A common argument is that flaunting or bragging about one’s intelligence signifies insecurities about being seen as unintelligent. This notion is not just limited to the blank-slate Left, but I have seen it among some on Right as well. The typical argument is along the lines of, “If you’re truly smart, it will be self evident, much like being tall and not needing to announce that fact to the world, as it’s obvious. It’s not like tall people go around telling others their height unless asked.”
I disagree. As I discuss in “IQ, Modesty, Hard Work and Luck,” downplaying intelligence does society a disservice by impeding the optimal allocation of expertise. This has economic and personal implications. Cognitive capital is a resource, like money or technology. So this would be the equivalent of trying to get a job, but then not projecting confidence to the interviewer, or omitting important and relevant accomplishments from one’s resume so as to not come off as ‘showing off’.
It’s just shooting yourself in the foot, and it makes the employer worse off too because they cannot avail themselves of your expertise. Both sides lose.
So why be assertive about intelligence? First, individual differences of intelligence are far less objective than traits like height or weight, which are univariate, easily measurable, and inherently objective. Even IQ tests have some issues regarding validity, reliability, and ceilings. There are many people who are smart, but whose actions are unbecoming of possessing said intellect.
Conversely, it’s not that hard for someone who is only average or slightly above average intelligence to convincingly pretend to be highly intelligent. An obvious example are actors. Dustin Hoffman did a convincing job conveying an autistic savant in Rain Man, or Matt Damon being a math prodigy in Good Will Hunting.
Second, few areas has attracted more pretenders than IQ, where someone on social media will build a following claiming to have the ‘highest IQ in the world,’ or someone will be lauded by the media as also having one of the highest IQs by credulous press who don’t understand the nuance of IQ testing. For example, uncritically believing that a 200+ IQ is possible, when in reality, proctored tests tend to max out around 140, give or take. Or erroneously conflating an inflated childhood ‘ratio score’ with an adult normed score, the latter which is typically much lower when attempting to extrapolate the latter from the former.
Thus, it’s incumbent upon actually smart people to set the record straight against charlatans, who may use their unearned status for nefarious purposes or to otherwise deceive the public. Third, it behooves actually smart people to apply their intelligence to help others. There is a sort of duty that is attached to high IQ, as intellect is a resource that can help society by solving problems or adjudicating disputes, as mentioned earlier.
Keeping this resource to yourself means society, as well as friends and family, are possibly made worse off by being unable to benefit. An example is investing. A while ago my dad told me he sold some of his stocks too soon in 2013 because he was spooked by the market falling. Had he consulted me, I would have told him to stay invested. This spurred me to take a much more active interest than just being a passive observer.
But taking an active role requires some degree or marketing or immodesty, because it’s not that hard to fake intelligence to an uncritical observer. So this again necessitates that genuinely smart people assert their expertise and talents than be held back by conventions or expectations of modesty, which only serves the interests of pretenders and hurts society.