How Swearing, Rock Music, and Alcohol Relate to Your Intelligence

For many years, researchers have tried to figure out what traits are common among intelligent people. Sometimes, scientists find connections between intelligence and some pretty unexpected characteristics—like hairiness, for example. Here’s a look at some unusual qualities that researchers have linked to higher mental abilities. Spoiler alert: correlation does not mean causation, so if you’re a left-handed atheist who likes to snack on chocolate, don’t get too excited just yet.

Swearing

Some people believe that using profanity in conversation is a sign of a limited vocabulary—and therefore, a lack of intelligence. But two years ago, scientists showed the opposite: it turns out that people who are skilled at creative swearing actually have a more developed vocabulary.

American psychologists conducted an experiment with about a hundred volunteers. First, participants took a verbal fluency test: in one minute, they had to name as many words as possible starting with a certain letter. Then, in another minute, they were asked to recall as many swear words as they could.

The researchers found that those who scored highest on the verbal fluency test also did best on the profanity test. Conversely, those who struggled with the first part also struggled with the second. Still, don’t rush to show off every curse word you know. The study never claimed a direct link between intelligence and a rich vocabulary—especially not a profane one. So, save your elaborate language and creative swearing for internet debates, where it might actually make an impression.

Real Rock

The relationship between intelligence and musical taste is especially interesting. Some say a love of rock music is a sign of a sharp mind, while others believe true wisdom lies in the music of Bach and Mozart. A graduate of the California Institute of Technology decided to test how intelligence relates to different musical styles and artists. He used the average SAT scores of students from various universities as a measure of intelligence, then checked Facebook to see which music groups they listened to most.

Based on this data, the researcher created a chart showing the 133 most popular artists among students from 1,352 schools. Fans of Lil Wayne had the lowest average SAT scores, while Beethoven fans had the highest. Looking at genres overall, the least “intellectual” were soca (Caribbean dance music), gospel, and—surprisingly—jazz. According to this method, the “smartest” listeners preferred country, classic rock, and techno. Interestingly, classical music as a whole landed in the middle of the list, behind R&B. Of course, these results should be taken with a grain of salt, since not all artists had enough Facebook likes to make the list.

Another independent study found that smart people like rock music. When British researchers analyzed the musical tastes of 1,700 students from the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth, they found that most named rock as their favorite genre. However, pop music was a close second, suggesting the results may simply reflect the tastes of the average teenager.

Nobel Chocolate

People with a sweet tooth love to say that chocolate stimulates the brain. And while scientists often study the effects of chocolate on the human body (some studies do show positive effects), the strongest argument for chocolate came from Franz Messerli.

This American doctor compared Wikipedia data on chocolate consumption in 23 countries with the number of Nobel laureates per capita as of 2011. He found an interesting pattern: the more chocolate a country consumes, the more Nobel laureates it tends to have. Switzerland topped the list, with each resident eating about 8.6 kilograms (about 19 pounds) of chocolate per year (by 2012, this figure had surpassed 10 kilograms). At the time of the study, Switzerland had about 31.5 Nobel laureates per 10 million people, making it the leader among other countries.

Denmark, Austria, and Norway followed in the rankings. Interestingly, Sweden was an outlier: it had a high number of laureates per capita but low chocolate consumption. According to Messerli’s calculations, for a country to gain one more Nobel laureate, each citizen would need to eat an extra 400 grams (about 0.9 pounds) of chocolate per year—totaling 3,800 tons. For the U.S., that would mean increasing annual chocolate consumption by 125,000 tons. Still, Messerli himself says these coincidences are just that—coincidences. British scientists who tried a similar study found a comparable link between Nobel laureates and milk consumption.

A Taste for Alcohol

In 2013, Finnish psychologists conducted a large-scale study, following twins from nearly 3,000 families over several years. Surprisingly, they found that children who learned to speak, read, and write earlier were also the first to try alcohol as teenagers—and generally drank more than their siblings. Meanwhile, kids who developed these skills later were more likely to stay sober.

At first glance, this correlation might suggest a direct link between mental abilities and a tendency toward alcohol. But it’s not that simple: the authors believe that verbal skills may correlate with intelligence, but not general intelligence—rather, social intelligence (the ability to understand others’ behavior and moods). The statistics showed that twins who learned to speak earlier usually had more friends who drank, so researchers concluded they were more likely to end up in drinking circles. Moreover, psychologists couldn’t reliably reproduce any of the observed dependencies, and the difference in alcohol use was found in only half of the twin pairs who developed speech at different times.

However, British psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa in 2010 found a correlation between a tendency to drink and high intelligence. Studying British and American teenagers, he noticed that those with an IQ above 110 at age 16 drank more as adults than those with lower IQs. Kanazawa believes this is due not to advanced social skills, but to evolutionary laws. Alcoholic beverages appeared relatively recently in human history (for example, beer brewing in Mesopotamia began no more than 8,000 years ago), and since intelligent people are more prone to evolutionarily novel behaviors, they are, according to Kanazawa, more likely to adopt them. Still, the explanation involving verbal skills and social environment seems more convincing.

Interestingly, children who develop verbal skills earlier are also more likely to go to college and graduate successfully than their less talkative peers. And education level, in turn, correlates with a love of alcohol. American researchers found that among young people aged 18 to 22 without a high school diploma, only 32.3% drank alcohol, while among college students and graduates, that number reached 68.5%. However, psychologists themselves say this is less about intelligence and more about the active social life on campus, which, if it doesn’t encourage drinking, at least doesn’t discourage it.