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This sounds like the topic of a "troll" thread, but please let me explain.
I was talking with a friend of mine who happens to be in the process of acquiring his PhD in Psychology. We were discussing something and I said of a mutual acquaintance, "He's a smart guy." and my friend stopped me..
He said, "what makes you think he's smart?... Better yet, what makes you think that YOU'RE smart?" It wasn't an accusation or interrogation, but more of a genuinely curious question. What makes us think that we're smart? Furthermore, do YOU think you're smart?
I think that the vast majority of us feel like we're smart, at least to a certain degree. I mean "smart" in a general sense, not necessarily one particular way. One can be educated and smart, while someone else who has never stepped foot in a classroom can be smart too (street smart/ common sense). I'm not referring to one particular kind of "smart;" I simply mean it in the most general sense possible.
So without giving away my reason for asking, where do you think you rank amongst the general populous in terms of intelligence?
I'm well aware that this could be a touchy subject which is why I'm going to make it so no one is allowed to see who voted for what. Please be honest. This subject matter can set up some nasty personal attacks, so if you don't feel the need to justify your vote out of fear of being attacked, feel free not to. I am curious to see how "smart" people consider themselves. Thanks for participating!
"When asked, most individuals will describe themselves as better-than-average in areas such as leadership, social skills, written expression, or just about any flavor of savvy where the individual has an interest. This tendency of the average person to believe he or she is better-than-average is known as the "above-average effect," and it flies in the face of logic…
...
Justin Kruger and David Dunning made the following predictions before beginning their investigation:
Incompetent individuals, compared with their more competent peers, will dramatically overestimate their ability and performance relative to objective criteria.
Incompetent individuals will suffer from deficient metacognitive skills, in that they will be less able than their more competent peers to recognize competence when they see it–be it their own or anyone else's.
Incompetent individuals will be less able than their more competent peers to gain insight into their true level of performance by means of social comparison information. In particular, because of their difficulty recognizing competence in others, incompetent individuals will be unable to use information about the choices and performances of others to form more accurate impressions of their own ability.
The incompetent can gain insight about their shortcomings, but this comes (paradoxically) by making them more competent, thus providing them the metacognitive skills necessary to be able to realize that they have performed poorly.
Also interestingly, the top performers tended to underestimate their own performance compared to their peers. The researchers found that those participants fell prey to the false-consensus effect, a phenomenon where one assumes that one's peers are performing at least as well as oneself when given no evidence to the contrary."
This sounds like the topic of a "troll" thread, but please let me explain.
I was talking with a friend of mine who happens to be in the process of acquiring his PhD in Psychology. We were discussing something and I said of a mutual acquaintance, "He's a smart guy." and my friend stopped me..
He said, "what makes you think he's smart?... Better yet, what makes you think that YOU'RE smart?" It wasn't an accusation or interrogation, but more of a genuinely curious question. What makes us think that we're smart? Furthermore, do YOU think you're smart?
I think that the vast majority of us feel like we're smart, at least to a certain degree. I mean "smart" in a general sense, not necessarily one particular way. One can be educated and smart, while someone else who has never stepped foot in a classroom can be smart too (street smart/ common sense). I'm not referring to one particular kind of "smart;" I simply mean it in the most general sense possible.
So without giving away my reason for asking, where do you think you rank amongst the general populous in terms of intelligence?
I'm well aware that this could be a touchy subject which is why I'm going to make it so no one is allowed to see who voted for what. Please be honest. This subject matter can set up some nasty personal attacks, so if you don't feel the need to justify your vote out of fear of being attacked, feel free not to. I am curious to see how "smart" people consider themselves. Thanks for participating!
Statistically, 1 out of every 2 people will be below-average. 1 out of every two (not the same people, obviously) will be above average.
I predict we engage in a great deal of self-flattery unless you're arguing that City-Data attracts many geniuses by its very nature. This may be the case.
Interesting how every single person who has voted so far thinks they are in the top 25% or higher...
I think it's a predictable result. This would be akin to asking people how they rate themselves as a driver. Almost everyone thinks they're above average drivers. It's the other guy/gal that's horrible, not me.
I can safely pick the very top rank because most of my peers are either dead or suffering from some sort of senile dementia, while I can still win games.
Why shucks, even my kids, one a doctor and another a computer authority, always thought I was smart.
My guess is that while 1/2 of all people are below average and 1/2 are above average in terms of intelligence, posters who participate in the education forum *possibly* are more likely to be in the above-average segment of the population. Obviously, there are lots of exceptions, but for the most part, the posters in this particular forum seem to be able to write coherently, make logical points, and are somewhat knowledgable about the topics being discussed.
I highly doubt all of the posters in this forum rank in the top 5-25%, of course... but so far the data pool is small, so let's see....
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