Calatar said:
What a nice Gaussian distribution. Where the actual average is more than "above average."
Everybody wants to think they're above average.
Maybe we have a certified "smarter than average" general population here. Or maybe only "smarter than average" people answer polls about intelligence.
Or maybe everybody is terrible at understanding what the actual average is, especially for such a nebulous concept as divisions of intelligence.
Or maybe the poll just sucks and everyone puts "ehh kinda intelligent" because it sounds both modest and flattering.
Pretty much this.
Still, I can't quite get how 1/5th of the responses have placed themselves at the very peak of human mental capacity...
Then again, the thread is called, "How intelligent do you consider yourself" and not how intelligent people actually are.
Me? Its pretty well established that I'm gifted, but I wouldn't consider myself a savant or anything like that.
That being said, I know several dozen people who graduated college between the ages of 16-19, and even then, only three of these people I would consider to be in the "Holy fucking shit intelligent" range.
Unless you're "changing the face of an academic field" intelligent, looking smart to smart people is a good indication that you're doing fine, and even if you don't, who gives a damn really? It doesn't determine your intrinsic value.
Intelligence is like a superpower- it helps a lot of heroes become successful, but Batman does well for himself through other means.