 Hey Psych2Goers! Are there certain traits that can aid in one's development? Do having particular traits make some people smarter than others? Well, there are a few sets of traits intelligent people have in common. If you find yourself relating to many of these traits, you may just be smarter than you think. Or it's just a coincidence? Research has found that smart people have these six common traits. How many do you have? First up, number one, they're funny. Who doesn't love a joke or two? Turns out smart people seem to be some of the funniest individuals out there. According to a study published in 2011 by psychologist Gil Greengrass and Jeffrey Miller, comedians may have it easier in many ways. The study found that out of 400 student participants, 200 men and 200 women, those who wrote funnier cartoon captions scored better on a test of verbal intelligence. So if you have a bit of humor, it may benefit you in more ways than you think. Number two, you're curious and open to new experiences. Are you curious? Do you enjoy learning about history, about other cultures, or interesting facts? Licensed psychotherapist Christine Scott Hudson told Bustle that intelligent people engage their passions and ask questions like who, what, when, where, how, why, and what if. She explains they're also very open to trying new things. According to 2016 research from researchers Adrienne Fernham and Helen Chang, there's a connection between openness to experience and your intelligence as a kid. The research study used a longitudinal data set of 5,672 adults, followed for 50 years. They found that children aged 11 who had a high score on their IQ test were found to be more open to experience when assessed at the age of 50. They also explained that all of the big five personality traits, openness to experience, is often shown as the strongest correlate of ability, particularly creativity and intelligence. So if you're open to new experiences, you may also happen to have a high IQ as well. Have you heard of Parkinson's law? If you're given a week's time to finish a task that should only take you a day to complete, do you unnecessarily stretch out the task and end up completing it within a week? If so, we'd like to introduce our sponsor on this video, SunSama, an app that helps you organize all of your work into a handy to-do list for the day. They're offering a risk-free two-week trial right now, so go check it out! When you launch the app for the first time for the day, you'll be asked, what do you want to do today? Once you add the tasks that you want to complete, you can customize how much time you want to dedicate to each task and group them into helpful categories. One of their coolest features is that they tell you when you set too much work for the day, or when the number of tasks you set is unrealistic. They'll advise you to defer some of the work for tomorrow so you don't burn yourself out, SunSama uses good heart, Hofstadter, and Parkinson's Law as their principles to enable people to do work better and be more productive. If you like what you heard, use the link down below to get a risk-free two-week trial. Start working smarter, not harder, with SunSama. Number three, they're loners. Are you an introvert? Do you favor the days where you get to spend the evening in pleasant solitude alone in your room? Well, odds are, you're pretty smart. Researchers Norman P. Lee and Satoshi Kanazawa had 15,000 individuals, 18 to 28, take a survey and IQ test. The individuals who were highly intelligent were found to be not as happy with their lives, the more frequently they socialize. Number four, they're highly empathetic. What about emotional intelligence? Many psychologists say that empathy is an important part of high emotional intelligence. If you're open to new experiences, you may just be one who is open and understanding to other individuals' experiences as well, which means you may be high on the empathy scale. If so, your emotional intelligence may just be as great too. Number five, they're often neurotic. Are you anxious? Do you worry? How much? If you worry more than the average Joe, then you may just be smarter than him too, at least when it comes to verbal intelligence. In a 2015 study, researchers had 126 undergraduate students complete questionnaires, indicating how much they worried, ruminated on worrying thoughts and thought about scenarios that upset them. What did they find? Students who often spent time worrying and ruminating on thoughts held a high score in measures of verbal intelligence. Those who didn't worry as much scored higher in non-verbal intelligence. And number six, they're adaptable and recognize when they need to change. Can you adapt while under stress? Can you recognize when you're the one who needs to change a part of yourself in order to achieve your goals? Many psychologists believe adaptability is a sign of intelligence. Robert J. Sternberg, Professor of Psychology and Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Tufts University, writes that, psychologists have generally agreed that adapting to the environment is the key to understanding both what intelligence is and what it does. He continues, stating that such adaptation may occur in a variety of settings. A student in school learns the material he needs to know in order to do well in a course. A physician treating a patient with unfamiliar symptoms learns about the underlying disease or an artist reworks a painting to convey a more coherent impression. For the most part, adaptation involves making a change in oneself in order to cope more effectively with the environment, but it can also mean changing the environment or finding an entirely new one. So even if you don't think you're the smartest and perhaps have a hard time on a project or task, you may just need to change your way of thinking. Adapt to this scenario, try a new approach to studying or a creative strategy. Learning to adapt could very well help improve your overall intelligence. Who knows, it may just be the smartest decision you ever make. So, how many of these traits do you have? Let us know in the comments down below. We hope you enjoyed this video and if you did, don't forget to click the like button and share it with someone whose intelligence you admire. Subscribe to Psych2Go and hit the notification bell icon for more content like this. And as always, thanks for watching.