Analysing your IQ
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Being drawn to complex problems and situations rather than avoiding or oversimplifying them.
Those with high IQ often gravitate toward complexity rather than away from it. They find simple problems boring and are energized by challenges that would overwhelm others. This manifests as choosing harder puzzles, reading dense books, engaging with nuanced debates, and being dissatisfied with oversimplified explanations.
Need for Cognition—the enjoyment of effortful thinking—correlates with IQ and predicts engagement with challenging material. Research shows that high-IQ individuals show less avoidance of cognitive effort and report more enjoyment of complex tasks.
Choosing harder books, games, or puzzles when given options
Being unsatisfied with simple explanations and wanting depth
Finding repetitive tasks boring while complex tasks are engaging
Voluntarily taking on difficult problems others avoid
Preferring complexity means overcomplicating simple things (it means matching complexity to the problem)
This is about showing off (it's intrinsic motivation, not performance)
Everyone secretly likes complexity (many genuinely prefer simplicity)
Ask yourself these questions to evaluate whether you demonstrate this trait:
Do you gravitate toward difficult rather than easy challenges?
Are you often unsatisfied with simple explanations?
Do you find repetitive tasks more draining than complex ones?
Preferring complexity can lead to overcomplicating things that should be simple. Wisdom involves matching approach complexity to problem complexity.
Being drawn to complex problems and situations rather than avoiding or oversimplifying them. Need for Cognition—the enjoyment of effortful thinking—correlates with IQ and predicts engagement with challenging material. Research shows that high-IQ individuals show less avoidance of cognitive effort and report more enjoyment of complex tasks.
Ask yourself: Do you gravitate toward difficult rather than easy challenges? Are you often unsatisfied with simple explanations? Do you find repetitive tasks more draining than complex ones? If you answered yes to most of these, you likely demonstrate this cognitive trait.
While cognitive abilities have a genetic component, most can be enhanced through deliberate practice and training. Preferring complexity can lead to overcomplicating things that should be simple. Wisdom involves matching approach complexity to problem complexity.