- Welcome to the personality laboratory,
where today we are talking about
the 16 personalities and intelligence.
So, Myers-Briggs has 16 personality types, as we know.
16 categories of people, but which one is the smartest?
Yes, we really need to go there.
Are any of the 16 types smarter than the other types?
What does it even mean to be a smarter type?
So are introverts smarter than extroverts?
Are intuitives smarter than sensors?
Or what about thinking types?
Are they smarter than the feeling types?
Before we continue, if you drink liquids,
and you wanna support the channel,
you can get some Frank James exclusive mugs.
The link is down below.
One of them has my face on it, that's cool.
At first glance, especially that last one
seems we should have a clear answer right away, right?
Well, I Professor FJ, am here to tell you that
it is not as clear an answer as you might think.
And there's a lot of nuance that goes into a question
as big as which type is the smartest?
Or if you're from Boston, which type is wicked smaht?
The first thing we really have to ask ourselves is
what does it mean to be smart?
Boom, ask the question.
Are we talking about the ability
to solve galaxy brain math problems?
To speak five languages fluently?
(speaks in foreign language)
To make hilarious jokes, like I do all the time (laughs).
Or to understand and empathize with others.
So there's a bunch of different ways
we can interpret the question.
What most people think of, though,
when we refer to something like being the smartest
is raw intelligence, which is typically measured
with a metric called intelligence quotient, or IQ,
which you might have heard of.
IQ is a number ranging from zero to roughly 160 that says
how smart you are compared to the average person.
Check out this visual that I can't see
but hopefully you'll be able to see
once this video is edited.
A person with an IQ of 85-115
is considered average or normal, a normie, if you will.
Anyone under 85 is below average,
and anyone above 115 is above average, like me.
Quick tip, anyone who ever tells you
they have a higher IQ score,
objectively does not a higher IQ score.
You might be thinking to yourself,
well, if we have a metric for how smart people are,
all we need to do is get a bunch of people
to take an IQ test, as well as a personality test,
and then we'll have the answer, duh.
And in theory, you would be right.
But sadly, like most things, it's not that easy player.
Speaking of IQ, whenever you write on a whiteboard,
your IQ goes down 10 points.
The first issue is that it's really hard
to know your personality type on your first assessment.
A lot of you watching can relate to this.
You take one test that tells you one thing,
you take another test tells another thing.
You're like, I'm not sure that any of these are right.
Especially when people take a test to test themselves,
they don't always see themselves clearly.
And the tests can be flawed.
If you're interested in learning more about this subject,
watch this video here
about what you can do when personality tests
give you mixed results, here in the card above my head.
Another issue is what I'm gonna call intellectual bias.
A lot of you out there might be saying to yourselves
thinking types are smarter than feeling types.
And some studies might even seem to support that.
But what tends to be really going on is that
thinking types prefer to study logical systems,
learn new things, and solve problems for fun or work.
So this means that thinking types get far more exposure
to the types of problems that an IQ test might be measuring.
Think of it like this,
would Mozart be able to solve calculations like Einstein?
Maybe, maybe not, I don't know the guy (laughs).
Mozart was known for being a musical genius, though,
so he likely didn't spend most of his days
solving complex math problems,
or studying theories of astronomy and physics,
and so on and so forth.
Fun fact, many people hypothesized that Mozart was an ESFP,
not a type that typically comes to mind
when we're thinking of a competition for the smartest type.
But what this really says to me is that being smart,
and being a genius, like being smart in this IQ way,
where it's about math, and logic, and stuff
is different things.
Let's go back to the idea of IQ and type though.
Has any research been done (laughs)?
Don't you love it when teachers are like (grunts)
so passionate about what they're writing
on the board (laughs)?
Has any research been done
on the relationship between IQ and type?
Actually, yes.
One study from 1996 found that the only category
that showed any real difference in IQs scores was,
guess, you think it's gonna be thinking, feeling?
You think it's gonna be introvert, extrovert?
No, actually they found that the only differentiating factor
was intuitive or sensing type.
Ooh, ooh.
Frank, are you really just gonna feed
into this stereotype now (laughs)?
But then a study from 2005 reexamined the same topic
while referencing the first study
and they found basically the same thing (laughs).
So the study says, this indicates that individuals higher
on intelligence tend to go beyond the information
provided by their senses to discover the possibilities
which may not be directly obvious from sensory data.
In other words, intuition (laughs).
There is a big bias here though
because if you know what a real IQ test is like,
you know that there are whole sections
dedicated to abstract thinking
which is how intuitives prefer to work with information.
So does this mean that intuitives are smarter by nature?
No, more likely it just means that they have a leg up
on a few portions of the IQ tests.
Intelligence can also be broken up into categories.
So you have an overall IQ score,
this is called the full scale score.
But there are four subcategories
in which you can get individual scores.
And each of these subcategories
has multiple tests within them.
So (laughs) stay with me here.
If intuitives naturally have a leg up
on a part of the test called abstract similarities
or pattern recognition, it wouldn't be too crazy to assume
that maybe sensing types have a leg up
on the sub-tests of symbol searching or visual puzzles
that involve the ability to deal with and process
sensory information quickly.
So while there may be some correlation
between IQ and MBTI types,
ultimately correlation isn't causation.
You could have an ESFJ with a 160 IQ.
Sure, it may not be the stereotype of an ESFJ,
but it is certainly possible.
Though in this circumstance, I just totally made it up.
This is a fictional (laughs) ESFJ.
The opposite certainly applies as well.
If you read through the studies I mentioned earlier,
as I'm sure you all will,
you would see that the two INT types
are the most likely to score the highest in IQ test.
Now that doesn't mean that every INTJ and INTP you meet
is going to be Einstein and doing calculus for fun, though.
It just means that if you look at these types
across the board at scale,
many more INT types are gonna be interested
in the scientists (laughs).
That's right, they will be more interested in
"The Scientist," by Coldplay, the hit song, "The Scientist."
No, they're going to be more interested in the sciences,
spending a lot of time doing mentally challenging task.
That (chuckles) sounds a little weird when I say it,
and enjoy things related to logic,
as compared to the ESF types, for example.
If we put things on a spectrum,
the INT types are definitely gonna be
much more interested in those things at scale.
In these cases, even if an INT type doesn't have a high IQ,
you might think they do
because they spend a lot of their time
doing traditionally thinker focused things in their lives.
The odds are at some point in your life,
you've met an INTP or an ITJ
who doesn't do any of these stereotypical things.
Look at Arnold Schwarzenegger for an example,
many people type the muscle man, Mr. Universe as an INTJ.
And he is not involved in traditionally intellectual topics.
Unless shouting, "Get to the choppa,"
account as intellectual to you.
Either that or "It's not a tumor."
Instead of thinking about
types through the lens of raw intelligence,
try to think about them in terms of
what type of intelligence every type can bring to the table.
So, NTs may be known for their scientific interest
and intellectual drive,
but you don't hear them talking about
taking care of other people
or making the world a more fun place
through things like music and dance,
which is stereotypically more what the SFs do.
STs are often known for their hands on intelligence,
being able to get their hands dirty and get stuff to work,
as well as their adaptability,
but you don't often hear about them being dreamers, poets
or advocates for the people the way that NF types are.
Play to your strengths and do what you enjoy.
If you happen to be in ESFP,
and you want to work in computer science
because you love coding,
then don't let your silly types stop you
because you think you aren't smart enough.
So, who is the smartest type?
Come on, Frank, that's why we clicked on this video,
gosh, darn it.
It's probably the INTPs and ISTPS (laughs).
But seriously guys,
what are the pet peeves of the 16 personalities?
Check that out right here.
Thanks for watching.
And until next time, stay cool and attractive.
(instrumental music)