You Can Usually Tell Someone Has A Low IQ By 6 Things That Frustrate Them Most At Work
Chatchai.wa | Shutterstock People with high IQs are often put on a pedestal, where people believe they're clever, but it's because their behaviors stand out.
In the workplace, especially, people with lower intelligence often get frustrated by things that are just normal. This can hold them back in a big way when it comes to their careers.
Someone with a low IQ is often frustrated by these specific things at work:
1. Planning ahead
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IQ doesn't necessarily equate to the level of intelligence a person has. Rather, it's about the brain's speed of processing and maintaining accuracy. When there's a lot going on inside their head, it can be difficult to think about the future, and planning ahead is incredibly frustrating for these people.
Planning requires a lot of self-control and is a discipline that must be learned over time. In the workplace, we must keep track of our meetings, calls, deadlines, and clients, and without the ability to stay on time, it feels suffocating.
Since many lower IQ people are already stressed about the tasks at hand, especially when they're so used to concrete thinking, it's hard to envision how their plan would even come to fruition.
2. Having to follow direct instructions
When people with a low IQ become frustrated at having to follow the most basic instructions, it makes them seem entitled. While low IQ may be related to learning disorders, it could also be that they lack a good work ethic.
When people are handed things on a silver platter, it gives them little opportunity to strengthen their skills. They come to find instructions frustrating and annoying, and may even purposefully go against the grain in order to prove that they can't be "bossed around." In reality, certain tasks must be completed to meet company standards or foster team collaboration.
Psychology researcher Emily Zitek and clinical psychologist Alexander Jordan conducted a study where participants had to follow instructions while completing a word search, which was compared to a test ranking each person's level of entitlement. When looking at results, they found that those who came back as "more entitled" in behavior were more likely to stray from the clear directions given.
3. Necessary complex problem-solving
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Lacking problem-solving skills can happen for many reasons, often due to someone being set in their ways. Functional fixedness is often present in low-IQ people, which shows up in the workplace as them getting stuck on only one way to solve a problem. They're unable to recognize other solutions.
While these solutions may be helpful in other cases, they're not the right way to solve a problem, and it can take the worker much longer to smooth out the bumps. This can also cause stress when they're faced with challenging situations, creating more struggles and making it difficult to look past the enormity of the task at hand.
4. Repeating mistakes
Maybe it's small errors like data input on a spreadsheet, or larger ones like going over budget. These mistakes can feel like the end of the world and may go hand-in-hand with poor problem-solving skills.
When a mistake is being repeatedly corrected, the pattern boils down to stubbornness rather than lacking understanding. These people see their way as the only right way, continuously taking on projects with this perspective until it's done correctly by their standards.
They don't have the ability to combat their fixed mindset and instead respond with curiosity. But the best way to grow is by learning a little bit from everyone, and using those tools to correct past mistakes.
5. Accepting accountability for overconfidence
Excessive overconfidence or pride can be the downfall of many employees. Without the ability to own up to their mistakes, their colleagues not only become annoyed, but the low-IQ individual is frustrated at having to admit they have the wrong attitude. It creates a tense environment.
Confidence is a good thing to bring to the table at a job, but being arrogant creates distrust and even resentment. Many people lacking intelligence are unaware of their cognitive abilities. When they're completely sure of themselves, despite overestimating their skills and abilities, it makes it hard for them to take constructive criticism seriously.
6. Social interactions with colleagues
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When someone has a lower IQ than average, they're incredibly frustrated and irritated by their colleagues. While there tends to be hierarchy culture in workplaces, where a new person becomes the "gopher" and has responsibilities outside their job description, low-IQ individuals may take this feeling of inadequacy out on their peers.
This may be because of a level of social ineptitude or feeling superior to others. The tension they're creating makes situations high-stress, which negatively impacts their co-workers.
Sometimes it may not even be targeted, but rather, a misunderstanding. Co-workers may share a joke in a friendly manner and the interaction will stick with or confuse them. They sometimes have a hard time picking up on social cues, and an office setting, where there's different style of comprehension, can lead to feeling left out or used.
Gabrielle Mattes is a writer working towards a Creative Writing degree. Her work focuses on lifestyle, wellness, human interest, and relationship topics.
