Other factors, such as IQ and emotional intelligence, are not as important as the ability to think and respond swiftly.

 

The researchers set out to unveil the psychological bases of charisma¹, and whether this quality depends on specific traits.

 

One thing they noticed was that celebrities² and other public figures deemed very charismatic were all typically sharp-witted.

 

Intelligence and personality turned out to play a smaller role than sheer speed.

 

Also, against the researchers' predictions, mental speed was not associated with social skills such as conflict management or understanding other people's feelings.

 

'Although we expected mental speed to predict charisma, we thought it would be less important than IQ,' researcher William von Hippel said.

 

'Instead, we found that how smart people were was less important than how quick they were. 

 

In their study, published in Psychological Science, the researchers also hypothesised that people who think more quickly could be better at masking a fudged reply by ad-libbing humorous associations.

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