Sheldon Cooper vs Spencer Reid: who is smarter?
Level on paper, since both are stated at 187, but on the evidence Sheldon is the deeper theoretical mind and Reid the better problem solver under pressure.
Sheldon's IQ is about 155, Spencer's about 152. What's yours?
25 questions · about 12 minutes
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Side by side
| Sheldon | Spencer | |
|---|---|---|
| Estimate | 155142 to 168 | 152140 to 163 |
| Confidence | Medium | Medium |
| Stated in canon | 187 | 187 |
Higher overall estimate: Sheldon Cooper by 3.
Round by round
Six ratings out of ten for each, from the profiles. Sheldon Cooper takes 1 of the rounds and Spencer Reid takes 4.
| Round | Sheldon | Spencer |
|---|---|---|
| Deduction | 8/10 | 8/10 |
| Strategy | 5/10 | 7/10 |
| Knowledge | 9/10 | 10/10 |
| Invention | 7/10 | 4/10 |
| Adaptability | 4/10 | 7/10 |
| Reading people | 2/10 | 8/10 |
The higher rating in each round is in bold.
What settles it
Sheldon has the stronger claim to being a scientist. The show treats his work in theoretical physics as real, difficult and eventually prize-winning, and it lets him hold a field together across many seasons. He earns high marks for knowledge and for abstract reasoning, and his invention is real if uneven.
Reid solves things that have to be solved that day. He carries an enormous store of knowledge and uses it under time pressure, in the field, with lives at stake, and he reads people well enough to talk to the people he catches. Sheldon fails badly at reading people and adapting when things go wrong, which are the skills the Behavioral Analysis Unit runs on.
That is why the two land within a few points of each other on our scale even though the shows call them equal. For both, the 187 is a claim and not a result shown on screen, and each has a weakness that the other does not. Sheldon is the better bet for a problem that takes ten years, and Reid for a problem that takes ten minutes.
The strongest evidence for each
Sheldon Cooper
- String theory at Caltech (The Big Bang Theory, Seasons 1-7)
- Super-asymmetry with Amy (The Big Bang Theory, final seasons and the finale)
Spencer Reid
- Three doctorates and a young start (Established background, Season 1 onward)
- Eidetic memory in the field (Series-wide)
Sheldon Cooper vs Spencer Reid: common questions
Who is smarter, Sheldon Cooper or Spencer Reid?
What is Sheldon Cooper's IQ compared with Spencer Reid's?
Who would win a battle of wits, Sheldon Cooper or Spencer Reid?
What's your IQ?
Both are fiction. Your reasoning is easy to check: 25 visual pattern and rule questions.
25 questions · about 12 minutes