I'll be honest, champ: Your friend isn't 'generally smart' he just is coherent. Your perception of him is likely framed around his ability to operate at a functional level but his actual IQ is probably hovering much closer to the median than you think, it's just our perception of 'stupid' is really loosely defined around a series of cultural standards. It's why southern drawls cause people to assume that person is of a lower IQ with zero evidence.
OPs friend is probably really good at retaining info then recalling it at a later date. Most people will attribute that to being "smart". Critical thinking is a learned skill and I don't think most people are willing to accept that or are humble enough to be vulnerable/wrong.
73
u/SisterCharityAlt Jan 31 '25
I'll be honest, champ: Your friend isn't 'generally smart' he just is coherent. Your perception of him is likely framed around his ability to operate at a functional level but his actual IQ is probably hovering much closer to the median than you think, it's just our perception of 'stupid' is really loosely defined around a series of cultural standards. It's why southern drawls cause people to assume that person is of a lower IQ with zero evidence.