Is it possible for someone to describe themselves as intelligent, yet they find themselves making poor choices, or further, downright stupid choices/actions?
If you saw someone on here claim intelligence but go on to tell you of the poor choices/actions they have made/done, would you say to them, “maybe you’re not as intelligent as you think?” Or are we talking apples and oranges?
Apples and oranges.
People can excel in certain areas of life like their job/career, but make terrible choices with regards to personal relationships like marriage.
I’m a member of Mensa and have a high IQ. Some of the dumb I’ve done…
Absolutely.
In Dungeons & Dragons terms, it’s the difference between Intelligence and Wisdom.
Sometimes intelligence has no real outlet in daily life. So, you’re great at solving logic puzzles but how often does that tie in to what you do every day? And how often do emotions override your smarts?
That being said I know quite a few people who think they are smart who I find stupid out of laziness. Simple things like they won’t read the instructions right in front of their face. Then later when they’ve screwed up and I ask them why, it’s because they didn’t take the time to read one simple little thing.
You forgot to attach the list/file. 
Cracked has an article called “5 Unexpected Downsides of High Intelligence.” Among other things, it states that intelligent people are more likely to be self-destructive.
From the article: “British scientists published the results of a long-term study showing that smart people were more likely to be drunks. People who fell into the ‘very bright’ category (IQs of 125 or greater) were not only more likely to experiment with alcohol but also were more likely to drink excessively and binge drink than their dimwitted counterparts.”
Some study I read somewhere (I’m too lazy to look it up :D) suggested that the lower ones intelligence the more likely one is to mis-perceive their level of intelligence. In simpler terms “the dumber you are, the dumber you are about how dumb you are!” …kinda makes sense, when you think about it…
Now regarding intelligence and poor choices. There are all kinds of intelligence and learning, and all different kinds of things that people may not have expertise, education, or knowledge in. To give a very broad example - I may be a top-notch attorney, but I wouldn’t know how to fix a car. Faced with fixing a car, I might make poor choices. In this case, anyone claiming, “maybe you’re not as intelligent as you think?”, would really be overstepping.
It is absolutely possible and not at all strange or uncommon. Human beings must deal with many issues in their lives. There’s nothing unusual or unexpected about a human being who can deal with some issues very intelligently, but not with others.
It’s also worth considering that people with a broad intelligence might, generally, be more introspective and realize that some of their own choices are, in fact, poor choices. Other people might make poor choices without realizing that they are doing so.
True intelligence does not consist of a high IQ or good academic performances. It consists of making good choices in the areas that really matter: personal relationships, health and safety, integrity and morals.
I don’t think they are apples and oranges. But I guess it boils down to how one defines intelligence.
Intelligence to me requires two things: having the ability to learn quickly and being able to apply what is learned. A lot of people who consider themselves smart can do one of these two things well, but for one reason, they can not do both. Either its because of low emotional intelligence, or because of a failure to link abstract knowledge to real-world situations.
What kind of stupid decisions are we talking about?
I was referring to poor choices such as doing something that could endanger your health, or welfare or well-being or life…
Someone with high intelligence can reason better than someone with low intelligence but that doesn’t mean that their choices are always the result of reasoning.
I think, broadly speaking, I would agree that intelligence requires those two things. However, even if we agree to that, there’s still a variety of intelligences. A person might be very quick at learning math quickly and applying new mathematical ideas quickly. That same person might be very bad at learning relationship skills, and might be totally unaware of how bad his relationship skills are.
Intelligence depends on a lot of things, but education is the most important one. If a person is educated thoroughly and carefully in math from early childhood onward, that person will most likely end up being good at math. If a person doesn’t get any math education, that person will most likely not be good at math. If a person is carefully educated in relationship skills from childhood onwards, that person will likely be good at relationship kills, and if not, not.
This was what first came to my mind, just reading the title.
Part of the problem is defining intelligence. Obviously, D&D divides sheer learning ability (Int affects the number of spells a mage can learn, the number of languages and skills any person of any class can learn, etc.) and the insight (Wis) to know what one’s god/goddess wants, and what choices are likely to lead to a better outcome.
I’m a member of Mensa, and I’ve socialized in it quite a bit. While the members do have to score in the 98th percentile on a standardized intelligence test, many of them have flunked the practical aspects of life. This amazed me when I first joined. Now I no longer expect Mensans to be any wiser than other segments of the population.
Another part of the problem is that people with high IQs tend to do very well on standardized tests, which means that we can get by without studying for most tests until we’re out of high school. We then have to learn how to grind in college, if we ever learn at all. My husband has an average IQ, but he learned how to grind when he was in grade school, so he learned how to work at things. I breezed through most of my schooling, even the first year of college, because I could read something once at the beginning of the year, and then I could remember it. I did eventually learn to grind, but even now, my husband is better at it than I am, which annoys me.
I think making choices is more of a function of emotional intelligence than cognitive intelligence. We tend to think of choice being more of an analytical thing, but I think emotions play a huge part. “Mmm, yummy!” will tend to override “But leading scientists say this will increase my risk of heart disease by fifty percent!”
I don’t think the degree to which someone lets “Mmm, yummy!” influence their decision-making is 100% correlated with intelligence. Slow people have a harder time delaying gratification, but there are a whole of smart people who are impulsive too. Also, context matters. If a person is in a miserable environment where sources of pleasure are rare and ephemeral, it will be harder to convince them to delay gratification than if they are in a better, healthier environment. Such a person may know on an intellectual level that they are making poor decisions, but they are too cynical or filled with hopelessness to care.
Happier, more contented people probably make wiser decisions. Don’t know this for a fact, but it seems right to me.
I’d say that given the same amount of information and resources, a more intelligent person will be able to identify the best choice more quickly and more accurately than a less intelligent one.
Following through on the better choice often requires discipline and self control, which don’t really correlate to intelligence.
You just described me to a T. 
College was a very serious shock to me, because of this. Fortunately, I did learn to grind, at least enough to maintain good grades.
Good points. One of the things I’ve encountered is the question about what makes a choice “poor” to begin with.
I know someone who is living in a relationship that their parents disagree with. Is that a “poor choice”? Their mom sure thinks so, but many other people don’t and think a strongly worded, “mom go away, following your rules would be a poor choice for me” is in order.
Religion is another matter where the difference between a “good” choice, a “neutral” choice, and a “poor” choice is firmly within the eye of the beholder (or believer). Leaving the Catholic Church? That’s a poor choice! You’re going to go to hell!
I know someone who thinks that spending any money on video games is a poor choice. They are rather the old-fashioned type - middle aged, grew up on a farm, doesn’t really understand a lot of youth trends, and even if they did, they never felt the need for video games and turned out ok so why should I spend money on something that stupid?
One problem with this is that all (or virtually all) choices involve potential risks and potential rewards. Take the stock market for example. Some people get rich speculating on stocks, some people lose their shirt, and some people go nowhere very fast and end up closing their brokerage account and look for something else to do that’s not as boring. Are people who play sports making poor choices because of the risk of injury? If you say that the determination about how good a choice is is based on a calculation of reward over risk and any choice with a reward/risk ratio below a certain value is “poor”, you face the problem of quantifying risk and reward. Maybe you can quote statistics showing a number that indicates how likely you are to die if you join the Army, but how do you calculate the associated potential for reward? How valuable is the discipline and self-confidence that you can gain, and the satisfaction knowing that you helped your country? Can you give me a number?
It’s my third post so I’ll be quiet for a while after this, but there is a real issue in society with people who have an inflexible, self-righteous idea of the dividing line between a good choice and a poor choice. If you agree with them, you are making a good choice. If you disagree, no amount of evidence or argument in support of your view will deter them - You are Making a Poor Choice, Why Won’t You LISTEN To Me? I just recently had to deal with someone who fancies themself a doctor even though they are not remotely qualified. They have an advanced degree (though not in anything related to healthcare), so they are arguably “smart”, but then they proceeded to, out of the blue, diagnose me with a medical condition and recommended a treatment, which was a prescription-only drug, and oh, they can get some of that for me. Dude, I’ve been to a doctor, and what you’re saying is not what I’m getting from real doctors. And anyway, even if I trusted you to make a diagnosis, I’m not taking something that, for all I know, you got in exchange for sex in a dark alley. They are unwavering in their insistence that I’m risking my health by not partaking of their chemical supply. They also have a similar attitude on non-medical advice - the “friend” thinks they can recommend career and educational choices, and if you don’t follow their career advice and go into the field they recommend, You Are Making a Poor Choice, Please LISTEN TO ME!