Are you intelligent?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Are you intelligent? Do you think you are intelligent? How intelligent do other people think of you? How intelligent do you think of other people? Do you have many intelligences? How do you measure your intelligence? How do you measure other people’s intelligence? How do you treat people who are more/less intelligent than you? How do more/less intelligent people treat you? Do you want to be more/less intelligent than what you are now? Do you believe that your intelligence change over time or is relatively stable throughout your life? Would you rather be more intelligent, less intelligent, or stay with the same intelligence as you have now?

Answer the poll above, and then try to answer each question following the poll.

2

Nope, Im a moron, ask anyone here

3

[drool…]

What was the question?

4

I think I’m pretty average. <stop laughing you>

I know I used to be much quicker and especially had better memory than I do now. I’m hoping that’s just a factor of age. I think I still reach the best conclusions and can eventually remember anything that I know, it just takes longer now.

Ooooh, shiny!
What was I talking about again?

5

I am very intelligent. My self-esteem is very bad with regards to other aspects of myself but I’ve always been very bright.

6

I always wonder about the OPs purpose behind questions like this.

7

I’m well-read, well-traveled, educated, been around for awhile, and can carry on conversations on a wide variety of topics. I don’t know as that makes me more intelligent than the average guy, but perhaps I’ve better applied myself than many.

8

No “no” options listed eh? I’m not bothering to answer something so self-serving but the related questions, and others, could be more interesting.

First off you have a selection bias: those who post here probably actually are more intellectual (if not intelligent) than the average, just based on the evidence that they have enough intellectual curiosity to be attracted to the site. And of course human nature being what it is the average poster here will consider him or herself as above the mean of the posters here. I’m not going to try to claim I am any different than anyone else in that regard.

I have however spent most of my life aware that many around me, especially my immediate family, think I am smarter than I am. Many posters here are quick to point out how “gifted” they have always been; I dealt instead with my immediate family, for reasons of some stupid test that I don’t even recall ever having taken, believing I was “gifted”, while I knew I was not even close (had friends who really were, and I was not in their league, a hanger-on or wannabe at best), but not wanting to disappoint their expectations. And being frustrated that I wasn’t ever given credit for the hard work I put in, it instead being assumed it just came easy to me. Of course my brother, who also worked hard and did well, got the opposite message - that he works hard but isn’t so naturally smart. At least I can appreciate the reality that we are both just average bright and applied ourselves; he internalized it and to this day does not appreciate what natural intelligence he has. To him the ability to work hard is all he has. It has taken him far but I still hate the fact that he does not give himself the credit for his smarts.

“Habits of mind” perhaps matter more than raw processing power anyway.

Thanks for the therapy session! :slight_smile:

9

Shrug People who know me tell me I’m smart; sometimes they say I’m one of the smartest people they know. I’ve always been able to do well in school without putting in a whole hell of a lot of effort.

I don’t know how to assess how it affects my interactions with other people; I don’t have anything to compare it to. I remember an exercise from acting school, though: The whole class, after a year of spending a lot of time together, listed each student’s qualities (especially in terms of what kind of vibe they give off). The student in the hot seat was not allowed to dispute any of these evaluations. The purpose of this was so that we could each get a better idea of how people see us and how they might cast us. One item on my list was, “He’s not arrogant, but when you talk to him you can tell that he thinks – okay, that he knows he’s smarter than you.”. Most or all of the class agreed with this.

10

It all hinges on how one defines intelligence. As I define it, yeah…I’m pretty intelligent and relatively well educated (which are different things IMHO), but my education is in pretty vertical and narrow fields. In RL most of my co-workers, , friends and family would agree, depending on the subject…in some things I’m dumber than rocks, and I’m highly forgetful, especially when I’m focused on a problem or an interesting project. Can’t say how often I’ve forgotten my keys, wallet, cell phone, laptop or slate behind somewhere, and it’s a running joke among my friends that I can’t keep a pair of sunglasses for more than a month running without losing them. Same goes with prescription eye glasses…I’ve lost so many pairs over the years that I should have stock in eye-wear companies alone. :stuck_out_tongue:

-XT

11

I don’t understand the question.

12

Somewhat-related earlier thread.

13

I voted; ‘Yes, but I am considered intellectually disabled, compared to most people my age.’

It’s true. I have some learning problems.

14

Durrrr . . .

What dis button do?

15

Heh.

I consider myself somewhat more intelligent than average (did a BS degree in a scientific field, like to debate global political issues, know about contemporary science and medical issues, etc). But I have a lot of deficiencies too (mostly social and health issues). I’d trade the slightly higher intellect for better intrapersonal and interpersonal skills. Then again, I think the higher intellect has driven me to do more research in how to improve myself. I’ve gone to the library and read lots of books on how to improve my social deficiencies, which is something I don’t think I would’ve been able or willing to do if I weren’t intelligent.

However in college I met tons and tons of people who were smarter than me. I knew a guy who was a total stoner, skipped all the lectures and only studied 2-3 hours before the test and still did better than me (when I would attend all the lectures and tried to study more than that). He is in med school now. Lot of people in college were smarter than me.

Aside from politics, I don’t really think it is a factor in how I interact with people (I’m only somewhat more intelligent than average).

I think the board as a whole kind of self selects on intellect though.

16

I’m above average in the things that interest me. I’m certainly creative–and some of this is due to innate qualities about myself. But I also “train” really hard. I spend four hours, on average, with my artwork every day. I daydream a lot, too. You spend enough time doing something, and eventually you get good.

The same with the knowledge in my head. I devour material (stuff that I like). I have a great memory. If people just happen to touch upon something that I read in article way back when, I’m quick to share and discuss it. That makes me look smart, but really it’s just that I collect trivia. I don’t generate conversational topics as much as I contribute to them with random pieces of information I’ve picked up. That’s not smart, but it looks that way.

Really, I think the only reason I look smart is because I’m unequivocally nerdy. There are just a few things that I really get into and feel confident enough to talk about. And it just so happens that those things are on the “intellectual” spectrum. But I’m terrible at talking about relationships and feelings. I’m quick with the funny one-liners, but I’m terrible with jokes and funny anecdotes (except when it comes to stories about dogs about to destroy my vagina :)). I rarely laugh when other people are being humorous because I usually don’t get “it” (or maybe I do but I don’t find it as funny as everyone else does…but that’s different :)). I have a hard time keeping up with other people’s conversations, knowing when people are being sarcastic or pulling my leg, or answering questions quickly and succinctly. My thoughts and speech are often disorganized and rambly. When I think about myself, I see a black female version of Mr. Bean. Mr. Bean is not the most intelligent person in the world!

I am smart. Probably smarter than average. But I certainly don’t feel that way most of the time. I kind of like this because it pushes me to work harder and never get too cocky. But I do wish I could be smart in more than just the “eccentric/nerdy” way.

17

The WAIS is the most scientific measure, but since I am a fan of The Secret, maybee me thennk me reel smahrt so that mayk me reel smahrt.

18

“Yes, I am more intelligent than most people my age”; the people who know me generally consider me more intelligent than average. And half the population is above average, so it’s not like I’m claiming to be part of some elite group.

19

I think the board ate my first try…

I am very intelligent, and I’m very aware of it. I’ve had people tell me so from a very early age, and empirical evidence seems to back it up. I’m particularly book-smart, but also have some talent in drawing, writing, singing, dancing, and other miscellaneous artistic endeavors. The academics are really the only thing I’ve gotten formal training in; the rest of it I do for fun. I was socially retarded – in the literal sense of being very behind the curve – when I was a kid, for a variety of reasons. When I aged into a cohort where I had the opportunity to talk to other people who had something in common with me, including intelligence, I suddenly had a reference for human behavior, and got myself up to speed rather quickly.

I don’t think being smart automatically makes me a better person than anyone else; it just makes me smart. Other people think it makes me into some sort of alien, judging from the reactions I get. I try to just treat people like people, but it makes me die a little inside when I’m talking to someone perfectly normally and I find out that they’re really quaking in their boots, afraid that my brain will suddenly burst out of my head and politely but casually crush them, or something like that. I get along fine with people who are learning disabled, and acted as an unofficial de facto tutor for the dyslexic or dyscalculic kids a lot while I was in school.

I don’t actually know that I’ve ever met anyone quantifiably smarter than I am. The argument was made a little while ago in a thread giving advice to a parent of a “gifted” boy that after a certain point, the “giftedness” doesn’t make you think faster, it makes you think differently. After a couple of standard deviations, the numbers are meaningless. I’ve certainly met people whose talents, emphases, experiences and skillsets were different than mine – I usually ask them to teach me. I don’t think that I’ve ever met anyone else with that “different” style of thinking who didn’t want to be on friendly terms with me once we’d sized each other up. It’s pretty rare.

I don’t think being smarter would have any real impact on my life. Except for the social bits of my childhood, I’ve never had the feeling that I wasn’t smart enough to learn something. Once I found an environment where people would interact meaningfully with me, that evaporated, and I picked it up just fine. As far as I know, there isn’t anything I couldn’t learn if I cared enough to devote time to it. On the other hand, I hate being stupid. I can tolerate temporary idiocy from drinking, or from cold medication if I’m really miserable, but I can, have and will refuse to take any long-term medication that prevents my brain from working right. I tried SSRIs once during a very rough time in my life, and we did not get along. I weighed the chance that they might make my mood better, possibly, someday, versus the insomnia, the inability to finish a thought, and the way they completely shut off the function of my common-sense gland, and they went right into the trash.

I spent most of my life trying never to talk about this, on the grounds that just stating facts sometimes can be off-putting and arrogant. In the past few years, though, I’ve had more than one person come up to me and say that they appreciated me writing about being a “gifted” kid, because now they had confirmation they weren’t the only one who thought like that. It’s confusing and isolating when the adults keep telling you that being smart is a good thing, but it makes other people feel bad. So keep it under your hat. Except when we tell you to let it out. But not too much – it’s not nice to show up the adults. Etc.

20

I’m somewhat struck by your comment regarding “social retardation” and wonder how this correlates with the rest of your post.