Laziness is a sign of high intelligence scientific article. Scientists: laziness is a sign of high intelligence

Photo: Huffington Post

The Easter holidays are just around the corner, and you'll probably spend them watching TV shows or spending time with your family eating a myriad of eggs and Easter cakes.
And, although it may be depressing to think that you do nothing all weekend, do not judge yourself too harshly, because it means that you are one of the great thinkers in life.

Photo: Pixabay

New research shows that people with higher IQs endure boredom, idleness, and idleness much more easily because they are constantly occupied with their own thoughts.
According to the study, active people who spend a lot of time in the gym or running outdoors feel the need for physical activity to stimulate the mind with external activities.

Photo: Pixabay

The study involved 60 students. Participants were divided into 30 "thinkers" and 30 "non-thinkers" (a bit unfair to the last camp), and their physical activity was then measured over the next seven days using a wrist device. The final data showed that the thinker group was significantly less active than the non-thinkers.
However, weekends showed no difference between activity levels.

Photo: Pixabay

The researchers think this has more to do with the fact that non-thinkers are more likely to get bored and need to fill their time with physical activity.

Whether this is true or not is a rather controversial issue, because such a small sample does not allow any final conclusion to be drawn.
But at least you have an official study that you can refer to when someone accuses you of being too lazy :)))

The theory that smart people are more lazy, and those who are physically active are not distinguished by a developed intellect. The pattern is explained by the fact that people with high intelligence do not get bored, because they are immersed in their thoughts; those with a more modest intellectual background quickly get bored, so they need additional stimulation in the form of exercise.

Does this mean that lazy people are smart, and those who are physically developed are stupid? And what if your laziness has nothing to do with your IQ level?

As a not-so-great sports fan, I like this idea, but observations do not confirm this. Otherwise, we may conclude that all athletes are idiots and all scientists are lazy.

As practice shows, the main thing in mental activity is not laziness and not physical activity. There are people who are smart and in good physical shape at the same time. And it happens vice versa.

I can say for sure that if you are lazy, it does not mean at all that you are smart.

Pavel Brand

Neurologist

I think that in this situation the study is not very correct, since the representativeness of the sample is low (only 60 people took part in the experiments - approx. ed.). And it's too early to talk about its results, as about some accomplished scientific discovery. In any case, they have not yet been studied on global samples - for example, when considering 30, 50, 100 thousand people.

That smart people think a lot and therefore aren't bored may be true, but this study shows physical activity and sports as a form of entertainment. This, of course, is wrong, because physical activity means keeping fit, developing character, not to mention physical culture.

People today go in for sports to be in harmony with themselves, and this has nothing to do with their level of education and intellectual development.

Veronika Kazantseva

Psychologist

They understand that personal growth should be focused on the harmonious development of all spheres of our life - both mental and physical.

Speaking of intelligence, what is it? This is common: memory, attention, thinking, personal qualities, etc. And what does physical training develop? Not only strength, speed and endurance, but the same attention, memory, reaction, ingenuity, productivity, ambition...

That is, it also allows you to educate the intellectual abilities of a person as a whole. Therefore, it is legitimate to say that physical development is also necessary to maintain intellectual abilities.

Nevertheless, many psychologists and educators, after many experiments, insist that intellectual and physical development, although interconnected, are not as closely and not as specifically as the study says.

How to agree with yourself if you don’t want to do anything?

If we talk about everyday laziness, then there are different motivational techniques, Kazantseva continues. For example, you need to determine "what I want", "what I need and what secondary benefit I will have." The secondary benefit is an explanation for my laziness: “Why do I allow myself to do nothing at all? I thus do not want to communicate with anyone? Or am I avoiding difficulties, disappointment, fear of failure? Thinking about this, you need to start from why you are not doing it, and what secondary benefit you are getting now.

A tendency to be lazy indicates a high level of IQ. This conclusion was made by scientists from the University of Florida, who interviewed several dozen students. The results of the study were published in the Journal of Health Psychology, according to The Independent.

The experimental group was selected based on the results of the survey and consisted of 60 people. 30 of them said that they “enjoy doing tasks that involve coming up with new ways to solve problems”, the rest admitted that they only think about a task when the need arises.

The scientists gave the subjects fitness bracelets that measured their level of physical activity. It turned out that the first group of students makes significantly less movements than the second. According to scientists, such results are explained by the fact that people who do not tend to think much are more likely to feel bored. To get rid of this feeling, they fill their free time with various types of physical activity. So they spend more energy, and they do not have the strength and time for long reflections. In turn, less active people tend to immerse themselves in their own thoughts in their free time, scientists say.

However, the results of the study do not indicate that the indulgence of laziness contributes to the development of intelligence. Scientists also emphasize that a high IQ is not an excuse for a sedentary lifestyle.

The results of a recent study by psychologists from the University of London showed that people with high IQs should communicate less with friends. As it turned out, most people become happier from frequent friendly meetings, but not the smartest of them. Smart people feel better the less they communicate with others.

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Has it happened to you that you need to do something, but you don’t want to. Laziness.

Laziness is sometimes so strong that a person gives up and obeys it. Laziness is omnipotent and omnipresent, they say she was born long before us.
Laziness is often called the greatest human vice, but is it really so bad? Let's figure it out.
So what is laziness.
According to V.I. Dalia it

“disgust from work, from business, occupations; inclination towards idleness and parasitism.

In fact, laziness is such a phenomenon can be considered much broader.
Let’s take a look at a few of the most common manifestations of laziness:

Laziness as a lack of motivation in the absence of understanding of one's purpose

There is a category of people who do not have any goals in life, they go with the flow, they live only for today.
From a literary point of view, this is a typical Oblomov, the character of Ivan Goncharov from the novel Oblomov, which is part of the Ordinary Story trilogy. For those who have not read this epoch-making work, I will tell you a little about the plot. The novel tells about the life of Ilya Ilyich Oblomov. He lives in St. Petersburg with his servant, practically does not leave the house and does not even get up from the sofa. He does not work anywhere, does not engage in any activity, but only dreams of a cozy and serene life in his native Oblomovka estate. No problem can move him.
Remember how in the song "Screw" by the Leningrad group "But I don’t go to work and don’t listen to the radio, but what God will give me a drink and a meal."
A person does not have subconscious motivation, and there is no conscious motivation either. Sometimes, in critical cases, a person can force himself to do something, but this is extremely rare.

Do you think that this is all some kind of joke and deliberate exaggeration?
I have a friend, a typical Oblomov. He grew up in a rich family, he lived well, he was taught in a big way, but, alas, he didn’t earn money. Time passed, the boy grew up, graduated from the institute ... and filed a lawsuit against his parents because they refused to provide for him and called him a parasite. After that, there were such stories that at least write "Oblomov 2".
He does not officially work anywhere, only earns extra money. They do not want to officially take him to work because he does not fulfill his promises and does not observe labor discipline. If some money falls, he lowers it on the very first day, even if this amount is 50,000-100,000 rubles. At the same time, he is very distracted, he can easily forget a large amount of money or valuables somewhere.
Once, when he tried to get a good job with a decent salary, we had an interesting dialogue with him. He had to come to work at 8 in the morning, and he, of course, came to dinner, and even then not every day. When I asked why he agreed to such conditions, if he cannot come to work so early (he lives in the region and likes to sleep), he answers me:

"I took a paycheck, not a job."

There are also opposite examples.
A person is greatly influenced by his environment and the society in which he grew up. A person who grew up in a family with little income considers such a life to be the norm. In the Soviet Union there was such a thing as the "working class". After graduating from 8 classes of a comprehensive school, he went to the factory, got up every day on the factory whistle, and so day after day throughout his life.
Now there are also a lot of such stories, including in Moscow. Such a person may have a wife (husband), children, a small salary in a state organization, a room in a hostel. People are so used to such a life that they do not want to change anything. Nothing spoils people like a stable low salary, they are in a comfort zone and do not want to change anything. What if it gets even worse?

What to advise here? With the Oblomovs, everything is clear, here, as they say, "in a bag and with an awl." The second category is more difficult, those people who grew up below the poverty line, an orphan or in a “bad neighborhood” often have a strong motivation to make their lives or at least the lives of their children better. And those who grew up “in the comfort zone” are more difficult.

Tip one:

Laziness as a defense mechanism.

Laziness is a very effective mechanism for refusing to do work that will not bring benefits. As if the body is constantly working in energy saving mode, mobilizing this energy when it is needed.
You will never see a wild boar that ran all day long and then says: I need to sit down to rest, I'm tired. There were so many things today.

Laziness appears when you do not understand why to do this or that work, when the goal is not inspiring (see). When the goal you are trying to achieve is important to you, there is no trace of laziness. You are ready to work for hours without interruption for food and sleep.
And if you feel like you need to do something but don't want to get out of bed to do it, then reconsider the purpose of the event. Is it really important to you?

Another aspect of reluctance to do something is when there is no clear understanding of what needs to be done. So sometimes you open a task manager where there are a lot of overdue tasks, look at it, take a breath and close it. Has it happened to you? Or you are trying to do one task and are constantly distracted. The point here is that the brain does not understand what needs to be done and tries to switch to another task that is more understandable to it.

In the first case, stop using task managers if you don’t look at them at least once a day. A huge number of overdue tasks will only upset you and will in no way contribute to productive work. All people are different, it is impossible to create one universal technique for everyone. If you're told that to-do lists, hard timekeeping, the Pomodoro technique, and other popular stuff is cool and a must-have, don't believe it! Try it for a month and see if it suits you or not.
If lists are not your thing, then a good way to start doing something is to think in the evening and determine which 5-6 tasks will bring you the greatest results tomorrow and focus on them in the morning.
In the second case, goal decomposition will help. You need to break the goal into steps that you and other performers can understand. For example, is it a clear goal to conduct market research? For a marketer, of course, but for a novice startup, additional clarifications are needed, a checklist of necessary actions.

An interesting example is given by the psychotherapist N.V. Karyagin

Imagine that a person is too lazy to do sports. The more weight he gains, the harder it is to walk and the less you want to move. What will happen if you remove such a "fuse" as laziness? He will lose weight, become prettier, become more sexually attractive, and the opposite sex will begin to show interest in him. Here may be a problem. If he attracted attention and a relationship began, then you will have to build these relationships, master new roles. Or it may happen that the relationship will be short-lived, and you need to have strength and stability in order to survive the breakup. Many people are so afraid to experience such situations that not having a relationship is a much safer and more comfortable state. And then with your sport =)

Laziness as a sign of genius.

A lazy employee is a good employee, right?
Many, probably, will not check me, but there is a great deal of truth in this.
Richard Koch in his book "Manager 80/20" tells the story of the German Field Marshal Erich von Manstein, a participant in the First and Second World Wars. He led the blitzkrieg, which quickly conquered France, and then commanded the XI Army of the Wehrmacht, whose successful actions in the Crimea against the Soviet army culminated in the capture of Sevastopol in June 1942.
Manstein divided his officers into four categories, depending on their intelligence, stupidity, hard work and laziness.

1. First group
These are lazy and stupid officers. Leave them alone, they do no harm.
2. Second group
These are smart and hardworking officers. They make excellent staff officers, from whom even the smallest details do not escape.
3. Third group
Hardworking morons. These people are dangerous, they load everyone with completely unnecessary work. They should be shot on the spot.
4. Fourth group
Smart bastards. These people deserve the highest positions.

Thus, laziness in itself is not a virtue, but it is very useful when combined with a high level of intelligence.

The famous British philosopher and public figure Bertrand Russell said:

"The way to happiness and prosperity is through organized work reduction"

How can this be achieved? In fact, we have plenty of time, it is more than enough. We just squander it on an exciting fight with "problems" and pointless meetings.

Remember the Esenhower matrix.

A. Important urgent matters. These are burning things when you need to drop everything and start putting out the fire. It is better not to bring things to such a state. When you successfully complete an important and urgent matter, you feel a surge of strength and a lot of different emotions - joy, pride, satisfaction with the work done, but it takes a lot of effort and it is impossible to work in this mode for a long time.
B. Non-urgent and important matters. Current (planned) work, this category also includes business planning, training, development, and everything that brings you closer to achieving your goal. If you start cases in this category, then they can go to square A and they will need to be done in time pressure mode.
C. Urgent and unimportant. Basically, this is some kind of routine and unscheduled work, or someone asked you to do work that is not part of your responsibilities. This work in no way leads you to the desired goal. Long stay in this square is harmful. It is extremely important not to confuse doing in this box with things in box A (important and urgent).
D. Non-urgent and unimportant. These are things that can be abandoned, as they will not bring the desired return. This is watching TV, empty conversations, meaningless Internet surfing, social networks (if you are not an SMM specialist) providing all kinds of services and doing things that are not related to your immediate goals.

To be as productive as possible, try to focus on square B. For example, I have a piece of paper on my desktop where this matrix is ​​drawn and I periodically ask myself: in which square am I?
It is smart and lazy people who are usually very creative people. Give them free rein, and they will offer a lot of non-standard and original solutions to the problem with one single goal - to do the task as quickly as possible and with a minimum amount of effort.
It is to lazy and intelligent people that we are indebted for many rationalization inventions.

But what if you still need to do it, but you don’t want to?
Sometimes it happens that we, smart lazy people, become a hostage of our mind. Without sufficient motivation, the brain begins to strongly resist leaving the control zone, because this threatens it with large energy losses when mastering new activities.

An important point, the smarter a person, the more skillfully he justifies himself to himself and to others. It happened to me that I set a SMART goal, but then justified myself and refused to achieve the goal just because it does not pass according to SMART, moreover, according to such an exotic criterion as “goal organicity”, its relevance (relevant).
It also happens that we do not fulfill the task set by the management, because we believe that the task is not set correctly or is simply stupid. Here I will not dwell on this in detail, this situation will be discussed in future articles.

How to overcome resistance?
1. Decompose the goal, break it down into simple steps
2. Consider what accomplishing this goal will give you
3. Turn work into a game and give yourself rewards for completing each step
4. Read
5. Read my next articles

The article would not be complete if I did not talk about the last type of laziness.

Laziness as an external manifestation of fatigue.

Sometimes, no matter how cool the idea is, there is no desire to do anything.

This does not mean that this goal is not important for us, just that sometimes we need to take a break. I offer a short digression into esotericism in order to understand more deeply why sometimes energy leaves us.

Lack of physical activity

Even if you are engaged only in intellectual activities, physical activity is a must, at least exercises in the morning. As they say, “without physical exertion, not only the body, but also the business begins to fall apart.” Muscle tone decreases, the body cannot cope with accumulated toxins, as a result, chronic fatigue syndrome. You did not strain, as a result, there is no strength. Neither physical, nor emotional, nor mental.

Lack of emotional stress

Do you think soap operas, DOM-2 and other programs are watched only by stupid women?
I hasten to disappoint you, this is not always the case. We (men) watch the World Cup, not because we cannot live without the ball? In this case, we would already be running around the stadium. We all need emotions, and different ones.
Sometimes we swear from a lack of negative emotions, the main thing is not to pour out these emotions on other people. It’s better to watch a movie or read a book that evokes a variety of strong emotions, just don’t try them on yourself - this is not your life. I usually watch art house in cinemas, author's and festival films, mostly dramas. You sit, worry, but at the same time you understand that this has nothing to do with you. Then you just go about your business and don't remember.
Some people like to watch news and politics in order to tickle their nerves. However, everything is good in moderation, do not go too far, otherwise you risk becoming a grump and a loser.

Lack of intellectual load

Despite the fact that we are faced with a huge amount of information every day, the lack of intellectual load is the scourge of the modern world. Our mind is filled to capacity, processing a huge amount of data, but all this is an idle move. Even the slightest difficulties cause strong tension and irritation.
It is easier for us to read a dozen publics or sites on the Internet in search of some cool anecdotes, cats, quotes, tips than to apply any of the techniques or tips offered on these sites. You need to get used to learning from your experience, and not from books. Do not confuse a large amount of information viewed with mental activity. It is necessary to use such tools as analysis, synthesis, analogies. Before reading, always ask yourself questions: why am I reading this information? how can i use it in my life?

The lack of intellectual load reduces the number of neural connections in the brain, which is one of the causes of aging, illness, depression, memory loss and decreased will.
Some advise playing chess, solving crosswords and crossword puzzles. This is certainly useful, but in the first case you develop logic, and in the other case, memory. There is not a single neural connection here. New connections arise only with the development of new skills and the solution of non-trivial problems. All this is provided in abundance to those who are trying to qualitatively change their lives and get out of their comfort zone.

Do not confuse laziness and idleness.

Idleness is not always caused by laziness. Sometimes a person simply does not have a goal, he lives aimlessly, does not understand the purpose of his existence. He does nothing for days on end and that suits him.

Summary.

So, let's sum up. Sloth is a very cool thing, created hundreds of years ago and a perfectly working mechanism, but it is only effective in combination with a high IQ.


Sometimes a person's behavior looks like laziness, but it is not. A smart person will first choose the most reasonable, adequate and efficient way of doing it, and then he will begin to complete the task, since he knows that 80% of any work can be done in 20% of the time allotted for this. We do not take into account perfectionists here, they will also be discussed in the following articles.
Usually people don't connect purposefulness and laziness, but just the desire to find the best solution that requires minimal effort is the highest form of manifestation of laziness.

Be lazy and enjoy life, but do not forget that laziness is different. Don't fall for her provocations.

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An interesting conclusion was made by American scientists when they analyzed the relationship between laziness and IQ in humans. Turns out lazy people are more intelligent.

Scientists immediately warn that the result of their study, endowing lazy people with a high level of brain activity, is not at all an excuse for a sedentary lifestyle. It’s also worth adding that even if these studies are to be believed, changing your lifestyle from being active to being lazy will not make you smarter at all, since a tendency to think contributes to laziness, but not vice versa.

Scientists from the University of Florida conducted a curious study, the result of which surprised many. For this, 60 students were selected, who were asked leading questions. They were asked to perform tasks of varying degrees of complexity, which revealed the level of intelligence of the subjects. As a result, students were divided into two groups, which they called "thinkers" (high IQ, prone to thinking) and "non-thinkers" (medium or low IQ, who prefer to solve problems as they come and are not prone to thinking). ). After that, all participants were put on fitness bracelets, which recorded their activity for a week. It turned out that “thinkers” are passive most of the time, lead a sedentary lifestyle and prefer to stay in place. “Non-thinkers”, unlike their opponents, led an active lifestyle and preferred to do something every free minute.

Researchers attribute the findings to the fact that there are two types of people who spend their energy and their time in different ways. People who tend to think, even if they are alone and spend a long time in a sedentary state, are never bored and feel great, because they are constantly immersed in their own thoughts. People who are not inclined to think a lot and think for a long time, even remaining at rest for a minute, begin to “panic” internally, which is expressed in the form of boredom. The latter manifest themselves by constant activity, move a lot, talk a lot and constantly do something. This division has been known for a long time and experienced psychologists in Yekaterinburg use it in their work. However, in order to confirm the correctness of certain judgments, strong evidence is needed. Thus, during the experiment, scientists once again proved that human society is divided into thinkers and doers, while laziness can be a hallmark of a thinker, and an active lifestyle and restlessness can be a doer.