate of 24 frames a minute second [thanks for the correction], and explained that along with suggesting a change to the strobe's flash rate so it would coincide with the recording.

This worked. And it really raised up that individual's reputation within the group.

Inwardly they were almost embarrassed about the source of this knowledge. They had a gaming hobby back in high school, and had taken some video footage of that, and discovered the standard frame rate while playing around in editing software.

But they remembered that detail years later and realized it made a difference in a completely different context.

That is intelligence.

They're logical, and they find out more information rather than believing something right away.

There is also this lovely thing I like to call intelligence by association. I am a prime example of this. My small rural town seems to think I'm a genius simply because I can read at a level above your average fourth grader, when in fact I'm a high functioning moron.

They say they love learning and they learn something new every day. Then they listen more than talk.

They know when their knowledge ends and say something to the extent of "i don't know and anything else i say on this topic is ignorant speculation"

Humor. I think that truly funny people are often very smart and cognizant of the different ways an idea can be humorous on several levels. They also know their audience. I think the difference between say a Jeff Foxworthy and a Dave Chappell and a Bo Burnham is their audience and their interests.

They don't brag about it.

You can honestly just tell by their "vibes".

The way they compose themselves, talk, write, think, explain, etc.

What I find the most interesting is that intelligent people, in my experience, are more likely to be less cold/fact-driven and more theoretical and creative.

For example, if an intelligent person were to read a certain stat, fact, idea, etc, they are likely to have very interesting theoretical extrapolations.

My friend qualified for the Mensa membership, and whenever we talk, his mindset always strays towards very interesting outlooks. He has certain ideas that I would never have even thought about.

It's actually very fun to talk to intelligent people. The way they are able to absorb information like a sponge and apply that information is very eye-opening.

They spend time thinking before asking a question.

They can ask really good questions

Edit: to anyone not understanding what mean, I’m talking about people who ask “really good questions”, not just any questions, really good ones. I don’t know how one would achieve this skill(I know I haven’t).