It is such a common element of culture but when I look closely it doesn't make too much sense.

What are the general characteristics of a nerd?

  • Smart and interested in academics.
  • Physically underdeveloped and bad at sports.
  • Socially awkward and unattractive.

Does this cluster make sense to you?

Sure, health problems can make you both unattractive (and subsequently awkward) and small/weak/uncoordinated. But what do smarts have to do with this? I'm guessing statistically a healthy kid is likely to do better at school than an unhealthy one.

So how do nerds come to be?

Is that because kids who don't do well socially are more motivated to excel academically?

Do smart cool athletic kids refrain from getting into nerd stuff because it's frowned upon in the cool circles?

Is being a nerd a sort of a "mild" autistic spectrum thing?

Also, a follow up question. Are nerds actually smarter on average by any measurement? Why or why not?

  • leftofthat [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    The "smartness" is an emergent property.

    Nerds are just a specific type of social outcast. Conventially "unathletic or unattractive" people whose common interest involves something cognitive or academic (e.g., chess). This leads to the painting of these types of outcasts as "smart". Sometimes academic achievement itself is the unifying common interest, at which point the conventional model of the "nerd" you describe is achieved.

    If the unattractive and unathletic outcasts form around a non-cognitive interest, they are still social outcasts they just aren't called nerds. Consider "mall rats" etc

    • Anemasta [any]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Is there causality though? Does being unathletic or unattractive make people focused on academics? Does being good at cognitive things make you forgo sports? Do both of those properties happen in one person by coincidence?

      • leftofthat [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Kind of yeah. You're naturally going to do things that you're better at because winning gives a dopamine hit but losing doesn't.

        The less you practice something the worse you'll be. So there's a feedback loop.

        Otherwise, no. There are plenty of athletic people who love chess and vice versa. This is just true in a large trend sense.

      • Frank [he/him, he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Does being unathletic or unattractive make people focused on academics?

        Probably not. There are lots of smart hot people. We're wandering in to brain calipers territory. There's still a lot of debate as to whether "intelligence" as a general term is even useful scientifically.