Average Americans Think They're Smarter Than the Average American

[jakeic]

"Hey are you an idiot?".

sometimes.

[Deleted]

Funny, but if you read it only 54% think they're above average, so it's only off by 4%...

34% say they're average. I presume some responders didn't answer the question.

Kind of a loaded question wouldn't you say? "Hey are you an idiot?".

i am happy to say that i`ve met enough intelligent ppl in my life to say that compared to them ... yes i am. If we assume that intelligent person is a person (for example) that knows 4+ languages or can become a doctor or surgent/astronaut/nuclear scientist/theoretical physicist ... i am sorry but i cant look myself into the mirror and say `yeah i can be that guy! its not that hard`. So yeah from where i am standing i can't say i am smart person because most of the ppl (if not all) with that type of job description had to show some amazing skills/iq in order to get to where they are and in my eyes that makes them smart. That plus the fact that when they open their mouth they seem to sound different than the average joe on the street

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You seem to be struggling with the idea that all people are inherently equal.

That is absurd.

Ohh haven't you heard mate? We are all equal... some are just more equal than others >
No we are not all equal we will probably never be but thats not the point that i was making. The point that i was making is that some ppl are more or less forced to push themselves and their limits more and by that becoming smarter in order to survive while some ppl don't because they simply don't have to.
Here is an example:
One day i had to solve a math problem at work.My colleague started calculating it and managed to reach the solution for 3 mins needless to say i wasn't even half way. The problem was that when i was growing up my parents had money and our school system allowed us to use calculators in order to reach to a math solution my colleague on the other hand grew up in a country where his family like most coudn`t effort to buy him one and they were not allowed to use them in school because they wanted to teach their children to use formulas properly. So you tell me is he not smarter to me in that regards because of his struggles ?

[Xisa]

i am happy to say that i`ve met enough intelligent ppl in my life to say that compared to them ... yes i am. If we assume that intelligent person is a person (for example) that knows 4+ languages or can become a doctor or surgent/astronaut/nuclear scientist/theoretical physicist ... i am sorry but i cant look myself into the mirror and say `yeah i can be that guy! its not that hard`. So yeah from where i am standing i can't say i am smart person because most of the ppl (if not all) with that type of job description had to show some amazing skills/iq in order to get to where they are and in my eyes that makes them smart. That plus the fact that when they open their mouth they seem to sound different than the average joe on the street

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Ohh haven't you heard mate? We are all equal... some are just more equal than others >
No we are not all equal we will probably never be but thats not the point that i was making. The point that i was making is that some ppl are more or less forced to push themselves and their limits more and by that becoming smarter in order to survive while some ppl don't because they simply don't have to.

Intelligence is your brain's capacity to learn and store information you're exposed to, with ability to recall later. It is effectively how fast you learn and understand things.

You can streamline your information intake, but you are not going to make yourself more "intelligent". That's decided before you take your first breath. People can lessen their ignorance by learning more, but they aren't becoming more intelligent.

And yes, some people are born into wealth and power. C'est la vie.

[Mormolyce]

People who perform well on IQ tests such as ravens progressive matrices also tend to perform well on tests of memory, reaction time, vocabulary. In addition, IQ results correlate strongly with life outcomes: higher IQ siblings tend to earn more money than lower IQ siblings.

Finally IQ test results agree with observer judgements. That is, when people talk to people with significantly differing IQs, the people who are labelled "intelligent" or "dumb" by their peers have higher and lower IQ's respectively.

At the end of the day, while IQ is an imperfect measure of intelligence, it is in fact a measure of something real and significant.

IQ tests are intrinsically biased towards high education and therefore social class and therefore the correlation with income is something of a tautology.

An IQ test tests your ability to do an IQ test really.

The more I've thought about it the more I've started to think that intelligence is an unquantifiable, subjective and largely illusionary concept.

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Intelligence is your brain's capacity to learn and store information you're exposed to, with ability to recall later. It is effectively how fast you learn and understand things.

Ah but is that really "intelligence"? That's just accumulating knowledge. Someone can rote learn masses of information and not be very "smart".

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sometimes.

We are the 4%!

[Deleted]

IQ tests are intrinsically biased towards high education and therefore social class and therefore the correlation with income is something of a tautology.

An IQ test tests your ability to do an IQ test really.

The more I've thought about it the more I've started to think that intelligence is an unquantifiable, subjective and largely illusionary concept.

I couldn't agree more with you! but thats just me

[Xisa]

Ah but is that really "intelligence"? That's just accumulating knowledge. Someone can rote learn masses of information and not be very "smart".

That is exactly what intelligence is.

Intelligence does not mean you have the drive, or have obtained the knowledge, to leverage it and take advantage of it.

View Intelligence as a Governor on a car. You can learn to drive smarter, take turn quicker, maximize your control to brake less often, and take routes that avoid traffic in order to get somewhere faster, but in the end, you can only go as fast as your governor allows you to go.

Some people are Mustangs, and some are Ferraris.

However, some are a Ford Taurus.

Trying to decide if I should be ashamed I had to use a car analogy or not.

[nyc81991]

Not many people are going to say that they think they are less intelligent than Average. To expect any different is silly.

[Xisa]

Not many people are going to say that they think they are less intelligent than Average. To expect any different is silly.

Bear in mind their "average" is based on exposure, also.

People that would fall into the lower 40% of the spectrum probably aren't spending a lot of time with people in the top 20% of it. Due to that, their personal "Average" will be very different from the statistical one.

[IIamaKing]

And only 4% think they are less intelligent than most people.

I'll just leave this here: http://www.nationaljournal.com/domes...rican-20140512

The most telling thing about this study, besides how intelligent a person feels they are, is how self-deluded most Americans are instead.

Edit:

I feel I should edit for clarity because some people only see the post title and decide to post without reading... I realize that this applies to more than just Americans, that most people in the world are probably like this, but this particular study only looked at Americans in their sample, not a representative sample of the worldwide population. In the context of this post and this article, it was only speaking about the average American.

Im sure its just Americans and not the every one in the world. No one wants to admit to other people, let alone themselves that they are dumb. But hey lets use this as an opportunity to jab Americans.

[Deleted]

Intelligence is your brain's capacity to learn and store information you're exposed to, with ability to recall later. It is effectively how fast you learn and understand things.

You can streamline your information intake, but you are not going to make yourself more "intelligent". That's decided before you take your first breath. People can lessen their ignorance by learning more, but they aren't becoming more intelligent.

And yes, some people are born into wealth and power. C'est la vie.

hmm... interesting thought but if i take your example than in order to accurately measure the type of intelligent person that you described in order to make a proper description if a person is intelligent or not we will all have to be equal and be raised in the same manner in order to see who is actually more intelligent than someone else. What i mean is this: If i am with average intelligence and i am born in a rich family i will have access to better education better technology and better life which will give me the opportunity to achieve a lot more than an intelligent person who is born in a poor family because they will not have access to all the positives and chances that the rich me will. Some ppl might be born with more intelligence than others but unless we are talking about a huge difference here the person that grows up in better/richer environment has a better chance of advancing his intelligence than the person who is poor.
Example: If my rich me is living in a big city i go to good school good college i will come out with better intelligence than if i was living in a cave.Unless ofc as a young cave men i realize u are a threat to me and come and kill you in your sleep! ))

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Im sure its just Americans and not the every one in the world. No one wants to admit to other people, let alone themselves that they are dumb. But hey lets use this as an opportunity to jab Americans.

the way i see it there are 3 types of ppl: Smart average and dumb why do u choose to put the americans in the dumb category? He said americans are self-deluded because they think they are too smart when that was not the case that does not make them dumb or does it?

[Mormolyce]

That is exactly what intelligence is.

Intelligence does not mean you have the drive, or have obtained the knowledge, to leverage it and take advantage of it.

View Intelligence as a Governor on a car. You can learn to drive smarter, take turn quicker, maximize your control to brake less often, and take routes that avoid traffic in order to get somewhere faster, but in the end, you can only go as fast as your governor allows you to go.

Some people are Mustangs, and some are Ferraris.

However, some are a Ford Taurus.

Trying to decide if I should be ashamed I had to use a car analogy or not.

But that's just accumulating knowledge.

Also that's one of the things IQ tests explicitly try to avoid (though with limited success IMO).

[Garnier Fructis]

IQ is like DPS.

You're the only one who really cares that you're at the top of the meters.

[Xisa]

hmm... interesting thought but if i take your example than in order to accurately measure the type of intelligent person that you described in order to make a proper description if a person is intelligent or not we will all have to be equal and be raised in the same manner in order to see who is actually more intelligent than someone else. What i mean is this: If i am with average intelligence and i am born in a rich family i will have access to better education better technology and better life which will give me the opportunity to achieve a lot more than an intelligent person who is born in a poor family because they will not have access to all the positives and chances that the rich me will. Some ppl might be born with more intelligence than others but unless we are talking about a huge difference here the person that grows up in better/richer environment has a better chance of advancing his intelligence than the person who is poor.
Example: If my rich me is living in a big city i go to good school good college i will come out with better intelligence than if i was living in a cave.Unless ofc as a young cave men i realize u are a threat to me and come and kill you in your sleep! ))

Once again, you do not INCREASE intelligence. You increase knowledge. Intelligence is simply how fast you can potentially learn the information to increase your knowledge.

Someone of lesser intelligence can learn more in a faster time with a superior workflow and study ethic. That does not make they more intelligent, it makes they more knowledgeable and allows them to leverage the intelligence you have.

Also, for the sake of saying it, in a thread about intelligence, you might want to give grammar, paragraphs, punctuation, and spelling a shot. It leads me to guess which side of the bell curve you fall on. It would be somewhat ironic to confirm the thread's topic within the thread itself.

the way i see it there are 3 types of ppl: Smart average and dumb why do u choose to put the americans in the dumb category? He said americans are self-deluded because they think they are too smart when that was not the case that does not make them dumb or does it?

Just more evidence towards that western bell.

[Deleted]

IQ is like DPS.

You're the only one who really cares that you're at the top of the meters.

does that mean i am N1 on siegcrafter situations but i such through out the rest of the stuff in my life?! O_o damn! thats so depressing ... especially in that Iron Juggernaut situations ohhh maan i suck so much at those i hope thats not the woman and sex department... pleeeeease dont be the woman and sex department >.> SON OF A !!!!!

[IIamaKing]

hmm... interesting thought but if i take your example than in order to accurately measure the type of intelligent person that you described in order to make a proper description if a person is intelligent or not we will all have to be equal and be raised in the same manner in order to see who is actually more intelligent than someone else. What i mean is this: If i am with average intelligence and i am born in a rich family i will have access to better education better technology and better life which will give me the opportunity to achieve a lot more than an intelligent person who is born in a poor family because they will not have access to all the positives and chances that the rich me will. Some ppl might be born with more intelligence than others but unless we are talking about a huge difference here the person that grows up in better/richer environment has a better chance of advancing his intelligence than the person who is poor.
Example: If my rich me is living in a big city i go to good school good college i will come out with better intelligence than if i was living in a cave.Unless ofc as a young cave men i realize u are a threat to me and come and kill you in your sleep! ))

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the way i see it there are 3 types of ppl: Smart average and dumb why do u choose to put the americans in the dumb category? He said americans are self-deluded because they think they are too smart when that was not the case that does not make them dumb or does it?

The implication of the comment I bolded was that this poll was somehow an American only thing. It is not. People, all people, want to think they are smart and most people will not admit they are below average. Americans are no more deluded than any one else in this regard. Im sure if the pole was done world wide results would be similar. His comment was a jab at Americans, and it was not necessary. But this forum seems to really dislike America, par for the course really.

[Xisa]

But that's just accumulating knowledge.

Also that's one of the things IQ tests explicitly try to avoid (though with limited success IMO).

That's because it's inherently impossible to do. Acquired knowledge is always going to leverage an advantage of some sort.

IQ tests show you a concept with minimal explanation, only basic instruction, and rely on your ability to deconstruct a situation and figure it out.

The ability to figure things out in a timely manner is the nature of intelligence. The faster and more abstract things you can figure out, the more intelligent you are.

[Post]

Nothing to do with America, everything to do with people. Which sums up the majority of these America hate threads.

[Deleted]

Once again, you do not INCREASE intelligence. You increase knowledge. Intelligence is simply how fast you can potentially learn the information to increase your knowledge.

Someone of lesser intelligence can learn more in a faster time with a superior workflow and study ethic. That does not make they more intelligent, it makes they more knowledgeable and allows them to leverage the intelligence you have.

Also, for the sake of saying it, in a thread about intelligence, you might want to give grammar, paragraphs, punctuation, and spelling a shot. It leads me to guess which side of the bell curve you fall on. It would be somewhat ironic to confirm the thread's topic within the thread itself.



Just more evidence towards that western bell.

There is no reason for you to get aggressive if you don't like my posts don't respond to them...(that was in answer to your grammar,paragraphs etc remarks after all not all of us can be born in countries where the first main language is English not that this helps in our days)

If intelligence is what you described above than i can't really see what the point of that term is in our days.For all you know u can meet a monkey in the zoo tomorrow and it can be more intelligent than you but since noone bothered teaching it how to read/speak your language you will assume that your are so much more intelligent than it. Who would go through the process of actually identifying intelligence in our days for anything anyway? I haven't heard about an IQ test for any job or university/college which means that it doens't really matter how intelligent u are or are not as long as u can get the job done u should be fine. Oh wow i guess thats a win situation for the stupid folk like me isn't it? ^_^

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The implication of the comment I bolded was that this poll was somehow an American only thing. It is not. People, all people, want to think they are smart and most people will not admit they are below average. Americans are no more deluded than any one else in this regard. Im sure if the pole was done world wide results would be similar. His comment was a jab at Americans, and it was not necessary. But this forum seems to really dislike America, par for the course really.

That could be the case but everyone has the right to dislike or like whatever they want.So even if some ppl dislike americans they shouldn't overreact and start picking up a fight i am pretty certain there is atleast 1 thing u dislike in your life and u won't feel comfortable if ppl start bashing at you because you dislike it or does that seem fair to you? To say the least since this is a topic about intelligence the least you (not you but ppl in general) do is show some intelligence see what the case is ignore the stupid remarks and move on.

[Xisa]

There is no reason for you to get aggressive if you don't like my posts don't respond to them...(that was in answer to your grammar,paragraphs etc remarks after all not all of us can be born in countries where the first main language is English not that this helps in our days)

If intelligence is what you described above than i can't really see what the point of that term is in our days.For all you know u can meet a monkey in the zoo tomorrow and it can be more intelligent than you but since noone bothered teaching it how to read/speak your language you will assume that your are so much more intelligent than it. Who would go through the process of actually identifying intelligence in our days for anything anyway? I haven't heard about an IQ test for any job or university/college which means that it doens't really matter how intelligent u are or are not as long as u can get the job done u should be fine. Oh wow i guess thats a win situation for the stupid folk like me isn't it? ^_^

No, but someone more intelligent is going to have a general advantage at getting the job to begin with, or get a better job off the bat.

[RaenavenBlacksun]

I've learned quickly that I'm not smarter than others, but I definitely fake it. An artist friend of mine said something a couple nights about about "people with below bachelor's degree education" and I had to point out that I only have a GED and maybe half a semester's worth of college credit (but those credits were for remedial classes, so they don't count to me). Shocked the hell out of her. I am a fountain of useless knowledge, and every so often I can use it to stay relevant in a conversation. I started off learning to read and count early in life, but didn't have a family willing to find ways to help that thrive, so I stagnated. Add the depression into the mix, and you get a potentially brilliant person who couldn't be arsed to try.

My other half was taking tests to get into gifted schools as a child, until his mother inexplicably pulled him out of school at the beginning of 6th grade. Talking to him, you wouldn't think he only has a 5th grade education.

Neither of us think we know more than anyone else, but we know how to not be idiots.