How smart do you think you are?

[ksinger]

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.

Clearly we all hail from some Lake Wobegone-ish place, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.

 

[MissStepcut]

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

Well now we know who doesn't read the thread before they post!

But in all seriousness, several posters touch on an important point: accomplishment and IQ aren't that well linked up. If I remember correctly, the "sweet spot" for IQ is just under MENSA levels.

 

[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

Well now we know who doesn't read the thread before they post!

But in all seriousness, several posters touch on an important point: accomplishment and IQ aren't that well linked up. If I remember correctly, the "sweet spot" for IQ is just under MENSA levels.

I beg your pardon, I did read this thread. I'll "answer" it any way I please. I find the whole concept of wondering and worrying about one's "smartness" in relation to everyone else, to be an utter waste of time, having done some of it in my younger years. But then I suppose we all waste time on something. I'm guilty of it in this very thread.

I still have house cleaning to do - I really should get back to doing it.

 

[sonnyjane]

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

Well now we know who doesn't read the thread before they post!

But in all seriousness, several posters touch on an important point: accomplishment and IQ aren't that well linked up. If I remember correctly, the "sweet spot" for IQ is just under MENSA levels.

I beg your pardon, I did read this thread. I'll "answer" it any way I please. I find the whole concept of wondering and worrying about one's "smartness" in relation to everyone else, to be an utter waste of time, having done some of it in my younger years. But then I suppose we all waste time on something. I'm guilty of it in this very thread.

I still have house cleaning to do - I really should get back to doing it.

MissStepCut was referring to the fact that on the first page of this thread, I had already posted the link to the Wiki page about Dunning-Kruger, that's all.

 

[MissStepcut]

MissStepCut was referring to the fact that on the first page of this thread, I had already posted the link to the Wiki page about Dunning-Kruger, that's all.

Exactly that, and I meant it in a gentle teasing sort of way. I know my big forum fear is that I will have skimmed over someone else's post and end up repeating them.

 

[Amber St. Clare]

It depends on the subject/subjects.

Anything to do with math/sciences--I''m a dummy. History, English, current events, literature, I''m OK.

 

[Smith1942]

I read that link. The term "illusory superiority" really made me laugh. Explains a lot about certain former colleagues! There was one colleague who made no extra effort at all and had zero creative flair (working in a creative business!), left the office before everyone else every single day and then wondered why she wasn't promoted. Except, she didn't just wonder: she went around breathing fire and brimstone at everyone else who was more competent and did get promoted, such was her sense of burning injustice about it!

And then there was the flatmate who was refused promotion at work. She couldn't seem to see that her distracting micro-minis in a banking environment and two-hour liquid lunches were not exactly making her seem like a serious prospect. And she, too, was aflame with indignation about her lack of promotion! I felt like saying to her, "Sooze, if you lengthen your skirts and shorten your lunch breaks, you might get somewhere!"

Neither of them could see any of these contributing factors at all. Illusory superiority! ROFL!!!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Number 10 isn't the top 10%. I would consider 10 as the top 2% perhaps...true genius level people. I would consider myself around maybe the 90th percentile and chose #8. If I had the energy, I'd check IQ testing percentiles but I am at the beach and don't want to do that much work! However, like someone said, I think regular PS members as a whole are much more on the upper end of the spectrum. We do get some variation with the temporary posters on RT, though!

 

[AprilBaby]

I choose 8, smarter than I am good looking. My husband is definitely a 10, always at the top of everything brain wise but he scores a 2 on common sense.

 

[AGBF]

Like amc80 and ksinger, I took the Mensa test...eons ago. I was about 12 years old and, at that age, finding out my IQ was important to me. I was admitted. I guess I would say I feel sure I am in the top 10% of the world (Mensa would say the top 2%). I have been told that when one's IQ gets that high that the differences between points do not matter as much as when one has a lower IQ. I tend to feel the opposite way, however.

I feel that I am bright, but nowhere near a genius. I constantly meet people, usually people who can wrap their minds around math and physics, whose intelligence blows me away. I feel that their intelligence is of an entire other order than mine. They can think of things far beyond the things about which I can think. I feel that they are really, almost, another species of human.

Deb/AGBF

 

[Dreamer_D]

Those true rare geniuses like Steven Hawking and Einstein are not 10s... they are much much more rare than that. They are about .00001% of the population, if even that. If '10' is the top 10% of the population then it seems to me that a good 10% of the population should score as such.

In Western culture there is a bias to rate the self high on any positively valenced scale. Typically for positively valenced traits a "mean" is about 7.5 to 8. Fits these results well. Generlly, people think of "average" as an insult.

 

[sonnyjane]

Those true rare geniuses like Steven Hawking and Einstein are not 10s... they are much much more rare than that. They are about .00001% of the population, if even that. If '10' is the top 10% of the population then it seems to me that a good 10% of the population should score as such.

In Western culture there is a bias to rate the self high on any positively valenced scale. Typically for positively valenced traits a "mean" is about 7.5 to 8. Fits these results well. Generlly, people think of "average" as an insult.

Kenny didn't say that 10 was the top 10% though. He just said rate it how we interpret it. So for me, the Hawking and Einstein are the "perfect 10's".

 

[Dreamer_D]

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 ...

Kenny did say '10' was the top 10%. He simply said you can use whatever operationalization of "intelligent" that you like, but he set the scaling. ETA: And of course, you are free to argue with that scaling if you like. I used the scale as he defined it, though.

 

[sonnyjane]

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 ...

Kenny did say '10' was the top 10%. He simply said you can use whatever operationalization of "intelligent" that you like, but he set the scaling. ETA: And of course, you are free to argue with that scaling if you like. I used the scale as he defined it, though.

Ahh my mistake! Guess I'm not "smart enough" to read the instructions lolol! In that case I change my answer!

 

[kenny]

Now Now Girls.
No fighting.

You could think of each number as broken down into 10 sub numbers.
Some 9s are near 8.999999, and other 9s the smartest of the 9s, and would be 9.999999s.

Leibish breaks down each GIA FCD color grade into 10 sub-grades and prices accordingly.
Some Fancy Intense diamonds are down near Fancy, and others are up near Fancy Vivid.

Leave it to Kenny to analogize in FCDs.

 

[ksinger]

Like amc80 and ksinger, I took the Mensa test...eons ago. I was about 12 years old and, at that age, finding out my IQ was important to me. I was admitted. I guess I would say I feel sure I am in the top 10% of the world (Mensa would say the top 2%). I have been told that when one's IQ gets that high that the differences between points do not matter as much as when one has a lower IQ. I tend to feel the opposite way, however.

I feel that I am bright, but nowhere near a genius. I constantly meet people, usually people who can wrap their minds around math and physics, whose intelligence blows me away. I feel that their intelligence is of an entire other order than mine. They can think of things far beyond the things about which I can think. I feel that they are really, almost, another species of human.

Deb/AGBF

Just to be clear, I never took any Mensa test. I brought up Mensa because this thread made me remember a conversation I had with a friend a couple of years ago. There is some person who works in my building who has a vanity tag that says "Mensa", which I think means he/she is much like Lord Farquaad of Shreck: obviously compensating. Anyway, I was slagging this person (I was not happy to think that someone thought that stupid tag was mine, since it was my exact model and color of car), and we got to wondering what it actually took to get in Mensa. Long story short, we looked it up and one of the ways is based on (old pre-1984 - post 1984 they don't accept for some reason) ACT scores, we could both get in.

That's the extent of my experience with Mensa.

ETA - any fun I had with standardized testing, a la, lessee-if-I-can-beat-my-last-score-or-HER-score-or-that-score-over-there, ended after highschool. Life moved on and other things became more important, you know?

 

[bright ice]

I would say a 7-8, smart enough to make it through a tough educational program and work in healthcare. Now when it comes to literature, etc, not so. Smart enough to make a good living and diverse enough to have an intelligent conversation.

 

[JulieN]

I picked 10. I was the only one in my grade, about 100 students at that school, to get into GATE.

I would say I'm probably top 5%. Smart enough to be awed by the truly gifted.

 

[Mayk]

I picked 7.

I'm not what some would call "book smart", my IQ is average... I'm stronger in common sense and I have a strong business sense, when it comes to anything but bling (then its just about what I like toss caution and patience to the wind...see 7). I've done well in business not because I'm smart but because I'm consistent, reliable, honest to a fault and persistent. I'm in sales, I like a challenge and I don't think of a failure as a disappointment, just an opportunity to do it differently the next time (this also works for bling..the DO-OVER). I think being really smart can hurt you if not used or directed properly...but that could also be about a strong personality mixed with a really high IQ.

We all know I can't spell, type or see (reading glasses work better sitting on the bridge of your nose). I'm also dyslexic... Which doesn't help matters... So maybe I should revise that seven to a 6 do I get any points for marrying a 10? He's a real smartie....

 

[Ally T]

I voted 7. I was never the most academically bright, but had a successful, lucrative career prior to having children, managing a large team of complicated engineers & computer geeks. Now THEY were smart!

 

[ChristineRose]

I found a study claiming that a mere 24% of American twelfth graders were proficient in writing. Not every poster on Pricescope is proficient in writing, but the ones that struggle the most aren't posting in the Diamond Hangout very much. Intelligence and writing proficiency are not the same thing, but they aren't unrelated either. Certainly some people overestimate their smarts, but people do underestimate them as well. Bump the 24% up because we aren't twelfth graders for the most part, bump the 1-10 down a little because people do tend to overestimate themselves, and I'm not at all surprised that the numbers skew high.

 

[Autumnovember]

Depends on how much effort I'm putting into what I'm learning.

 

[amc80]

I think one thing to keep in mind is your basis of comparison. I'm average compared to my friends, but that's a completely different sample than the population as a whole. Just watch reality tv for 5 minutes and you'll feel MUCH smarter.

 

[Kelli]

I wanted to keep this thread going because it's fun to read through. I gave myself an 8. According to IQ bell curves I rank in the top two percent, which I did not actually know/remember until just now. Reading this thread inspired me to look it up. (See? Fun! )

I will say though, that I know many, MANY people I'd consider smarter than myself that probably have lower IQs. In fact, I think my husband's is slightly lower than mine and most people would never guess it. He reads more news articles than facebook (or pricescope) posts. My reading tends to be a bit... frivolous.

I think nurture sometimes trumps nature. A well-used mind is surely more beneficial than a "gifted" one.