Is it the case that they're almost always outliers regarding eccentric behavior?
Let's just say that's the case. And it is the case that people generally know it is the case. To some degree, then, eccentricity signals extreme intelligence, and some--even most--eccentric people are faking it.
I think most extremely intelligent people (say, upwards of 150 IQ points) are eccentric in some way but most eccentric people are definitely not highly intelligent (though I don't really have any evidence for these claims).
ReplyDeleteAs a signal, eccentricity is generally used to display high status (because it says: "I'm so good I don't have to play by everyone else's rules"). Given that highly intelligent people usually operate in environments where intelligence is one of the most important determinants of status, it's very hard to disentangle eccentricity as a social signal from "innate" eccentricity (i.e. as a correlate of intelligence).
Do you think that eccentric people chose to be eccentric, on average?
ReplyDeleteI don't know.
ReplyDelete