“Geek engagement was associated with disengagement from political behavior,” they write. However, it was also associated with “non-political civic organizations,” a finding that lead the researchers to speculate that activities such as volunteering at conventions may “provide more opportunities for geeks to be engaged.”

Another study, featuring 226 people, measured two kinds of intelligence: “crystallized” (accumulated knowledge) and “fluid” (the ability to work with information). Engagement with geek activities was negatively associated with both, which will surprise those who hold the “commonly held belief that geeks are more intelligent than non-geeks.” (They’re presumably conflating geeks with nerds. Different subcultures, people!)

A final study, featuring 396 participants, focused on creativity. “Individuals high in geek engagement report having more ideas, feel compelled to do more creative projects, and value creativity and its products more than individuals low in geek engagement,” the researchers write. Geeks “not only engaged in opportunities to be creative in work or school … but also undertook creative endeavors on their own time, and of their own accord.”

“Overall,” they conclude, “although geeks do not appear to particularly need emotional or intellectual stimulation, they require outlets for their creativity.”