Author is probably referring to the study that kids who are praised on being "smart" do less well than kids who are praised on being "hard working".
Here's the first google result, looks like it:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-secret-...
Jives true to me as well. Most of the people who have identities based on being smart far underperform their intelligence. I was praised for being smart growing up, I fight that off like crazy now. "Me? Not smart at all. Just curious." "Nah, I'm dumb as a box of rocks. I just keep going." And so on. It's done wonders for me. (Also, realizing just how much I didn't know was pretty humbling - and the scariest is realizing how much that I'm not even aware I don't know...)
But the reason had nothing to do with fear, and everything to do with not seeing any value in what I was being asked to do. I knew the amount of effort that would be needed to slide by, and that was all the effort that I put in.
Nor do I shy away now from being "smart". My intelligence is a tool, and I should use it well, and I am not ashamed -- or afraid -- of it.
Well, there isn't.
A person that's naturally beautiful doesn't have a responsibility to become an actor or an actress or a model. In our society, it's frowned upon if their parents do things like push them into beauty pageants.
People that are naturally strong or powerfully built don't have a responsibility to take a manual labor job, and nobody tells them that they aren't "living up to their ability" if they don't take a job in construction.
Now, there's a caveat: there are certain problems in human society which smart people are better suited to solving. That doesn't mean they will solve them -- most of the problems require multiple talents, and intelligence is just one -- but they do have some edge.
But that's not your responsibility, or mine, or anyone else's. You should decide what's important to you and then do that.
There's nothing wrong with spending your life having fun.
Then again, I do spend a lot of my time learning and improving myself, and I'm not sure I need a 4.0 to back up some claim to knowledge. The most intelligent person I've ever met was a horrible student. He spent most of his hours studying, but he never really studied the things that his classes were teaching. You could certainly pin that on a lack of judgment, but I don't know anyone that would say he lacked intelligence.
But I think that statement right there puts the lie to saying that you're doing it for yourself, and not for society. That may well be your intention, but is it possible that you're still driven at least in part by the expectations of others? If not, then why does it matter that you have it, and they don't?
BTW, I don't mean to discourage people that are doing something with what they have. Quite the contrary, I really wish more people would, whether they're creative or analytical or otherwise. However, I also think that the expectations placed upon kids of certain aptitudes by their parents, teachers, and others at a young age are perverse and cruel.
People should feel driven to accomplish great things because they want to, not because others expect it, or because they feel guilty if they don't.
Best example, William James Sidis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Sidis).
Someone I think we all can identify with on a lot of levels.
"A true man in a world full of animals." Powerful words.
Most people who have identities based on any single term underperform. I think you'd find that people who live life in a singleminded "athlete" way, or "gamer" way, or on and on, underperform similarly. Possibly they're happy that way, possibly they've just pidgeonholed themselves.
If you've been taught to judge your worth by your intelligence, and simultaneously believe intelligence is fixed at birth, it's a logical consequence that you might do a lot of dumb things to preserve your internal belief that you're smart.