Your quick wit makes you charismatic

You may want to be quick-witted in order to appear charismatic, according to a new study.

The University of Queensland research shows that people who were able to respond more quickly to general knowledge questions and visual tasks were perceived as more charismatic by their friends, independently of IQ and other personality traits.

Psychological scientist William von Hippel said that the findings show that social intelligence is more than just knowing the right thing to do, adding that social intelligence also requires an ability to execute and the quickness of our mind is an important component of that ability.

Von Hippel and colleagues were intrigued by why some people exude more charisma than others and wanted to understand the factors that might drive these differences.

Von Hippel explained that when they looked at charismatic leaders, musicians, and other public figures, one thing that stood out is that they are quick on their feet.

Contrary to the researchers' predictions, mental speed did not predict other social skills, such as being adept at handling conflict or interpreting others' feelings.

These studies suggest that social intelligence depends on more than knowing specific social rules or having certain social abilities, like the ability to read people's facial expressions. While social knowledge and face reading are undoubtedly critical components of social intelligence, this research shows that general mental properties, like mental speed, also play an important role.

The study is published in Psychological Science.