History Main / ActingYourIntellectualAge

* One of the first novels to feature a ChildProdigy was ''The Hampdenshire Wonder'' in 1911. The protagonist is not only a genius, but a truly [[{{Superintelligence}} superintelligent]] little kid who judges the whole human culture an "elementary, inchoate, disjunctive patchwork"... at age four and a half.

Often, a character who acts their intellectual age is, supposedly, more sophisticated than the adults, even the educated ones, and will not hesitate to point out grammatical errors, logic flaws or to criticize behavior. Often may grow into an InsufferableGenius, if they are not one already. If they're lucky, they may instead outgrow their uptight arrogance and wind up a recovering InsufferableGenius.

* Lord Peter Wimsey graduated from Balliol College, Oxford with a first-class degree in history, and knows a great deal about incunabula and criminology. He also played high-level cricket for Oxford, and in his 40s takes regular exercise with a fencing master and judo teacher.

* ''Manga/DetectiveConan's'' Ai Haibara is an eighteen year-old prodigy who has been shrunk down physically to age six or seven. Since she puts no deliberate effort into acting like a child, she tends to come off this to people who aren't aware of this fact. The degree to which this is true has dwindled with her CharacterDevelopment as she's TookALevelInCheerfulness over the course of the series. Even before she was shrunk down, Ai studied biochemistry in the United States and started working for the Black Organisation before she was thirteen.

Often, a character who acts their intellectual age is, supposedly, more sophisticated than the adults, even the educated ones, and will not hesitate to point out grammatical errors, logic flaws, or to criticize behavior. Often may grow into an InsufferableGenius, if they are not one already. If they're lucky, they may instead outgrow their uptight arrogance and wind up a recovering InsufferableGenius.

Somewhat TruthInTelevision, but reality is more complicated. [[PingPongNaivete Gifted children are usually all over the place in maturity, acting their intellectual age in some aspects, their actual age in others, and in between in other ways. And in some ways they may be different from non-gifted kids of ''any'' age. Emotional maturity is usually at age level or only slightly advanced. This makes finding friends tricky, since older kids see them as immature, while same-age kids don't understand them. (An amusing anecdote is a highly gifted 4 year old who wanted to leave a note for her same-age friend, before remembering with disappointment that her friend couldn't read!)

Somewhat TruthInTelevision, but reality is more complicated. Gifted children are usually all over the place in maturity, acting their intellectual age in some aspects, their actual age in others, and in between in other ways. And in some ways they may be different from non-gifted kids of ''any'' age. Emotional maturity is usually at age level or only slightly advanced. This makes finding friends tricky, since older kids see them as immature, while same-age kids don't understand them. (An amusing anecdote is a highly gifted 4 year old who wanted to leave a note for her same-age friend, before remembering with disappointment that her friend couldn't read!)

* ''Manga/DetectiveConan's'' Ai Haibara is an eighteen year-old prodigy who has been shrunk down physically to age six or seven. Since she puts no deliberate effort into acting like a child, she tends to come off this to people who aren't aware of this fact. The degree to which this is true has dwindled with her CharacterDevelopment as she's TookALevelInCheerfulness over the course of the series.
** Even before she was shrunk down, Ai studied biochemistry in the United States and started working for the Black Organisation before she was thirteen.

* Aaron Fidget in ''Discworld/{{Hogfather}}'':

* ZigZagged by Calvin of ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes''. He's incredibly intelligent, well-spoken, and has a very solid grasp of concepts and ideas that many real-world adults struggle with, but at same time, he frequently uses his enormous vocabulary and razor-sharp wit to express the kind of thoughts any regular six-year-old would have.

* Min-Jeong in ''VideoGame/RenownedExplorers'' is the youngest character you can add to your exploration party. She's also a prodigy, serving in the Scientist role, and in events, she generally acts composed and skeptical, closer to [[CoolOldLady Agatha]] than anyone else her age. She even gets the "led by a child" debuff if [[InnocentProdigy Hildegard]] (who is two years ''older'' than Min-Jeong) is chosen as captain.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' generally manages to play this fairly realistically: [[TheSnarkKnight Daria]] is smarter than most of the adults she knows, but she is still [[BrilliantButLazy lazy]] and pretty immature at times, particularly with her own emotions ([[EmotionlessGirl which she'd rather just repress]]). Flashbacks depict her unable to connect with other children, but her six-year-old reading material is ''Literature/BlackBeauty'' rather than, say, Homer in the original Greek.

* This is one of the biggest differences between Molly and Golly in ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob!'' Both are [[SuperIntelligence superhumanly intelligent]] and much [[YoungerThanTheyLook younger than they look,]] but while Molly is perfectly content to alternate between reading Stephen Hawking and Dr. Suess, Golly works very hard to look mature and sophisticated at all times (to mixed results).

* This is one of the biggest differences between Molly and Golly in ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob'' Both are [[SuperIntelligence superhumanly intelligent]] and much [[YoungerThanTheyLook younger than they look,]] but while Molly is perfectly content to alternate between reading Stephen Hawking and Dr. Suess, Golly works very hard to look mature and sophisticated at all times (to mixed results).

One common effect of this 'adult-in-a-child's-body" phenomenon is that characters who act their intellectual age have no interest in kids who are their actual age. They may look down on kids their own age as savage or barbaric, and would rather associate with their intellectual peers, even if those peers are 4 or 5 times the character's age. Strangely, in the world of TV and media in general, neither party seems to care about the age difference, and the kid genius in question thinks nothing of it to discuss the latest political development with someone old enough to be their father/mother. Thus, of course, they are likely to be construed as [[TeachersPet teachers' pets]] in any academic setting. This aspect is only occasionally TruthInTelevision, as there are many cases of highly intelligent students deliberately [[ObfuscatingStupidity dumbing themselves down]] in order to fit in.

* Huey Freeman of ''The Boondocks'' has elements of this in both his [[ComicStrip/TheBoondocks comic]] and [[WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks animated]] incarnations.
** As an example, in one episode of the animated series, his friend Jazmine says something about the Tooth Fairy. Huey responds by saying that the Tooth Fairy isn't real, the world is a hard and lonely place, no one gets anything for free, and everyone she loves will be dead one day.

They have no interest in ever being a child. They eschew toys in favor of books and beginner scientific equipment. [[LittleProfessorDialog They immediately and eloquently denounce the logic of Santa Claus.]] They may insist that their parents read the classics to them as bedtime stories and thus scoff at the books meant for their age. [[GeniusBookClub Or they just read the classics -- or, better the encyclopedia -- to themselves purely for fun.]] They would rather discuss world events than...play (How childish!). They may even already have a distinct, philosophical worldview, never mind that they haven't lived long enough to see enough of the world to form such a view. And so on.

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* The Literature/WhateleyUniverse has several examples. Ayla springs to mind as a self-acknowledged one, and Jobe is one who doesn't realize it. Ayla's reaction to realizing this is to try and bring his friends up to his level, so that they can at least understand why some things bug her so much. ("Why would I blow money on an expensive stereo system that's going to be outdated in three months' time, or on clothes that are going to be out of style in two weeks?")