[HPforGrownups] Is Hermione Supposed to be a Genius?

[Shaun Hately]

No: HPFGUIDX 94492

On 29 Mar 2004 at 21:54, Robert Jones wrote:

> Some of the replies to the question "Why does Ron have a crush on 
> Hermione?" expressed surprise that I even asked that question 
> because Hermione is so great.  (Of course, if that was all there was 
> to it, why doesn't Harry have a crush?  What's wrong with Harry?  Is 
> Harry superficial for being attracted only to the pretty Cho?  Why 
> is Harry oblivious to Hermione's charms, both magical and 
> nonmagical?)
> 
> They also make Hermione out to be a genius.  And I want to object to 
> that now.  Hermione is definitely the best student in school, but I 
> think it is just a matter of her "bookish" interests, not that she 
> is the greatest witch of her generation.  Maybe all the magic stuff 
> came naturally to James and Sirius, but Hermione studies all the 
> time and is always running off to the library whenever there is a 
> question.  But that does not mean she has a particularly great IQ or 
> magical IQ — it is just how she handles things.

Hi Robert,

Let me preface this by explaining where I am coming from. I have 
worked as a volunteer mentor to 'profoundly gifted' children 
(broadly speaking IQ180+) and adolescents, for nearly a decade now. 
I've met quite a few of them - fact is, I was one, myself. I have 
written about exceptionally and profoundly gifted children and am 
published in the field, both under my own name and under a 
pseudonym. I do know a fair bit about these types of kids.

And I'm pretty sure Hermione is one of them. Yes, she studies hard 
- many of these kids don't, but some do - and that could explain a 
lot of what makes up Hermione - but there are two things that 
seriously do lead me to believe she probably has a very high IQ as 
well as that.

The first if less certain - but her memory for what she has read 
seems to be fairly close to photographic - her knowledge of a 
History of Hogwarts is the primary sign of this in my opinion - I 
don't think she particularly studied that book - I don't think she 
needed to. I think she read it through once and remembered most of 
it the first time. She's certainly boned up on it since - but she 
has a very good knowledge of it right almost from the time she 
starts at the school - if she was simply studious and concerned 
about her school work, I doubt she would have delved into that book 
so early. I think she remembers most of what she reads - not all 
but most.

Remember in Philosopher's Stone - when she finally remembers where 
she encountered the name Nicholas Flamel - she heads to her room 
and comes back with an 'enormous' book - which she borrowed from 
the library for a bit of light reading. Personally I think she 
reads in the way I've seen a lot of these kids read - delving into 
heavy tomes, reading them once, and remembering most of them.

But more significant to her intelligence - well, here's the thing - 
we actually have a reasonable facsimile of the type of question 
asked on many intelligence tests appearing in the text. It's only 
one question - but the way she solves it, really does suggest a 
very high IQ.

Again, it's in Philosopher's Stone - it's the Bottle Puzzle. This 
is a puzzle based on pure logic - not on learned information.

It's a fairly complex question - and Hermione is able to solve it - 
without any writing, so she's keeping the whole logical sequence in 
her head, as she manipulates it, and solves it - it appears in a 
couple of minutes, but we don't know that - and she doesn't just 
solve it - she is so *sure* of her solution, so confident she has 
got it, she has no hesitation her life and those of her friends on 
her answers. She is *positive* of her answers.

To solve that complexity of puzzle in minutes at the age of 11 or 
12, in your head, with that level of confidence in your answer - 
that is seriously unusual. Especially under stress. It's 
indicative, to me, that Hermione does have an exceptional IQ.

I obviously can't assess it precisely - but I wouldn't be surprised 
at something over the 150 level, with that type of performance.


Yours Without Wax, Dreadnought
Shaun Hately | www.alphalink.com.au/~drednort/thelab.html
(ISTJ)       | drednort at alphalink.com.au | ICQ: 6898200 
"You know the very powerful and the very stupid have one
thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the 
facts. They alter the facts to fit the views. Which can be 
uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that 
need altering." The Doctor - Doctor Who: The Face of Evil
Where am I: Frankston, Victoria, Australia