How smart do you think you are?

[kenny]

On a scale of 1 to 10 ...
1 being the least smart 10% of the people capable of getting onto an Internet forum ...
and 10 being the smartest 10% of people in the world ...
how smart do you think you are?
IOW, define smart however YOU define smart.

Just vote the first number that comes into your head, before questions like "how do you define smart, or do you mean IQ, how smart do others think I am, what's my highest degree?" cripple your ability to vote with your gut-answer.

This poll is asking for your unscientific and instinctive rating of yourself.
Poll results is not how smart people ARE, just how smart they think they are.

 

[marymm]

ha! I went with 8 - basically considering myself smarter than average but not the smartest

 

[iLander]

Yeah, going by IQ and standardized test scores, I'm supposed to be way up there.

I have friends with lower scores and they have giant egos. They declare themselves geniuses. They've built their whole self-image on that. Silly rabbits.

My take on it:
1-As a Taoist, I understand that I truly know less than nothing. And I'm fine with it. I learn every day, which is where joy is.
2-After many years in business, I also know it's better to be underestimated . . .
3-It is handy, but only sometimes.
4-I am smart enough to know that there will always be those that are smarter.

Of course you wouldn't be asking if you weren't way up there, would you Kenny?

 

[kenny]

Yeah, going by IQ and standardized test scores, I'm supposed to be way up there.

I have friends with lower scores and they have giant egos. They declare themselves geniuses. They've built their whole self-image on that. Silly rabbits.

My take on it:
1-As a Taoist, I understand that I truly know less than nothing. And I'm fine with it. I learn every day, which is where joy is.
2-After many years in business, I also know it's better to be underestimated . . .
3-It is handy, but only sometimes.
4-I am smart enough to know that there will always be those that are smarter.

Of course you wouldn't be asking if you weren't way up there, would you Kenny?

Fascinating response, on so many levels.

 

[NOYFB]

ha! I went with 8 - basically considering myself smarter than average but not the smartest

Me too!

 

[NOYFB]

I wanna know who voted themselves a "10"?

 

[diamondringlover]

I am not the smartest or the dumbest...I rated myself a 6...seems like the older I get the dumber I get....I would have rated myself probably a 7 a few years ago...

 

[missy]

Yeah, going by IQ and standardized test scores, I'm supposed to be way up there.

I have friends with lower scores and they have giant egos. They declare themselves geniuses. They've built their whole self-image on that. Silly rabbits.

My take on it:
1-As a Taoist, I understand that I truly know less than nothing. And I'm fine with it. I learn every day, which is where joy is.
2-After many years in business, I also know it's better to be underestimated . . .
3-It is handy, but only sometimes.
4-I am smart enough to know that there will always be those that are smarter.

Of course you wouldn't be asking if you weren't way up there, would you Kenny?

Great answer iLander and I agree on all the above.

Though after a rather aggravating day in traffic dealing with morons on the road I wish more people had some sense which ofc is a whole different topic.

 

[sonnyjane]

This question reminds me about something I heard on NPR not too while ago - the Dunning-Kruger effect: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect

In short, those that HAVE great skill/intelligence tend to UNDERESTIMATE their abilities, and those with lower abilities tend to OVERESTIMATE them.

 

[kenny]

18 votes in and not a single poster below 5.

Statistically you'd expect the bell curve to peak at 5 ... but then you'd expect the demographic of a diamond forum would be upper-income and more highly-edjumacated.

FWIW, I rated myself 8 ... lower than the average ... at least so far.

 

[sonnyjane]

18 votes in and not a single poster below 5.

Statistically you'd expect the bell curve to peak at 5 ... but then you'd expect the demographic of a diamond forum would be upper-income and more highly-edjumacated.

FWIW, I rated myself 8 ... lower than the average ... at least so far.

I'm not surprised at all. If it's a scale of 1 to 10, you'd assume 5 would be the median of the entire population (on the low half). It would take quite a lot of humility to admit (even to yourself) that you are less intelligent that the median of society.

I am surprised with all the 9's. I reserve 10 for the Hawking's, Gates', and Einstein's of the world. The 9's would be your "everyday" astrophysicists, chemists, engineers, etc. that didn't quite change the world (yet) but are still quite brilliant. Then come the 8's, which is what I think I am legitimately. I agree with what a PP said... I'm smart enough to know that there are people that are much smarter!

 

[kenny]

I agree with what a PP said... I'm smart enough to know that there are people that are much smarter!

Well I think quite a few 1s and 2s get that.
I have to slowly explain to my SO how to drool, and even he gets that others are much smarter .

 

[rainwood]

I am smart enough to know there are people smarter than me, but not smart enough to know there are more of them than I realize.

 

[iLander]

18 votes in and not a single poster below 5.

Statistically you'd expect the bell curve to peak at 5 ... but then you'd expect the demographic of a diamond forum would be upper-income and more highly-edjumacated.

FWIW, I rated myself 8 ... lower than the average ... at least so far.

I'm not surprised at all. If it's a scale of 1 to 10, you'd assume 5 would be the median of the entire population (on the low half). It would take quite a lot of humility to admit (even to yourself) that you are less intelligent that the median of society.

I am surprised with all the 9's. I reserve 10 for the Hawking's, Gates', and Einstein's of the world. The 9's would be your "everyday" astrophysicists, chemists, engineers, etc. that didn't quite change the world (yet) but are still quite brilliant. Then come the 8's, which is what I think I am legitimately. I agree with what a PP said... I'm smart enough to know that there are people that are much smarter!

This is what I don't get. Why do people assume that smart people are into science? Smart people have many interests. Mine was always making money.

Speaking of the bell curve, the people that raised me thought I was stupid. The school admin tried to explain it with a drawing and "poor iLander was way at the bottom. All those other people got around 50%, but she got less than a 1! This school must be really easy, they keep giving her A's." (Actually who knows what they said, I never did learn their language. Anyone that tells you immersion is the way to learn a language is an idiot. But now I'm just ranting . . . )

 

[iLander]

18 votes in and not a single poster below 5.

Statistically you'd expect the bell curve to peak at 5 ... but then you'd expect the demographic of a diamond forum would be upper-income and more highly-edjumacated.

FWIW, I rated myself 8 ... lower than the average ... at least so far.

I'm not surprised at all. If it's a scale of 1 to 10, you'd assume 5 would be the median of the entire population (on the low half). It would take quite a lot of humility to admit (even to yourself) that you are less intelligent that the median of society.

I am surprised with all the 9's. I reserve 10 for the Hawking's, Gates', and Einstein's of the world. The 9's would be your "everyday" astrophysicists, chemists, engineers, etc. that didn't quite change the world (yet) but are still quite brilliant. Then come the 8's, which is what I think I am legitimately. I agree with what a PP said... I'm smart enough to know that there are people that are much smarter!

This is what I don't get. Why do people assume that smart people are into science? Smart people have many interests. Mine was always making money.

Speaking of the bell curve, the people that raised me thought I was stupid. The school admin tried to explain it with a bell curve drawing and in my grandparent's heads it translated to "poor iLander was way at the bottom. All those other people got around 50%, but she got less than a 1! This school must be really easy, they keep giving her A's."

Edited to tone down the rant.

 

[iLander]

I wanna know who voted themselves a "10"?

Not me! For all the reasons I posted earlier.

 

[lyra]

I voted 7. Maybe that was too high. I'm definitely losing ground as I age. So next year it might be even lower.

 

[ForteKitty]

I'm only as smart as I am lazy. The lazier I am, the smarter I have to be at figuring out a way to expend the least amount of energy to get the job done.

 

[Smith1942]

I can't answer questions like this because my intelligence is so uneven. I'm top-level at one or two things, and totally remedial at lots of others. I'm definitely not an all-rounder. So I really haven't a clue. Perhaps I'd better vote 1!

 

[rosetta]

I'm gonna go with an average 5, maybe 6 if I'm feeling generous

 

[arkieb1]

I think it depends if you define "smart" as a genius and brilliant according to standardised tests or "smart" as in clever and good at problem solving. I dated a guy when I was at Uni who blitzed every IQ test there is, he literally had a brilliant mind, top 1% to 2%. He had no idea how to change a lightbulb, how to change a tire, how to do anything even vaguely practical but he could do Quantum Physics and Maths with the best of them, amazing guy, hopeless at doing so many things I would run out of space listing them.

I then married a guy who scores similar levels to me in IQ tests which is still in the higher range and he is brilliant with machinery, at fixing things and is generally very practical. He is a global leader in the field he works in. My husband and I are nowhere near as intelligent as the guy I dated at Uni. But I don't know if that makes either of us less "smart," "clever" or good at problem solving on a day to day basis than he was.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

18 votes in and not a single poster below 5.

Statistically you'd expect the bell curve to peak at 5 ... but then you'd expect the demographic of a diamond forum would be upper-income and more highly-edjumacated.

FWIW, I rated myself 8 ... lower than the average ... at least so far.

I'm not surprised at all. If it's a scale of 1 to 10, you'd assume 5 would be the median of the entire population (on the low half). It would take quite a lot of humility to admit (even to yourself) that you are less intelligent that the median of society.

I am surprised with all the 9's. I reserve 10 for the Hawking's, Gates', and Einstein's of the world. The 9's would be your "everyday" astrophysicists, chemists, engineers, etc. that didn't quite change the world (yet) but are still quite brilliant. Then come the 8's, which is what I think I am legitimately. I agree with what a PP said... I'm smart enough to know that there are people that are much smarter!

This is what I don't get. Why do people assume that smart people are into science? Smart people have many interests. Mine was always making money.

.

My husband graduated from college with a BS in Physics & high GPA and also thinks only about making money. In fact, he's looking to change professions because he'd rather go where the $ is.

I'm not sure what my number would be...maybe a 2 or 3. I tend to enjoy spacing out... (I can do basic activities, though, like use a calculator and read a book, so maybe that means I'm a 4?)

 

[TravelingGal]

I went looking for an "11". Obviously not smart enough to follow directions....

 

[Dancing Fire]

[quote="MC|1367032307|

I'm not sure what my number would be...maybe a 2 or 3. I tend to enjoy spacing out... (I can do basic activities, though, like use a calculator and read a book, so maybe that means I'm a 4?)[/quote]



At least 9 for any Sagittarius...

 

[MichelleCarmen]

I went looking for an "11". Obviously not smart enough to follow directions....

Why not go for the gold...if one is above a 10, he/she obviously would score a googolplex on the smart scale.

 

[amc80]

Well, I'm a member of Mensa, which requires you to be in the top 2%. But that was pre-baby. Pregnancy brain followed by baby brain has taken its toll. I like to think I have a lot of common sense, which can be more important than IQ

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Well, I'm a member of Mensa, which requires you to be in the top 2%. But that was pre-baby. Pregnancy brain followed by baby brain has taken its toll. I like to think I have a lot of common sense, which can be more important than IQ

Yep, the babies suck the brains right out of us. My kids talk about basic geometry, etc., and I go and hide under the covers of my bed.

It is good to have a balance of common sense, IQ, and skills. I don't consider being able to change a tire a sign of intelligence, but of skill. It is common sense that if a person cannot change a tire/or does not want to learn, that individual gets a membership to AAA. That would also be smart, as well as a survivalist skill, which would be another attribute that makes a person better able to make it in society. That is the way I think...I cannot change a tire...get a AAA membership!

 

[justginger]

I genuinely think we have a lot of highly intelligent people on this board - we're among a very small percentage of people who explore ranges of possibilities, research to the nth degree, and come from fairly prosperous backgrounds (which often determines access to educational opportunities).

And we're all really good looking too.

 

[MissStepcut]

I'll admit it. I picked "10." My basis for that was standardized tests, which I think I was always in the 99th percentile, all the way up to the LSAT. While I don't think I'm in the top 1% of the whole world, I do think I'm in that top 10%.

 

[ksinger]

Too loaded to answer, really. I'm definitely a bit smarter than average, but their are billions of people on the planet. I used to think that stuff mattered when I was young - I was thrilled to be top or near top; according to Mensa, I should be in Mensa. Woot. (No, I did NOT join Mensa. Kinda lame, Hi, I'm smart, and I have this CARD to prove it! ) Now I don't give a rat's patootie. I lost my ego about that stuff long ago. The world is FULL of people more accomplished, better looking, and smarter by far, than I will ever be. I know where I am in the big scheme of things, and I'm OK with that.

I do find this interesting though:

The Dunning–Kruger effect
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect