Genes that give IQ boost also carry bad side effects

I was listening to Steven Pinker’s talk Jews, Genes and Intelligence and he mentioned a few times that genes that carry an intelligence boost also carry deleterious side effects.

Why is this, and what are some of the possible side effects?

He just said it without explaining? Why taking him seriously then, when he apparently does not? It’s not common knowledge.

Bad side effects? This reminds me of that cliche about the so-called “nerds” - intellectual geniuses with little or no social skills, probably brought on by the intellectual pathos between them and the “average Joe”, making them hard to connect and communicate with their environment…

Did he at least mention whether the side effects are specifically genetic or was it more of a general claim?

He did mention a few of them (some illnesses that the genes also cause), I was just wondering whether there are other known side effects.

Specifically, I’d be curious to know if there were any psychological side effects (besides being smart and what that brings :slight_smile: )

Well, I can name a few just off the top of my head:

Various personality disorders, such as Antisocial Personality Disorder, Narcissistic PD, Asexual, Social phobias etc… I’m not saying these conditions are inevitable or even directly linked to high IQ, but I do know a couple of people who are very intelligent but otherwise lead secluded lives which indicate at least one of the mentioned disorders. The IQ is definitively a factor, very likely a contributing factor. Would need larger sample to be sure.

IQ may have some slight correlation with autism, just based on my personal experience. I got no studies to back that up.

One comes to mind, mathemathical skills. Both autistic and high IQ (but otherwise normal) people can be real savants with numbers, sometimes appearing as living calculators.