Do you consider yourself intelligent?

Others have beat me to the punch when claiming that intelligence is an all encompassing term for many different levels/subjects of thought. Many believed that Albert Einstein was mentally retarded as a child for instance.

Do I consider myself intelligent? As far as EQ (emotional intelligence as you probably are aware) yes I consider myself gifted. I am very attuned to others around me. I'm extroverted and have very fair social skills. I befriend just about anyone, and have been told I'm very easy to trust very quickly. I make friends easily and can pick up on the emotions of others quite spot on.

In school I did very well and took honors classes and my parents have told me I've always been very smart. In college I didn't take things seriously so I didn't do too well even though that was moreso a lack of effort.

I also have a good head on my shoulders and have plenty of common sense (which doesn't seem common enough anymore jk :lol

Many believe I am intelligent by my eloquence and how I do well with language(s). Despite all this, no I've never considered myself particularly intelligent. I have ADD and am far too easily distracted to focus on anything I should be, which makes life a bit harder for me.

Overall I would say I'm no genius and I have so much more I could learn and will learn on my path in life, but I definitely don't consider myself stupid either.

 

Yes. Being called some form of "smarter than the average bear" by a number of people for basically my entire conscious life has given me some problems, oddly enough. A sense of egotism is not the least influential of them.

I don't think I can say I'm "exceptionally" intelligent, although I'd probably put my grade of myself between the top two options. Without a doubt I know a lot of stuff and can sometimes put it to use in ways most people can't. I'll toot my own horn and say I can get more enjoyment out of "brainy" activities like Kerbal Space Program and creative writing. And for what it's worth I've been shown the value of humility and hard work alongside smarts; otherwise I'd be a completely depressed underachieving douchebag awash in his own misplaced sense of superiority*.

*Colorful description above is mostly how I was from 11-13 years old. Since then I've come to view my mental ability as a privilege rather than a birthright and it's part of an entirely new worldview. But then it makes me question, "Is deep self-awareness a trait of only exceptionally smart people, or is it something everyone gets eventually?"

 

yes in some areas, not so much in others. I went with average

 

I'd say my intelligence level is not exceptional, nor completely dumb... My ability to think logically would be above average, but my emotional intelligence is certainly below average. I am able to quickly solve tasks that require using logical thinking however I am not good at controlling emotions and because of that I end up doing dumb things at times.

 

I'm the dumbest person in ec history. To quote kirk cobain. I think I'm dumb maybe just happy

 

Exceptionally intelligent to me means child prodigy, brightest in every class at uni, 1 in 1000 type person it's amazing we have so many here! Or just a lot of delusion :lol:

 

This reminds me of an interesting poll conducted by YouGov where people were asked whether they consider themselves to be more intelligent, less intelligent or around the same as the average British person. 47% said they were smarter, 43% said the same, and only 2% said less. Now, this could be a case of people grossly overestimating themselves, or maybe stupid people are too stupid to realise that they're stupid. Either way, it's funny.

 

Quiet, you dumb Brit!

LOL. I'm just playing! But I'm sure somebody, somewhere, truly does think like that.

 

I am pretty dumb, and also a Brit, so you're spot on actually. :eek:

 

It depends, but my emotional intelligence has been falling over the years if that makes any sense. I'm slowly losing my patience when it comes to dealing with human stupidity.
And I like to think about stuff a lot.

 

regardless of the fact that am a typical northern bloke Id consider myself as fairly average in intelligence.

 

I am rather dumbfounded by your statement. You don't seem dumb to me. In fact, you seem like a pretty talkative person.

---------- Post added 11th Jan 2015 at 02:14 PM ----------

Provision of a way to assess intelligence might had been helpful and essential.

 

"When you are dead, you don't know that you are dead, it is difficult only for the others. It is the same when you are stupid."

 

Such false humility...

---------- Post added 11th Jan 2015 at 02:36 PM ----------

That's forgivable then.

 

I didn't realise it was transparent! Definitely dedicating some time later to making my own mind up about these exceptionally intelligent people. Past forum posts will be examined

:lol:

Yes, I suppose a stupid person doesn't have the wit to comprehend their own stupidity, probably why they can be sometimes so forthright on topics they've no right to be

 

Lol over 60% of the voters think they're exceptionally intelligent or above average, while less than 20% consider themselves average. Didn't know we had so many bright minds here.

Well I believe there can be many types of intelligence and most people have the potential to be great in at least one of these fields. Personally, there are days that I think I'm pretty dumb and others that I think ''Hey, I'm not bad at this at all''.

 

Well if we discount the people who "reject the concept of intelligence" or "don't know how to answer", 72% of people consider themselves above average.

 

I think the poll would be biased if just for the fact that people who consider themselves "below average" would be unlikely to want to expose that fact or go on a thread about intelligence.

(Nobody wants to feel crappy about their IQ...)

 

Are you familiar with the Dunning-Kruger effect (an excellent 7 minute video covering it here)?

Basically it says that incompetent people tend to lack the meta-cognitive competence to realize they're incompetent (i.e., they're too stupid to know that they're stupid). Certainly not everyone who thinks they're intelligent lacks the intelligence to see they're not as intelligent as they think, but some are. The opposite can also apply. There are many PhD scientists who are very humble about what they do/do not know precisely because they know enough to know that there's a lot they don't know.

That being said, I selected "Exceptionally intelligent." So perhaps I should be careful to not fall prey of the Dunning-Kruger effect myself.