When people picture what a very intelligent person does with a free evening, they tend to imagine something difficult. A chessboard, maybe, or a puzzle of some kind. The assumption underneath is that intelligence works like a muscle and that hobbies are the reps.
It’s a comforting idea, partly because it implies intelligence is something a disciplined person can train directly. The research is less accommodating. The activity that shows up most reliably among people who score high on measures of intelligence isn’t demanding in that way at all, and it’s one most people quietly drop in adulthood.
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