MovieChat Forums > Village of the Damned (1995) Discussion > Why Should Superior Intelligence Imply A...

Why Should Superior Intelligence Imply A Lack of Emotion?

posted 14 years ago by HijodelCid
16 replies | jump to latest

Ever since I met Mr Spock=Spook, I have had an issue with the idea that superior intelligence means a lack of empathy with emotions and feelings, since the study of animals suggests otherwise. Critters such as bugs and worms have no emotions because they hardly have any intelligence; as you go higher in the animal kingdom, you find that the more intelligent animals have feelings as poignant as those of humans; think, for ex, of Greyfriars Bobby and of she-wolves, who die of grief when they lose their mates. Therefore, it seems logical--Mr Spook's favorite adjective--to assume that creatures with highly developed intelligence would also be highly developed in their emotions and feelings.

God is subtle, but He is not malicious. (Albert Einstein)

[–] patton98 14 years ago

My experience with people for 40 years of my life tells me that bigger intelligence means less heart and empathy. Those are usually positives and negatives of human beings. Intelligence that you talk about is also a pretty wide term, I use it here when i do NOT talk about the "reason", but more about the way how fast, logical and bright in thinking someone is. People who usually have the biggest power and authority in government.

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] ekpyrosis-1 14 years ago

It's just a deeply rooted stereotype which boils down to the natural tendency for searching for some balance that exists in human beings' minds - I mean, you are expected to show deficits in some field (empathy in this very case) while you possess some advantages over others in some other field (here it's intelligence). Humans are scared as hell of perfection so when you are good at something, there must be a flaw in you in another field, that's how they perceive this.

Of course, stereotypes don't come from nowhere, there's always a grain of truth in them, otherwise they wouldn't have appeared. Smart people are more inclined to follow the path of logic than the one of emotions, this is the fact. More emotional people are typically less intelligent.

--------------------------
MSN [email protected]
http://www.fanfiction.net/u/2119876/

[–] sashavice 14 years ago

ekpyrosis: "Smart people are more inclined to follow the path of logic than the one of emotions, this is the fact. More emotional people are typically less intelligent. "
Where do you get your information?

There's a lot to be considered with this question, as there are different types of intelligence.

[–] ekpyrosis-1 14 years ago

My own observations and common sense. Even if someone smart is a highly emotional person by nature, they are capable in spite of having this disposition, of ignoring the emotions when it comes to making decisions, estimating some situations and their outcome depending on what decision will be made by them, etc.

--------------------------
MSN [email protected]
http://www.fanfiction.net/u/2119876/

[–] sashavice 14 years ago

ekpyrosis-
Haven't you ever ignored logic, and gone on an instinct? I would argue that intuition is a type of intelligence.

[–] ekpyrosis-1 14 years ago

Musing over such situations, I'm coming to the conclusion that still there's logic hiding behind instinct - a person analyses the situation on the level of subconsciousness, not fully realizing doing this; estimating what should be done in this situation because this person estimates the positive and negative outcome of behaving in this or that way - what would the result of some specific kind of action be like.

--------------------------
MSN [email protected]
http://www.fanfiction.net/u/2119876/

[–] MuggySphere 14 years ago

Have you ever watched an episode of Bones?

Bones the lead character is super intelligent yet she lacks the ability to understand normal humour and everyday human things that everyone else around her can see and understand...... Often she will speak without thinking and make comments at very inappropriate times... So in answer to your question NO..

[–] teh-kotak 14 years ago

Have you ever watched an episode of Bones?

Bones the lead character is super intelligent yet she lacks the ability to understand normal humour and everyday human things that everyone else around her can see and understand...... Often she will speak without thinking and make comments at very inappropriate times... So in answer to your question NO..

Her co-workers Dr. Saroyan and 'the squints' are not lacking in the emotional department and they are super intelligent too.

I chalk it up because of her childhood. Bones lost both her parents at a very young age. Turned out her own father was a wanted criminal and her brother had been in it the whole time. Thrown around in foster home. The only refuge she had was probably books. I'd assume she also faced some abusive behaviour which made her took up self-defense.

She might have a 'loner personality' but I believe those events in her childhood also played a role in making what she is today.

[–] MuggySphere 14 years ago

Thankyou for tht "teh-kotak"

I think that's the best explanation I've had for Bones. I love the show and I'll keep watching, I just find it funny sometimes how she can't relate to everyday things ..

[–] teh-kotak 14 years ago

Lol. Yeah, I know what you mean. It's funny she keeps saying, "anthropologically speaking..."
But I love that show and she is my favourite character.

[–] Andrwz 11 years ago

Intelligence and emotion are completely separate things, even though one can influence the other. All be it true that many highly intelligent people are often depicted in fiction (tv and movies especially) as lacking in emotion, the truth in real life is very different.

Look at society in general, your average petty criminal generally lacks in intelligence. They also happen to lack the emotion responses that tell the rest of us crime is wrong.

I believe there are many types of intelligence, and with balanced levels of all types of intelligence comes compassion, love and empathy.

[–] jmbwithcats 10 years ago

There have been all kinds of science fiction (Outer Limits The Sixth Finger) about how the brain mapping for intelligence pushes out specific emotions as unnecessary to make more room for other endeavors, and as each emotion gets pushed out, justification sets in for pushing out others, until none are left)

It's an intriguing concept, a cautionary tale of balance of empathy and personal power.

~*~

http://www.jmberman.com

[–] fiatlux-1 10 years ago

It doesn't imply anything of the sort. Dr. Spock was merely an idiot.

Its a bit of a rant I know, but:
This so-called expert actually got moronic parents to believe that if they held their babies too much they'd *spoil* them!
Why anyone listened to this guy I will never understand.

Similar to Freud. He has been proven wrong time & again, yet my college professors still preach his words as if they were brought by Moses.
By all means, listen to a man who did enough cocaine to kill several elephants.

"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush."

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]