10 Ways to Look Smarter Than You Are

People make assumptions about you within minutes of meeting you. With no information about your life, no insight into your personality and no understanding of your knowledge or skills, people make a snap judgment about who they perceive you to be. A number of social science studies have come to the conclusion that how intelligent people perceive you to be does not correlate with your actual intelligence. In other words, people respond not to how intelligent you are but to how intelligent you seem.
Read on for ten ways to look smarter than you are.

1) Read Faster and Read More

One of the best ways to look smarter and actually become smarter is to read faster and read more. It’s easier to read quickly if you get out of the habit of mentally reading the words out in your head. As tempting as it is to act out your favorite novels, giving individual characters the unique voices they deserve, this reading style will slow down your reading. The more books you’re able to read, the wider your reading habits can become and thus your knowledge will grow. In order to improve your memory of the books you’ve read or to think more deeply about the impression they’ve had on you, set aside some time to reflect on what you’ve read and share your thoughts with a fellow book lover. Talking about books will not only bring clarity to your opinions about what they contain and give your intelligence a boost, it will also make you look really smart!