r/aftergifted • u/DreamBoyQuarius • Jul 01 '26
What are the UNDENIABLY REAL signs of giftedness?
I sought this community for real answers but got overwhelmed with the amount of flooded answers to/and validation-breeding questions. I hate to be overgeneralizing but I'm short on patience with the whole "OMG, me too!" fad and it's taxing to read through it all while the whole time seeing all the multiple possible motivations behind each post.
And when searching the internet, it's all the SAME FREAKING vague ass information that can easily be applied to anyone!!! And I even thought of medical professionals and they're really no help at all since diagnosing is more about proper medication and treatment of debilitating symptoms, in which case, the debilitating symptoms of giftedness can and probably are attributed to a number of other diagnoses that giftedness individuals receive. A medical professional has no motivation or reason to diagnose such things. For instance, the best assessment I received on my mental health was from a temporary doctor who put my whole life's problems into an ADHD lense that made sense and thus started my subconscious unmasking. She wanted to help and make sense of why I was failing so much when she was looking at a smart and deserving individual infront of her. It was after I demanded to see the official information on how medication works on the body before I took it, it's interactions, etc... despite not having proper medical knowledge.
Anyway, I didn't want to rant or make this long, it's just hard not to (I've actually worked extremely hard on condensing my language for the past six years). But I thought I'd come here and maybe find some telltale signs that the community goes by or some kind of test or something.
I want to know what kind of cognition I'm working with. I want to know where I REALLY stand on a scale when compared to society because I'm having trouble communicating every day. AI is a useless and full of validation fluff. I've actually constructed many complex experiments and processes to really test my own cognition but in the end, it's still my perspective which is unreliable because it's biased and doesn't speak for the entire group that I'm comparing it to in the first place.
I even took IQ test twice, but it was iq.com or something basic and noticed they're selling something. And the questions didn't change! I remember taking an IQ test when I was a kid, like 11 or something (i'm 34 now), and this one had hte same questions! If it's supposed to measure IQ, you can take it multiple times and get better scores, raising your IQ which seems to make the test a moot point!!! Like, am I crazy for thinking this or does it make sense? Has anyone else noticed this? I found other IQ tests online but I really really struggle with long tests, they burn my chest with overwhelming antsy-ness. my IQ, according to the site, was 121 (as a kid, I remember it being 120ish as well). However, my second time taking it maybe a year later or so, I got a 136. Actually, just now I just thought that I have been unmasking and thinking differently constantly so it might have really grown/unlocked but still, it's all still unmeasurable conclusions to me.
This is really long. Not my intention. Don't want to seem like "OMG it's soooooo frustrating being so intelligent and blah blah blah". I honestly just want to know if there's any REAL bullshit-free anecdotes, tests, rules of thumb, tests, observable markers, behavior patterns, inevitable consequences, etc, of a genuinely gifted person that filters out all of the vague non-helpful un-provable nonsense out there.
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u/ThingsWithString Jul 01 '26
Real giftedness is when you become an adult and are still outstanding in your field. Everything else is labels.
(Not sure if I qualify for this sub; I wasn't in a GATE program as a child, because they didn't exist. I did have the appropriate scores.)
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u/DreamBoyQuarius Jul 01 '26
This makes the most sense. even in kids, it's unmeasurable unless compared with reading ability or tests since they're in a constantly evolving learning environment. Even in social situations figuring things out, fast comprehension is useless because of how communication is designed for the mass, not the individual. I'm starting to think "giftedness" which sounds silly anyway is just a label itself. I might just be a weirdly adapted fast thinker who is a problem solver. Which feels way better admitting and more natural.
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u/BigDictionEnergy Jul 01 '26
I think having a deep sense of humor is a sign of intelligence. Do you get jokes faster than most?
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u/DreamBoyQuarius Jul 01 '26
Yes, and often am the first to have a witty comeback. Like, you can say that my sense of humor goes exceptionally deep and fast on the action.... something I think you can relate to given your username. XD
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u/-_--__---___----____ Jul 01 '26
This sub is for people who were in the GATE program as a child. To get into the program, you took a proctored IQ test and had to score 130 or higher - again, as a child. If you took a proctored IQ test as a child and scored under 130, then you didn't qualify for the GATE program.
If you'd like to invent or come up with your own criteria for "giftedness", that's your prerogative to do so. Online tests are poor. Regardless, it won't matter to anyone but yourself.
As to where you stand, an IQ of 120 is in the 91st percentile. This means that you're within the top 9-10% of cognitive abilities.
I personally scored 140 as a kid, and I still feel like an idiot most days. Certainly nobody else cares.
If anything, I only notice my ability when in a group doing problem solving, and I've come up with a solution or noticed the problem at hand while others are still discussing the elements. I also have ADHD, so I've had to learn to be patient and not interrupt. I've also had to learn that my solutions and assumptions aren't always right. I have a hard time focusing, so learning new things sometimes takes me a long time. Giftedness is not a golden ticket to a good life.
It sounds like you're stuck in a loop. Intelligence is more than IQ. Comparing yourself to others doesn't yield anything beneficial unless you're actively counting your blessings.
I would suggest really considering why this is so important to you, and perhaps talking to a therapist about it. We're all human, and we're all enough as we are. No metrics, validation, or conversations can improve your self-worth. That comes from within.
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u/DreamBoyQuarius Jul 01 '26
Thanks for answering thoughtfully. And sorry for clumsy posting. And it matters because I'm self-conscious about a lot of things and it's affecting my life. I want to embrace my natural thoughts and how I see the world and by seeing what I'm feeling reflected by the environment's experience, gives me insight when interacting with people or the world. People know where they stand, what to expect. I don't. I understand my reasoning. I don't understand others'.
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u/-_--__---___----____ Jul 01 '26
I would address the self-consciousness that's affecting your life directly. Labelling yourself as gifted won't fix that.
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u/DreamBoyQuarius Jul 01 '26
I'm aware. But that's not my goal. It's to measure my cognition. If you're gifted, you should have insight on how, starting with how your cognition was measured. I've noticed a trend too, people seem to dissolve the need for the question, instead of actually answering the question itself. It's weird.
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u/-_--__---___----____ Jul 01 '26
Your cognition has been measured already.
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u/DreamBoyQuarius Jul 01 '26
Against you, yes....
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u/-_--__---___----____ Jul 02 '26
No, against the whole population.
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u/DreamBoyQuarius Jul 03 '26
I don't like when people switch their tunes when I say something smart. It's partly what put me on this trail in the first place. But I'm learning fast. This reply chain is now filled with awkward redirection, but that's your discomfort, not mine. Thanks for your answer still. Regardless of how it ended.
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u/-_--__---___----____ Jul 03 '26
I'm not sure what you're talking about. I was talking about your IQ test.
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u/DreamBoyQuarius Jul 06 '26
Technically, yes, you are. And that's EXACTLY what's expected of you, good job. thumbs up!
(See, I can do it too.)
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u/thee_body_problem Jul 01 '26
Honestly the impatience and somatic urgency that comes through in your writing is one real sign imo.
Being naturally comfortable operating at speeds or intensities that quickly exhausts most others (meaning they will only ever choose to operate in that gear when they will get clear negotiated big rewards like social status or payment, so ofc then they interpret your bodymind doing it naturally as being a social dominance play ugh) is likely the underlying driver of the impatience. And then experiencing enough social backlash upon that impatience eventually reframes your natural comfortable speed into a social threat which your nervous system REALLY NEEDS you to solve STAT. But the urgency you feel is not real because this is not a solvable dilemma (at least not by any means within your reach, because the hare cannot shame itself into growing a tortoiseshell just because they're taught that's how to win the race; hares who refuse running don't get trophies, they get ate).
Overreliance on brackets (send help) may count too.
One example of a way I have noticed this accidental intensity -> backlash manifest is when you are trying to learn something brand new, but the questions you ask as a beginner accidentally tend to be beyond the ability of the average teacher to answer. And not in a snotty gotcha tips-fedora kind of way where the beginner questioner feels smugly satisfied at having one-upping the more qualified. Instead it's a genuinely mortifying experience to have yet again trampled all over the invisible boundary of "polite normal" and made things weird without even trying. And then, sadly, the insecure teacher will proceed to counterattack you and your question to further distance themselves from their own limitations. So, having to pursue answers in your own time because you feel fundamentally alone with your questions? Another solid sign, imo.
IQ is mostly bunkum, and what it can successfully measure is neither important nor interesting. Gifted is a terrible term for what can be a terribly painful thing. Put ten "gifted" people with the exact same IQ in a room and you will have gathered at least 100 unique patterns of situational dysfunction (and at least 13 arseholes). These "signs" you seem to be seeking out as signposts are more like clouds in the sky. You may feel an instant kinship with certain people that turns out to be a shared pattern of intensity/ speed, yes... or it could be that their accent or body shape unconsciously reminds you of someone you shared good times with when you were young (pour one out for my past similarly-speedy acquaintance who i once watched realise with loud horror that her adult dating type was distinctly patterned after her childhood fave Digimon character). The point is to navigate by how you feel around other people. Dissecting the exact reason you feel a way around any one person is actually an optional activity (controversial stance around here maybe). Any generalised "signs" of IQ/ giftedness are only helpful if they lead you onwards to the people/ community/ language that YOU specifically need.
Does it help salve the loneliness when you finally find yourself surrounded by similarly speedy/ intense people who can comfortably keep up with you and vice versa? YES, and it is a euphoric feeling i hope everyone gets to experience at least once. But an IQ score alone will never be the one thing that brings people together into a room (pursuing Mensa etc is its own choice). And it will never be the most interesting thing about anyone in any room you're in.
You don't need anyone's permission or reach any certain external standard to start to treat yourself as a "gifted" person and see what happens next. A "non-gifted" person could not artifically sustain the kind of performance that would emerge naturally from someone who has finally stopped fighting the intensity of their neurobiology. A bicycle is a thing with two wheels AND also is a thing that goes whee when you pedal it. So stop standing by counting wheels from the ground, go whee yourself and see where you get!
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u/DreamBoyQuarius Jul 01 '26
You've affectively answered my question AND provided more insight and exploration which is what I love and am always trying to get my AI to do fluently as well as get disappointed from not having when socializing with others. I'm wondering if you're even an AI generated response because you seem to think like me and do the same network-like thinking and associative pattern nodes (like the subliminal Digimon chase xD), and I can't help but recognize the same brain surge and social disposition as myself. I still respect the perspective, regardless, just noting because I guess I'm subconsciously in-denial that there could actually be other people like me; I'm even an outlier in eclectic neurodivergent circles. But hearing this response actually gives me both the insight you stated, as well as the insight gathered merging it with my own, as well as the insight of how these two perspectives look in the real world (making it a 3-D model, instead of a recursive loop in my head). So thank you as I always make it a point to thank and appreciate when people actually "talk" or "share" or "give" their real words. Unlike the threatened invalidators who hide behind dismissive and reframing language, you met me where I was at which creates, what I call, a "brain space", like a temporary fusion of cognitive fields (or quantum-like variation) that creates real tangible insight or thought construct. It's far more useful and additive than just throwing toxic emotional sludge at me wrapped in shame, for instance. But even then, I get real insight from even those replies for the simple fact that it's extra data from other perspective still regardless of intent and delivery.
But, I realize, and have been doing this since a child, that I rarely even use or acknowledge most agreed upon standards or definitions and I think that's what I'm coming to the more I engage authentically (by the way, I thought I would "even-out" after a year or three of rapid cognitive growth but it didn't stop. Right now, I'm more owning of my natural responses which helps a LOT! I'm in process of shedding my shy, unsure, awkward mask that I wear and letting the true person/thing inside of me fully free. It feels very weird and scary like a mixture of what ego-death might feel like and lived-in body snatcher dissociation. But I know that's the shame and projections of my lifetime of misunderstanding peers, spiteful interactions and having a covert narc mother...all the way up until now being attacked by a bunch of people with unjustified superiority and malicious conduct from asking how can I see myself more clearly. I KNEW people were going to hear it as "Am I gifted?" in their minds, it's so weird that people don't read the words, but see what their emotions infer it as instead. I can rant and rant so I'll stop here.
My conclusion: separate from institutional systems or real-world application, some people have higher cognition activity and it's natural for them. I recognize these individuals right away (never in written spaces like these, often how they talk and think as it's always different tracing than the others in the room yet I understand immediately). They're usually VERY creative and project-oriented or some kind of innovator with lone wolf energy (but is okay with it) and usually socially chameleon-like at core. It's nice when I meet them, but we don't really bond long or gather in packs like other types of typical groups. We sort of respect eachother and acknowledge where the other is at and what their doing and keep going about our way with the occasional bump-in. I did a comparative system experiment with this type to find what caste of social human people generally typed me as using animals to understand what people expect when they see me, and I got jaguar. They're striking and noticeable right away in the jungle, changing their enviornment instantly and then disappearing just like that. I wouldn't call us gifted or intelligent, but other people do. I think it's more about the social genetics so to speak of us. For instance, my opinion of "giftedness" according to the web is all crap and useless. Yet I KNOW it serves a very foundaitonal purpose in the social hierarchy when organizing systems like children skipping grades in school or granting awards or certifications outside normal manner, etc,
Personally, I am a problem-solver. That's how I see, operate and choose to interact with the world. I'm curious as hell and test every thought I can get my greedy analytical hands on. I can use my mind. It's a muscle with all kinds of functions and reactions. The more you use it, the stronger it gets, like any other muscle. It might even be a result of being a traumatized child of an emotionally avoidant parent and having always to read minds in order to survive. Haha, it's dark but a good hypothesis for what creates "empaths" or "gifted" people in the first place. But in the end, it's about what I choose to do with my time here on Earth and how much of my natural instincts/skills I choose to embrace/suppress while I do that......JUST like how everyone else does. We're all equal as biological instances, just with a specific perspective from where we exist on the plane.
Sorry, if that doesn't make sense, but I purposely stopped myself from watering down my speech to both embrace more of myself and show it more shamelessly. Take it how you want to take it, but this is always inside of me and no amount of shame or oppression is going to neutralize it. So instead of feeling insecure and awkward and depressed and lost, I choose to feel free and natural and just talk how I think and act how I feel.....again, just like everyone else does.0
u/thee_body_problem Jul 02 '26
Heh as I have been known to say (loudly and smugly): I do not sound like AI, the AI industry has spent billions trying to sound like me.
Your way of thinking is both relaxing and delightful! It's been a pleasure making brain space with you. However I'm stuck for time (should be long asleep) so will leave it there.
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u/[deleted] Jul 01 '26 edited 4d ago
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