Intelligence - yours and the people you meet

In My Humble Opinion
21

I know an adult who has obvious limitations with respect to intelligence. I would guess that her IQ is in the general ballpark of 80. She can read a newspaper, but any literature beyond a grade six or seven leel would be a stretch for her.

While she can function as an adult (and she has a very big heart) there are concepts that she has extreme difficulty in understanding.

Example/
A chequing acount.

Let’s say she and her spouse have $500 in the bank. They write cheque to pay a bill for $400. She also wants to buy something that is $200, her spouse says “no, we don’t have enough money.”

She can not understand how they only really have $100, when the bank balance says $500. No matter how you explain to her that a $400 cheque has been written and will be coming out of the account imminently, she can not grasp the concept that the money has been “spent” it just hasn’t been removed from the account yet.

As for me? I’ve never really thought about it. I have incredible memory skills and probably better-than-average reasoning abilities, but I’ve never really cared to know my IQ or general ranking. Most people who know me think I’m “very smart,” but I think I have incredible potential to be a complete dumbass. I guess I’d say “above average to advanced” but not outstanding.

So, I was a “straight A” student. Big deal! I know PhDs who are brilliant in their respective fields and completely inept when it comes to day-to-day common sense.

22

Based on test scores, I’m in the top 1%. Fortunately, I have some friends who are also very intelligent and interesting people, and I work in a field where people tend to be pretty smart. I was divorced a bit over a year ago (from someone who was not too smart, but that’s not the reason we divorced). I just met someone (a man) at work who I really like and who is SOOOO smart than when I talk with him I feel like he’s woken me up from the dead. And he’s single! The problem is, he seems not up for a “relationship.” I’ve decided that if I ever date again, it has to be someone like him.

It’s funny though, like Angel I sometimes (often?) act a bit of a ditz. In high school people said I was “spacey” (this was the 60s-70s, when that was sort of a compliment).

23

Although the Mensa websites you posted are American (and I am not), I’ll certainly have a look. :slight_smile:

I also relate to what you’ve said about curiosity. My curiosity is insaitable. I want to know more and understand everything. I have always been a reader, and since childhood, usually have more than one book on the go at any given time. I read dictionaries and encyclopedias for fun. (And it is fun!) And although I’m not terribly proud of it in retrospect, I used to steal text books from school so I could read them. (Text books for different classes, or higher-level courses.)

And I, too, can’t believe that some people never read any books at all, and don’t even watch educational television at least! Some people just don’t care about these things… and I don’t know how it can be so.

24

Oh, and I almost forgot something I wanted to say in response to the conversation regarding high school drop outs and intelligence. I am a high school drop out. I did eventually attend a program they run here in my province that isn’t an equivalent like a GED, but for employment or college purposes is acceptable. So technically, I never graduated.

In grade 9 they tested us and I was told I was at a grade 12/13 level (grade 13 meaning “OAC” courses: university-bound preparatory level) so perhaps that should count? Nah, didn’t think so. heh

25

I’ve scored in the 1st percentile of every standardised test I’ve ever taken: ACT, SAT, GRE, GMAT, etc. I scored a 5 on the HS Chemistry AP test (I took Chemistry I, II and III in high school)
I scored a 165 on the Wexler (sp!) Adult Intelligence Survey in college.

When I was in HS I thought I was the smartest guy in the world until years later when I was in a Ph.D program where everyone else was as smart as me and some of the professors made me look like I had the brains of a carrot.

So now I don’t think I’m smarter than everyone else. I have intelligent conversations at work with the forklift drivers, kitchen help and janitors. I meet people where they are and try to get the best out of them. I’ve met a few severely challenged people in my life, but beyond them I don’t think I’m much smarter than anyone anymore.

26

I have rarely if ever met anybody within my circle of friends in RL who I would consider to me “smarter” than I am. Certainly many had more knowledge on a wide range of areas but none seemed “smarter”. I am aware that the people I associate with would be considered extremely intelligent by most “normal” people and I often have to stop my jaw from dropping to the floor at some of the bat shit stupid things that people around me say when I am not around my friends. I would guess that I am easily in the top 0.1% in general and I have never scored less than the top 1 percentile in any standardised tests.

The straight dope seems to be the only place where I can go into a thread and expect to be roughly equally knowledgable as anybody else in the thread.

27

I’m smart enough to be a Straight Dope Moderator.

And dumb enough to want to. :slight_smile:

28

Discussions of intelligence usually make me want to pull out Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences and wave it around. He lists the following as separate intelligences:

  • linguistic
  • mathematical/logical
  • visual/spacial
  • interpersonal
  • intrapersonal
  • musical
  • kinesthetic
  • environmental (not the tree-hugging type, but the Holmesian observational type)

My strengths tend to lie in linguistic and interpersonal. My weaknesses are mathematical/logical and environmental (I am mostly oblivious). According to the Mensa info supplied by MisterThyristor, I’m eligible by my SAT scores. Most of my school tests put me in the 98-99% for language and anywhere from 75-88% for math.

I used to get teased in school for being a geek - knowing a bunch of stuff, being curious, reading all the time, figuring out answers that the teacher wanted. I was starting to feel a little burned out, cynical and resentful, but then I got to college, and not only was it okay to be smart, but there were tons of smart people running around. It was wonderful!

Since then, I’ve found intelligence comes in lots of flavors, so I think Gardner is on to something. Most people have at least one thing they’re sharp at. In the meantime, I’ve learned that there are always people smarter than me out there (this board is loaded with them), and always people not quite as smart. It’s a pleasure to talk with almost all of them, but it sure is nice to be able to discuss a complicated, intruiging topic with someone without having to explain every concept I bring up.

29

Why on earth would I want to?

30

Don’t you need a first degree before studying Law?

FWIW, you don’t need a high degree of intelligence for Law. My lawyer friends aren’t all that brilliant.

31

You know you are really intelligent when you can run rings aroung Mensa members and get invitations to join.

What distinguish you from others is you refuse to join. :smiley:

32

Urban Ranger, I was pretty much anti-Mensa until a few years ago when I met a couple of neat, interesting fellows, and they did invite me to join. I don’t care about the ego trip. Quite frankly, I still get a bit of grief from people about the membership. The reason I joined is they give wonderful parties, get togethers and other events where I actually fit in and don’t have to worry about scaring people off. If I hadn’t joined Mensa, I might also be sitting at home feeling frustrated because it’s so hard to meet people like me. Instead, I’m getting out and doing it.

CJ

33

I’ve got plenty of book-smarts. I hang out in bookstores and libraries and read nonfiction on every subject. I could tell you all about the Arrow-Cross Party in wartime Hungary. I just don’t have enough drive or passion to do anything with it. :frowning:

34

But he didn’t invent the helicopter - the Chinese did.

35

Ah, parties! Now you’re talkin’ :smiley:

How come those bums never told me anything about parties? What a dreadful lot.

36

Uh-huh. Parties, good conversation, and massive quantities of chocolate. Tell me where you live and I’ll let you know when and where the closest RG to you is. By the way, the joke is that the o and the y in oRGy are omitted when spelling. :smiley:

CJ

37

A friend of mine always points out, during conversations like this one, that “Half the people in the world are dumber than average…”

I tend to look at it pretty much that way. Yes, based on my position in life, my chosen field of work, the friends that I choose, the things I volunteer for, etc., I would have to classify myself in some upper percentile of intelligence. The last IQ test I took placed me in the 96th percentile, but I’ve never put much stock in tests like that.

I mean I do pretty well at things like Trivial Pursuit and I can do engineering and technical tasks very well. But ask me to start solving pure mathematical problems or try to figure out organic chemistry or try to interpret politics, and I fall down badly.

I’m afraid that in pretty much all situations that I’ve been in over the last few years that involved people attached to Mensa, or who claimed very high IQ’s, I’ve found that these people were the biggest assholes I’d ever met, frankly. It’s one thing to be smart, but if you’re going to use your intelligence as a weapon to bludgeon all of your less-smart acquaintences over the head, then I’d rather not be associated with you.

In other words, while I may consider myself an intelligent person, and I know it when I have to interact with some, um, well, blockheads … I tend to keep it to myself most of the time.

I do, however, shy away from hagning out with people who drink lots of beer and have gun racks in their pickups and watch a lot of NASCAR and have dogs named ‘Duke’ or ‘Butch’ or ‘Dawg’… :smiley:

38

Lorenzo, if you’re still curious, I believe it’s the Wechsler test… Just sharing. :wink:

As for my IQ… I think when I was a kid, it was somewhere in the high 140’s… My father told me not so long ago, but I’ve forgotten. I do remember him saying that my neurologists marveled over my intelligence when I was a toddler - apparently the word “prodigy” was used. Then again, their big hope was that I’d only have a minimal degree of mental retardation, so maybe their scale was a bit skewed. :wink:

When I was to ‘mainstream’ from a school for physically disabled children to a public school at the end of 1987 (I was eight), the schools suggested to my parents that I skip a grade - my parents disagreed.

So that’s my “smart” qualifications.

On the other hand, I was a champion slacker who had few friends, though I was social. I was one of those kids who knew everyone but was friends with very few of them, & I was fine with that - I had friends outside of school.

Now, I’m almost 24 years old & two years away from a Bachelor’s, one more away from a Master’s. I should’ve had my B.A. by now, but I fucked up in school (I developed major depression & was clever enough to hide it, so I wasted a lot of time before being forced to get help.). Oh, & I have NO interest in math, never practiced, & therefore have had to catch up. My math skills aren’t, however, on a par with my verbal.

So yeah, I’m a pretty (very, even) intelligent person who’s done some supremely stupid stuff.

Then again, there are different intelligences. I probably know many people of so-called “average” intelligence who have a particularly high…creative intelligence, let’s say. Some I enjoy being with, others not so much - depends on their personalities. My close friends have, it seems, I.Q. levels on a par with mine - some are more knowledgeable about certain topics than I am, some less so.

I think that seeing the desire to learn is a key factor in whether I choose to try & get to know someone. Talking with a person whose level of intelligence is “less” than mine doesn’t put me off - talking with someone who’s willfully ignorant does.

39

Sorry for the bumpage. I’ve been without a connection for a few days.

Not in Australia (also in Canada, I believe). Most people at my school have an undergraduate degree. However, some people are allowed to transfer to law after completing one year of another degree, if their marks are good enough. And some people can enter law school straight outta high school as long as we agree to a five year double degree. In essence, in the first three years of uni, we complete an undergraduate degree in one discipline (mine’s Accounting/Corp Finance) as well as two years coursework in Law. The remain two years is purely law.

**

Well, duh. :cool:

40

I’m reasonably intelligent, and most of the people I know are as well. But I don’t think about it a lot. Considering the amount of information available in the world, everyone is more ignorant than not. What I find more interesting is whether people are in or out of their element. I can fix your computer, but i couldn’t perform open heart surgery on you. And the world’s top surgeon probably can’t tune his or her car.