7 phrases that people with lower IQs often use in everyday conversations, according to psychology

The café was loud in the way late afternoons often are—cups clinking, someone laughing too hard near the window, the hiss of the espresso machine cutting through pockets of conversation. You were only half-listening to the people at the table beside you, until a phrase floated through the noise and snagged your attention like a fishhook: “Well, smart people always overthink things. I just go with my gut.”

It sounded harmless enough. Casual. Confident. But something in it carried a subtle weight—a quiet resistance to reflection, a shrugging off of curiosity. And if you listen closely to everyday conversations, in cafés, on buses, at family dinners, you’ll start to notice how certain phrases show up again and again, wrapping themselves like ivy around the way we think, or don’t think, about the world.

Psychologists have long been interested in how language reflects cognitive habits. Not just the vocabulary we know, but the tiny, throwaway lines we lean on when we’re overwhelmed, defensive, or uninterested in nuance. Some of these phrases tend to be more common in people who score lower on traditional IQ measures—people who, for many reasons, may rely on simpler, more rigid mental shortcuts rather than flexible, reflective thinking.

This isn’t about insulting anyone’s intelligence or pretending that IQ is destiny. It’s about noticing how language can betray the moments when we stop thinking, when we choose certainty over curiosity, when we trade complexity for the comfort of a simple story. And once you hear these phrases in the wild, you can’t un-hear them. You might even catch yourself using them.

Before We Go Further: A Quiet Disclaimer

Let’s set one thing straight before we step deeper into the forest: intelligence is not a moral ranking system, and it is certainly not the same as worth. IQ tests measure a narrow slice of cognitive skills—pattern recognition, verbal reasoning, processing speed—but they don’t capture creativity, emotional intelligence, wisdom, or the quiet competence of people who can fix a leaking pipe better than any engineer can solve an equation.

When psychology research links certain language patterns to lower IQ scores, it doesn’t mean everyone who says these phrases is unintelligent. It means that, across large groups, people who consistently lean on specific types of thinking—overly rigid, black‑and‑white, dismissive of complexity—tend, on average, to perform lower on abstract reasoning tasks.

So this isn’t a list for judging other people. It’s a mirror, not a weapon. A way to notice when language makes your world smaller than it needs to be.

1. “It Is What It Is” – The Surrender of Thought

You’ve heard this one in elevators, at funerals, during awkward work meetings where nobody wants responsibility: “It is what it is.” Five little words that sound Zen and wise, but often hide something else—cognitive surrender.

Psychologically, this phrase can be a verbal off-switch. Researchers sometimes talk about “cognitive closure,” the desire to land on an answer, any answer, just to stop the discomfort of uncertainty. People with lower cognitive flexibility—that is, lower ability to hold multiple possibilities in mind—often seek closure faster. “It is what it is” becomes a soft little blanket they pull over problems they don’t want to examine.

Not always, of course. Sometimes life hands you something truly non-negotiable: a diagnosis, a breakup, a natural disaster. Acceptance can be healthy. But listen to the context. If the phrase shows up when there are still choices to be made, questions to explore, or systems that could be changed, it often signals that thinking has folded its wings and gone to sleep.

Higher-level reasoning tends to generate questions: Why is it this way? What could change? What’s my role in this? When those questions get replaced with a shrug and a catchphrase, we flatten the landscape of possibilities into a single, resigned line on the horizon.

2. “That’s Just the Way I Am” – Identity as a Shield

Imagine someone snapping at a friend, then leaning back in their chair, arms crossed, throwing out the phrase like a final verdict: “Look, that’s just the way I am.” The conversation dies on contact. There’s nowhere left to go. No room for growth, no door for responsibility to walk through.

Psychologically, this phrase often reflects a fixed mindset—a belief that traits like intelligence, personality, or behavior are static. Research in cognitive and educational psychology suggests that people with a more fixed mindset are less likely to engage in effortful learning and self-reflection. Lower IQ scores, in turn, are often associated with fewer successful experiences of problem-solving and change, which can reinforce a “this is just me” narrative.

“That’s just the way I am” collapses complexity into identity. It avoids the uncomfortable work of asking: Why do I react like this? Could I learn new skills? What might happen if I tried to change? Real intelligence, the kind that grows over a lifetime, thrives on those questions.

The people who quietly evolve tend to say different things: “I’ve always been like this, but I’m working on it.” “That’s my pattern, and I don’t love it.” The language is softer, more open, more curious. It leaves a window ajar where “that’s just the way I am” slams the door.

3. “I Don’t Need to Know the Details” – Dodging Complexity

There is a certain relief in waving away information. Someone starts explaining climate change, a financial contract, a medical treatment, and the listener cuts in: “Eh, I don’t need to know the details. Just tell me what to do.”

On the surface, this sounds practical. Not everyone wants to read 30-page reports or track the nuances of a study. But psychologically, a chronic avoidance of detail can signal low cognitive engagement. People with lower IQ scores often find complex, abstract information more mentally taxing, and are more likely to rely on simple, authority-based rules: tell me the answer, not the reasoning.

This matters because details are where informed choice lives. When you skip them entirely, you outsource your thinking: to experts, to influencers, to whoever sounds confident enough in the moment. Over time, this habit can create a life steered by other people’s narratives and agendas.

Contrast that with someone who says: “Can you walk me through the main points?” or “I’m not an expert, but I want to understand the basics.” That doesn’t require a PhD. It requires curiosity—the willingness to sit with a bit of mental strain in order to own your choices.

Common Avoidance Phrases and Healthier Alternatives

On a small phone screen, these contrasts look almost like a quiet checklist—a set of little linguistic nudges toward more active thinking.

4. “Everyone Knows That” – When Certainty Replaces Curiosity

There’s a particular tone that often comes with this phrase: a slight eye roll, a raised eyebrow, an invisible line drawn between “us” (the sensible people) and “them” (the clueless ones). “Everyone knows that.” Everyone knows the earth is flat. Everyone knows that if you go out with wet hair, you’ll get sick. Everyone knows “they” are hiding the truth.

Psychologically, this is a form of social proof by shortcut. Instead of evaluating evidence, the speaker leans on an imagined consensus. Studies in cognitive psychology show that people with lower reasoning skills are more vulnerable to this kind of bandwagon thinking. The claim feels true because it fits into a familiar story, not because it’s been examined.

“Everyone knows that” also shuts down dialogue. It suggests that asking questions would make you naïve, out of touch, or even foolish. And curiosity withers in the presence of that kind of subtle shaming.

More flexible thinkers use softer, more humble language: “As far as I know…” or “Most people believe…” or “From what I’ve read…” These phrases keep a crack of uncertainty open. They invite correction, nuance, and new information—things that are oxygen to genuine intelligence.

5. “It’s Not That Deep” – Ranking Feelings and Ideas

You’re trying to explain why a movie hit you harder than you expected, or why a small comment at work stayed with you all day. Before you can reach the core of what you’re feeling, someone cuts in: “Relax. It’s not that deep.”

This phrase doesn’t just dismiss the moment; it dismisses depth itself—the layered meanings, the quiet motives, the hidden patterns that live beneath the surface of almost everything. People who habitually avoid introspection may find depth uncomfortable. It asks them to track context, to hold multiple truths at once, to tolerate ambiguity. Those are all cognitively demanding tasks.

Research on emotional intelligence and reflective thinking suggests that people who engage more deeply with their inner life tend to perform better on certain abstract reasoning tasks too. Depth in one domain often echoes in another. So when someone insists that “it’s not that deep,” over and over, it may signal an impatience with complexity—both emotional and intellectual.

Of course, sometimes people do overanalyze. But the line between “overthinking” and “thinking carefully” is thin and personal. When we use “it’s not that deep” as a reflex, we may be trying to pull everything down to a level where we never have to feel lost or challenged.

6. “That’s Just Common Sense” – The Illusion of Obvious Truth

Few phrases sound as smugly solid as “that’s just common sense.” It feels like a trump card: no study needed, no debate required. Everyone with a functioning brain should see it the same way… right?

Psychologically, “common sense” is tricky. What feels obvious to one culture, generation, or social group may be baffling to another. People with lower analytical reasoning ability often confuse familiarity with correctness: if something feels intuitively true, it must be true for everyone. This is a cognitive shortcut that saves mental energy but sacrifices accuracy.

We see this in arguments about money (“Just save more, it’s common sense”), health (“If you’re sick, you must have done something wrong”), or relationships (“If they wanted to, they would”). Each of these “obvious” statements erases context, systems, and nuance. They compress entire ecosystems of cause and effect into a single, tidy line.

More reflective thinkers tend to be suspicious of their own sense of obviousness. They might say, “It seems like common sense to me, but I know it’s more complicated.” That small caveat holds space for learning, for exceptions, for other people’s realities.

7. “I Don’t Care What the Experts Say” – Rebellion Without Reflection

There’s a certain rebellious electricity in this phrase, especially online: “I don’t care what the experts say.” You’ll hear it in conversations about vaccines, climate, nutrition, economics—any field where the data is dense and the stakes are high.

Psychologically, this is where low cognitive ability sometimes collides with something called the Dunning–Kruger effect: the tendency for people who know little about a topic to overestimate their understanding of it. Experts can feel threatening in that context. Their knowledge exposes the gaps in our own, and one way to manage that discomfort is to declare their expertise irrelevant.

This doesn’t mean experts are always right. They aren’t. Science, in particular, is built on revision and debate. But dismissing expertise outright—“I don’t care what the experts say, I trust my gut”—is less about critical thinking and more about protecting one’s ego from complexity.

People who score higher on measures of reasoning tend to use a different stance: respectful skepticism. They’ll question experts, but with questions rooted in evidence: What’s the sample size? Who funded the study? How strong is the effect? That kind of doubt is not rebellion against thinking; it’s thinking at work.

The Quiet Work of Changing How We Speak

If you listen back over these phrases—“It is what it is,” “That’s just the way I am,” “Everyone knows that,” “I don’t care what the experts say”—you might notice a shared undercurrent. They all contract the world. They shrink choice, flatten nuance, and declare whole continents of possibility off-limits.

Intelligence, as psychologists describe it, isn’t just about fast math or clever wordplay. It’s about how we handle complexity. Whether we tolerate uncertainty long enough to investigate it. Whether we reach reflexively for final answers or allow ourselves to hover, briefly, in the open space of not-yet-knowing.

Language is both a map of that terrain and a tool for reshaping it. When we catch ourselves saying, “It’s not that deep,” we can pause and ask: what if it is? When we want to declare, “That’s just common sense,” we can instead ask: common to whom? When we feel the pull of “I don’t need to know the details,” we can push gently in the opposite direction: help me understand the basics.

The café grows quieter. The late light shifts across the floor. At the table next to you, someone sighs and says, “Well, it is what it is.” Maybe you hear it differently now—not as a wise acceptance, but as a small invitation. A chance to decide whether you’ll let the conversation, inside yourself and with others, stop there… or go one step deeper.

FAQs

Do these phrases prove someone has a low IQ?

No. These phrases are associated in research with certain thinking styles that, on average, are more common in people with lower IQ scores, but any person of any intelligence level can use them. Context, frequency, and underlying habits matter far more than a single sentence.

Isn’t this just being judgmental about how people talk?

The goal isn’t to judge individuals but to notice patterns where language can signal a reluctance to think more deeply. Recognizing those patterns can help us all catch our own mental shortcuts and choose more thoughtful responses.

Can changing how I speak really affect how I think?

Yes. Language and thought influence each other. When you choose phrases that keep questions open—“as far as I know,” “help me understand,” “what are the options?”—you gently train your mind toward curiosity and flexibility.

Are there cultural differences in these phrases?

Very much so. What counts as “common sense” or “not that deep” can vary widely by culture, class, and community. The underlying issue isn’t the exact words but whether they shut down thinking or invite more of it.

How can I respond when someone uses one of these phrases?

Rather than correcting them, you can open the door a little wider: “Maybe, but I’m curious what else might be going on,” or “True, and I wonder if there’s more to the story,” or “Could we look at a few details before we decide?” Gentle questions often work better than blunt disagreement.