Of course, the best way to ride this wave of brainiac innovation is to actually get yourself a great education and fill your mind with valuable knowledge. But here in the real world appearances matter too. And when everyone is looking for the smarts, it certainly can’t hurt your business to do everything in your power to come across as intellectually impressive.
Science can help. Psychologists have studied exactly what makes a person appear intelligent and some of the answers will definitely surprise you. Leave those heavy tomes and thick glasses at home; if you want to appear intelligent, try these research-backed strategies that were among a long list recently rounded up by PsyBlog.
Sleep In
The early bird may get the worm, but apparently the late riser gets the intellectual esteem. You might guess that it’s the ambitious folks who are up and at ‘em who are the most clever, but research says otherwise.
"One study examined the sleep habits of 20,745 adolescent
Americans and found that on a weekday the 'very dull' went to bed at an
average of 11:41 and woke up at 7:20. In contrast, the 'very bright'
went to bed at 12:29 and got up at 7:52. At the weekend the differences
were even more pronounced," reports PsyBlog. "It sounds like a joke, but
it’s true, here’s the academic reference: Kanazawa and Perina (2009) and it’s described here."
More Modest, More Intelligent
Beauty certainly won’t hurt you in business, but the way
you flaunt it just might impact others’ impressions of your brainpower.
Showing some skin, you’ll be less than shocked to learn, is definitely
not the best way to get others to focus on your intellectual horsepower.
"If you want others to think you’re smart, then don’t wear
revealing clothes," says PsyBlog, which adds an understated description
of the research that backs up this recommendation: "Studies do show that
when people see exposed flesh, it makes them think about the body,
rather than the mind."
Use Your Middle Initial
Wait, what? It seems beyond odd that having some random
letter inserted between your first and last names would impact others’
opinions of your intellectual capabilities, but that’s what a study by two European psychologists found.
(Though with names like Wijnand A. P. van Tilburg and Eric R. Igou, one
suspects this research team definitely might have had a pro initial
bias.)
Be Expressive
In your life you’ve no doubt noticed that how you say
something often matters as much as what you say. Psychologists noticed
this too and set about proving that this everyday insight holds up under
rigorous scientific scrutiny. The resultant studies show that if you
want to come across as smart, you need to be more expressive in your
speech, varying the pitch and volume of your voice and adding emphasis
where appropriate.
"Appearing smart is about seeming excited about what you’re saying,
even if it’s complete nonsense," declares the PsyBlog post. Which seems a
little bit of a discouraging sign about the limits of human judgement,
but ties in nicely with the final and perhaps simplest tip.Believe In Yourself
Worrying about your intelligence, according to
psychologists, is one of the most surefire ways to lose yourself a few
IQ points. So if you not only want to appear smarter, but also actually
get smarter, believing in your ability to grow intellectually is key.
"Studies do indeed show that just believing that people can get smarter is enough to make them smarter (Aronson et al., 2001)," concludes the post, "so, don’t be held back by stereotypes, limiting beliefs or other mental stumbling blocks."
This article originally appeared at Inc..