Poll: How smart do you think you are?

[Troublesome Lagomorph]

I'd consider myself below average, but my peers seem to think I'm above average.

 

[t3h br0th3r]

Considering most of us are between 13 and 25 I would guess that most of us have a ton of book smarts but not much in the way of street smarts. Knowing how people, groups, and governments tend to act and react takes a lot of time to acquire, hence older people tend to better at them because they have lived and observed longer. we acquire that insight at different rates but the gap between a high school or college student and someone who has been living on their own for 20 or 30 years is going to be a big one.

Most of the people on The Escapist know enough science to tell you humidity makes you feel hot, but most of us wouldn't start boiling large pots of water in our homes when the heat gave out, thus making us feel warmer.

 

[Custard_Angel]

I'm currently sitting on a 6.5 GPA in my medical and pharmaceutical sciences honours program and aiming to begin a PhD next year.

I reckon I'm above average...

 

[Dupeo]

The foolish man thinks himself wise. The wise man knows himself to be a fool.

 

[Innegativeion]

Generally I doubt you're going to find many people of below-average intelligence on a forum that among nerds is known for its intellectual snobbery.

Personally I'm rather sceptic about the whole notion of "intelligence" as an universal yardstick - according to all kinds of tests I'm very intelligent, but am I really having the feeling it's helping me get somewhere? Not really.
It's fun - and occasionally useful - to impress others with your ability to concisely express complicated thoughts in complex pollysyllabic words, put in complex sentences, featuring far too few full stops to be easily understood by anyone who did not as a previous occupation translate Latin epic writers, or is willing to spend an unneccesarily large chunk of his time deciphering a sentence that is altogether too unwieldy to properly communicate said complicated thought - even though one can possibly admire the fact that even after four full lines the sentence still makes sense.

See what I did there? Did it serve any real purpose except maybe dazzling people with long words?

It's about the same thing with what we call "intelligence", as featured in IQ tests.

(And please don't turn this ridiculous by going "oh, but that's not so complicated that my superior mind can't understand that". I'm not trying to compare dick sizes, I'm trying to say that I'm slowly reaching the conclusion that intelligence has next to no intrinsic value.)

Well, to be fair, intelligence, as I assume it's being used in this context, covers a wide range of topics outside just latin literature and english verbosity.

Intellect, by nature, would mean anything that can be known.

So while I agree that there is no binary sure-fire way to measure intelligence with any accuracy, since there are so many different unrelated topics that can be known. (quantity of total knowledge would be far from any good notion of where someone stands on the sliding scale of idiot to genius).

I mean, intelligence is one thing, but it has to be applied to be of any use to you. A mathematical genius who doesn't practice mathematics won't see it bearing much fruit to him, for example.

 

[spartan231490]

Hey, guys and girls. I recently read an article saying that a very large majority of people think they have above average intelligence. Obviously, it's impossible for everyone to be above average, and it seems people aren't as smart as they like to think they are.

I wanted to test this and ask you guys. How smart do you think you are? You can be as modest or arrogant as you like. Honestly, I think I'm above average, if only because I'm around the top percentile in my class.

Then again, The Escapist might be a breeding ground for super-geniuses; you never know...

EDIT: From the numbers so far, it seems most of us aren't lacking in self confidence, but I'm as guilty as any else.

Also, on the issue of whether intelligence refers to IQ, critical thinking, academic performance, creativity, common sense, or something else: Uuuuuuhhhhhh, I dunnnnooo.....

You do realize that this is the wrong site to test this on right? It's a site for video gamers, who are often above average in intelligence.

Also, IQ is generally a measure of multiple types of thinking, and is the measurement used in most psychological surveys studying intelligence.

Edit: forgot to answer the thread. I'm above average. I've never taken an IQ test, but I suspect I'd be about 150. College classes are taught too slowly to keep me interested. Even subjects that I enjoy and that entertain me bore me because I usually understand what the professor is going to say, and always before he clarifies. When he spends 10 minutes clarifying a point I understand in 1, it bores the hell out of me. Even my engineering and science classes are like that.
I got a 1490 on my 2 part SAT and a 2150 on my 3 part.

I predict plot twists in books hundreds of pages ahead of time. I have anticipated the battle strategy used in all the books I read, and the way to beat them. I can do math in my head faster than most people can with a calculator.

 

[J474]

To be fair, a population of generally introverted nerds/geeks is probably going to have some skew towards higher intelligence, just through lifestyle...

 

[Last Hugh Alive]

I like to think I'm somewhat intelligent with glimpses of brilliance. But I think I may be more arrogant or cynical than intelligent.

For the sake of the poll I voted slightly above average.

 

[randomuser642596]

I think I'm slightly above average. I received an 1800 on my SATs, but besides that, there's no real way of telling.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

I think I'm pretty intelligent, not anything special but a lot of people don't understand things which I find simple. I think slightly above average?

I tend to understand most things up to an advanced level, mental arithmatic being my downfall. However, I can do equations and suchlike if I'm allowed to work it out on paper. I don't have any problem with science and physics.

I'm very creative and artistic but I'm not sure whether that is included in your view of intelligence.

I think the last time I had an IQ test was when I was around 9 years old hehe. It only went up to 130 then scores after that were recorded as '130 plus'. It's higher than that at least.

My confidence is my biggest problem to be honest. I always second guess myself.

 

[WorstClassic]

My brain has some pretty severe problems, but my worst quotient hung out at around 95.
I've since been trying to rebuild my brain from the ground-up, starting by demolishing it in a concentrated alcohol bath.

The process hasn't been very successful, but I won't stop until I succeed or die trying.

pollysyllabic

This typo was the best part of your post (you know, outside of taking those painful steps towards humility). Don't ever fix it.

... I have completed a phD in chemistry and am developing bioinspired nanoneuro interfaces.

My university journal subscriptions are going to be good for a few more weeks. Gimme some reading?

 

[hannan4mitch]

I have an IQ of 142.
While above average, it's nothing absolutely stupendous, kind of a garden variety genius.
The thing is, I don't act smart (last school year I barely squeaked by with a 3.1 GPA, managing to pull 2 or so B- out of my ass during the last grading period, one in Chemistry and the other in English, after generally sucking at both for the majority of the year).

 

[coolkirb]

people on this website tend to think they are smarter then they actually are.

 

[Flac00]

uh, im not suprised most people said above average. Way above average makes you sound arrogant, slightly above average makes you sound only kind of smart. Everybody just stick with above average and shake you asses at the nearest stupid person.

 

[Dango]

Slightly above to above.

That's just my best guess.

 

[David Hebda]

... You do all realize that an IQ test does not go above 140, if you score higher than that you simply get a 140+ not a higher number... with that I get a 137, and you only need a 120 or 125 to join Mensa... but they want money so they can F off

As to how I preceive my intelligence, I never thought I was super smart, but I have always been baffled by the idiocy of others.

EDIT: what I said about the IQ test is for America, I think all other countries follow the same guideline but I can not swear to it.

Also 100 is average and 80 can pass for normal 75 is clinically retarted, but still totally functional (can hold a job, care for self and pass for mostly normal [I know people who fall into this range and have gotten married and had kids])
The fun thing is that in Norther Europe derived groups there is actually a double bell curve in the intelligence skewing the norm, average is still 100, but the concentrations are at 80 and 120, making the average norther Europiener (or descendent thereof) either smarter or dumber than those of other geographical locations (Yay centuries of inbreeding!)

 

[Hawgh]

Probably average, perhaps a little below; So far still hanging on in university, starting on a master's.

 

[TheTim]

I'd say im average or slightly above, im not incredibly book smart but i have much more street smarts.

 

[dex-dex]

I am street smart not so much academic smart.

 

[YuheJi]

I would say that I'm relatively intelligent. Not the smartest kid in the classroom, mind you, but I do have above a 3.0 gpa in college so far (I go to UC Irvine, if you're wondering). And I graduated top 10% in HS and had 2170 in SAT. Not even close to genius status, but I would say I've generally been on the right side of the bell curve (unless you ask me to do physics).