How do you "know" if you have above average intelligence?

[Lovesfool]

I could try and explain how I know, but most of you won't understand because you only have average inteligence...

There's no harm in trying.

On-topic: I'm not sure. I think it must be because they can quickly get a lucid understanding of things.

Was not trying to be smug. Was trying to be funny...

I have no idea how you measure inteligence in a meaningful way.

P.S. Captcha is now speaking in a foreing language. How am I supposed to guess-read "sichurn 602]" with those fonts and no reference?

 

[MasterOfWorlds]

your here people here say it all the time....so how do you know?

is tests and acedemic scores? or are there other ways of knowing? how would you define "average" intelligence

not to insult people on this site specifically, though I have read that we do often overestimate ourselfs.....and intelligence is a VERY hard thing to measure eather way

I mean some people might be usless acedemically...but VERY good with peope ect ect

Depends on what you're talking about, relly. If you're talking IQ, which really doesn't measure intelligence, but more the ability to apply the knowledge that we do have, or adaptability, then a simple test will do.

There are several different types of intelligence, as you yourself pointed out. I consider myself above average intelligence not because my IQ is higher than average (indeed, it may not be, I've never taken an IQ test) but because most people I've spoken to on an intellectual level don't seem to be able to keep up. Whether this is simply because I have reasonably good logic and reasoning skills or because they're dumb as a post, I'm not entirely sure.

I know a little bit about a lot of things, and a lot about several subjects. I remember once a person in my class was trying to prove that he was smater than me because he knew about physics, whereas I've never studied physics, and only have a basic understanding of it. He started asking me all these complex physics problems, and I simply told him that those questions didn't show my intelligence, but my lack of study on the subject because people don't inherently know such things.

I saw a documentary about IQ, and they had several people from highly specialized areas do the same tests. They were mostly reasoning tests, not a whole lot to do with "intelligence" in the sense that we often think about it. They had a chess grand master, a genius (IQ of 150 or so I think), a fighter pilot (he ended up doing the best, but I'll get to that), a fairly well known artist, and a few others.

As it turns out, the fighter pilot did the best because he was able to adapt to the test as hand, whereas the people from the more specialized professions (like the artist and chess master) did the worst.

Intelligence isn't really how much you know. It's about how well you can apply what you do know to the situation at hand. This means anything you've learned, both in and out of school. A "smart" person is always going to do better than someone who's "average" simply because they're better able to use what they know.

 

[Kurokami]

It's simple statistics. We're on the Internet here and as these statistics show we're really a very amazing bunch:

Your typical internet user alone has an IQ of 147 and a 9-inch penis. Now imagine that on a distinguished site like the Escapist we're likely riding the upper slopes of all these curves.

One of my favorite posts EVER. Thank you for that.

 

[MasterOfWorlds]

It's simple statistics. We're on the Internet here and as these statistics show we're really a very amazing bunch:

Your typical internet user alone has an IQ of 147 and a 9-inch penis. Now imagine that on a distinguished site like the Escapist we're likely riding the upper slopes of all these curves.

*reads chart*
*reads comment*

Yep, that's about right. XD

 

[similar.squirrel]

I think..you know..
Basically, if you're socially inept, can't get a girlfriend and have obscure and possibly embarrassing hobbies, you're of above-average intelligence. Because everybody else is dumb and you've just lost faith in humanity. Kawaai.

 

[Hosker]

I could try and explain how I know, but most of you won't understand because you only have average inteligence...

There's no harm in trying.

On-topic: I'm not sure. I think it must be because they can quickly get a lucid understanding of things.

Was not trying to be smug. Was trying to be funny...

I have no idea how you measure inteligence in a meaningful way.

P.S. Captcha is now speaking in a foreing language. How am I supposed to guess-read "sichurn 602]" with those fonts and no reference?

I wasn't implying you were; I was just interested in what you would say. But, yes, I understand the joke now.

 

[Redingold]

-snip-
Oh and doing well at class just means you worked hard.

Trust me, if you knew me, you would know how incredibly untrue that is.

 

[derbt]

There are different kinds of intelligence. I've always been weaker in maths and science, but top English, history, and languages (of which I study three). Then, of course, there's social intelligence, emotional intelligence, and so on. I've assumed, however, that you are generally reffering to academic intelligence.

I find I can usually (but not always) gauge a person's intelligence through conversation. Small talk, of course, doesn't really mean anything, but I'm often able to accurately judge people's intellect by, not only what they talk about, but how they talk about it.

Curiosity is also indicative of intelligence. Some people say "I'm intelligent, I just can't be bothered." This does not impress me, and they get an immediate strike against their name. Failing to use your intelligence is not an intelligent thing to do.

Edit - typo.

 

[Da Orky Man]

Well, I have a guarded mind, meaning it's open, but any new theories someone asks me about, like the paranormal, are going to be subject to VERY rigorous examinations. Meaning I'm very sceptical.
I'm also fairly good at general-purpose problem solving, and can outwit most people I come across.
I'm decent at maths, just not brilliant, fairly creative, and very independent.
Those coupled with a few other things lead me to believe that I am fairly intelligent.

 

[Darth_Murmeltier]

There is no offical definition of intelligence, so it's difficult to tell whether or not you have above average intelligence. For me intelligence is not necessarily to be good at math, rather I see someone as intelligent when they're open minded, of course also knows alot about a certain thing, and is willing to share his/her thoughts with other people and dosen't get angry when he/she is proven to be wrong about something.

 

[Zykon TheLich]

Personally I we

 

[Loner Jo Jo]

I guess it depends on how you define intelligence. There is the academic with performance, but I don't buy that completely because how a performance is judged varies so greatly from one teacher to the next that it's not a very sound basis for a theory. I've been in classes where the teacher hailed my writing ability as the best they've seen in years only to have another teacher tell me that my writing is incredibly poor. It's inconsistent.

You could use IQ which is scientific, but of course, IQ only measures potential, and people live below and above expectations all the time. That and there are different measures of this. There is the standard test, but there are those out there who do poorly on written tests despite being intelligent in other areas. Then there are puzzle tests. Some people excel at those, but there are those such as myself where I take forever to finish puzzles.

Also, as you have mentioned, OP, there are different types of intelligence. Most college graduates would consider themselves smarter than a mechanic or plumber, but suddenly their car or toilet breaks and they have no idea what to do. The mechanic and plumber seem pretty smart then. (That and really, considering that these skilled employees end up making more annually than some more "white collar" jobs, you wonder who the idiot is. I say this because I plan on becoming a teacher, but the pay makes me wonder sometimes. Anyway!)

Besides, there have been studies that show outgoingness is more indicative of success than grades! Really, who knows what intelligence is?

Let me use myself as an example. Often times, when I talk to people, they tell me I'm intelligent because of my vocabulary. I have a wide and interesting vocabulary that I use on a conversational level, but people will mistake that for intelligence when really it's only one type of specialized knowledge. I'm not stupid by any means, but I'm certainly not all that smart either. My point is intelligence is determined many times by perspective, not an actual rigid standard.

 

[Dragonpit]

Ever heard of Redmond-style testing? Essentially, they're tests where you get graded on your grasp of the rarest powers in the universe: common sense. School, universities, professions, no matter what you learn, all you've acquired with these is simply knowledge. You can't compare two people on what they know. It's silly to call someone who doesn't know advanced physics a moron when a physicist would have trouble operating heavy machinery. They're two different sets of knowledge. Understand what I mean? Common sense is the only true intelligence.

 

[aba1]

your here people here say it all the time....so how do you know?

is tests and acedemic scores? or are there other ways of knowing? how would you define "average" intelligence

not to insult people on this site specifically, though I have read that we do often overestimate ourselfs.....and intelligence is a VERY hard thing to measure eather way

I mean some people might be usless acedemically...but VERY good with peope ect ect

Depends on what one's definition of 'intelligence':

1) Ability and capacity to assimilate knowledge
2) Ability and capability to analyse knowledge
3) Ability and predilection to apply knowledge
4) For dickheads - level of sophistry

[sub][sub]See what I did there? *hrk*[/sub][/sub]

ahhh you ninja'd me thats what I was going to say there is so many types of intellegence and learning its not really somthing that can be so easily summed up

 

[Mr.Numbers]

Since I've been out of education, I've found the people with above average intelligence can do at least one of to things. They can explain a complicated theory in such a way Needs a "that" here, sentence fragment most people without the same prior education can understand it and/or they can use what they already know to solve a perplexing problem.

I can do one of these, I tend to be able to make people understand chemistry and physics and whatnot, but I'm not so good with the application of what I know, well not qickly anyway.

I can't resist the irony of this Grammar-Nazi attack. Bolded your mistakes. Most notably you used the wrong two.

I just love it when people muddle the English language whilst talking about their intelligence.

Light Amplification is a Stimulated Emission of Radiation.

My free time is spent mostly in physics emulators...

I'm apparently in the top 0.1% knowledge group in science and top 3 percentile in maths in Australia...So that's above average, according to the Nationalized testing system.

 

[Adepo]

When I was ~~15 I've been tested by some lady and she said I have IQ of 126. I can only assume she knew what she was doing.

 

[James Crook]

Oh and doing well at class just means you worked hard.

I disagree with this. I've never done a single farkin' thing in class and always got high grades. I'm not saying I have above average intelligence, I'm just saying that doing well in class doesn't always come down to work.