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Have you ever met someone cleverer than yourself?

I see that happen quite often. Below average intelligence people tend to overestimate their abilities, whereas intelligent people often sell themselves short. I bet most people with downs syndrome probably think they're smart too.

Hmmm.

You know I mix almost exclusively with people of average or below average intelligence and I have to say I think you're wrong.

(However as I'm sure everyone on this thread is well aware most people overestimate how good they are at things such as driving,gambling and of course sex.)

The thing that the less intelligent do ( and some might say this is one of the problems in the world ) is overestimate the probability that they right about certain things.

Edit : you often see this in gambling

In fact they are more likely to be certain they are right whereas intelligent people are usually aware that they could be wrong.

I realise of course that this seems to back up your point but these same people really don't believe they are intelligent.

Only that they are right!

Hope that makes sense.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 101

moggis

18

Original post by BlueSam3

Not true. At all. The reason that people generally don't achieve those things is that they are continually told that they can't. Barring major brain damage/etc., there is no such limit. At all.

There is I think some truth in what you say however I'd say that the problem often is that it is these people themselves who tell themselves they can't do it.

I don't know why that is other than at some point most people lose confidence in themselves or give up.I think ones parents may have a lot to do with it.

This may not necessarily be a bad thing though because they then find and concentrate on something that comes to them more naturally.

(I know a plumber who from conversations I've had with him I believe has the 'natural talent' to make extra money from how I make my living.

But whenever I've offered to teach him he says he could never learn it. I try to tell him that he learned how to speak English- he's Polish - and how to plumb .Both of which are harder than what I would teach him.But sadly to no avail. Where does that come from?)

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 102

versari

7

Original post by moggis

Hmmm.

You know I mix almost exclusively with people of average or below average intelligence and I have to say I think you're wrong.

(However as I'm sure everyone on this thread is well aware most people overestimate how good they are at things such as driving,gambling and of course sex.)

The thing that the less intelligent do ( and some might say this is one of the problems in the world ) is overestimate the probability that they right about certain things.

Edit : you often see this in gambling

In fact they are more likely to be certain they are right whereas intelligent people are usually aware that they could be wrong.

I realise of course that this seems to back up your point but these same people really don't believe they are intelligent.

Only that they are right!

Hope that makes sense.

Interesting. I agree, perhaps its because to a person of lower or average intelligence they feel they have explored every avenue (and there might not seem to be many of them...) and found only one answer. More intelligent people perhaps allow for room for the fact that they might be WRONG (as you said). This goes back in turn to the fact we are all very easy to fool. The guys making all the money at gamboling don't actually gambol. They already know the odds are against them they make money from gamboling by making bets with the people who do, and think that they're on a role.
(the odds are even more against them...)
I suppose these days they're called bookmakers.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 103

Awesome Genius

OP

2

I make such good threads :biggrin:

Reply 104

Treblebee

18

Original post by versari

Funny how most peoples idea of being clever always relates predictably to Einstein or Mathematics. The dividing line it seems to me between the "good" and the "brilliant" is usually one of vision or to put it another way imagination.
That's what made Einstein so cleaver..

I prefer to look at people like Jimi Hendrix...

Yeah, true...
I guess I meant being brilliant by way of science and mathematics(and btw, the science includes biology - maybe he'll follow in Darwin's footsteps more than Einstein's :tongue:

). But that's a good point. I think it might be because those whose brains are best suited to maths (and, consequently, are maths/physics geniuses) are generally more noticeably... different, shall we say. Geeky and absent-minded. Essentially, Einstein stereotypes. However, those who are brilliant at things such as the arts or social things such as being intensely persuasive, tend to be less stereotyped, even getting away with seeming socially normal. Just my take on things :tongue:

Reply 105

versari

7

Original post by Treblebee

Yeah, true...I guess I meant being brilliant by way of science and mathematics(and btw, the science includes biology - maybe he'll follow in Darwin's footsteps more than Einstein's :tongue:

). But that's a good point. I think it might be because those whose brains are best suited to maths (and, consequently, are maths/physics geniuses) are generally more noticeably... different, shall we say. Geeky and absent-minded. Essentially, Einstein stereotypes. However, those who are brilliant at things such as the arts or social things such as being intensely persuasive, tend to be less stereotyped, even getting away with seeming socially normal. Just my take on things :tongue:

True. It also seems to me there are people who are obviously brilliant at maths, can calculate very fast etc but a bit like the "rain man" who was a savant who had an incredible memory; they never really do anything significant with it. Maths is a language with logic, it has its place, but lateral thinking is still required to really make significant progress. In industrial design after we get the concept a maths guy is required to sort out the tooling required for example, so he's a tool in the process, not usually the initiator if you see what i mean.

Reply 106

Treblebee

18

Original post by versari

True. It also seems to me there are people who are obviously brilliant at maths, can calculate very fast etc but a bit like the "rain man" who was a savant who had an incredible memory; they never really do anything significant with it. Maths is a language with logic, it has its place, but lateral thinking is still required to really make significant progress. In industrial design after we get the concept a maths guy is required to sort out the tooling required for example, so he's a tool in the process, not usually the initiator if you see what i mean.

Yes, good point. A bit of a shame, isn't it... :/ I suppose that when people say someone is brilliant at maths, they are generally referring to the "rain man" side of them, so it isn't always so obvious as to whether they will end up being immensely successful as a result... very true.

Reply 107

versari

7

Of course being successful ie monetising your talent is one thing, winning a nobel prize for really pushing through all the barriers to discover something new is another. I think all this is very interesting because in maths like art, the better you get the more you see...

Reply 108

FutureOxford3

2

Original post by Awesome Genius

It's wrong to think that someone does badly just because they don't put work in lol

It might be true at GCSE level but when you're talking about Oxbridge, it's different.

It's generally true that if you put more work in then you do better but it's not that straight forward.

Some of the people I knew worked very hard, did way more rote learning and revision than me and got a 2:1 whereas I got a first.

But your first is fake while theirs are real :P

Reply 109

username2265529

1

It's not exactly hard to be more cleverer than me, so yeah I've met many people that are more academically able than myself.

Plenty

Original post by Tom Jickleson

I see that happen quite often. Below average intelligence people tend to overestimate their abilities, whereas intelligent people often sell themselves short. I bet most people with downs syndrome probably think they're smart too.

I agree. Have you ever met an individual who refuses to believe they are stupid? They continue to make mistaken then find something to blame it on which is never themselves. Than, despite failing 15 times passing once reaffirms the fact that they're intelligent.

Reply 112

Sesshomaru24U

18

Original post by Awesome Genius

Yeh except I have a first class degree from Oxford.

What do you study?

Reply 113

Blondie987

17

Yes, I'm not too clever lol

Reply 114

Ethereal World

3

OP must have facepalmed every time someone responded saying 'there's so many different types of intelligence e.g. I might be better than him at X but he might be better than me at Y' so it's impossible to compare blah blah blah.

The point is, we have an internal gauge on our intelligence level and how that compares to other people. Although grades and universities might be a tangible representation, it is more the inherent awareness of how our intelligence sits relative to others that OP is discussing.

I think that where we pitch ourselves on this invisible scale is almost like an index from many factors including but not limited to academic intelligence, social intelligence, logic and general knowledge.

Based on this, I have only met two people (both male) who I consider more intelligent than me, on my internal scale. One of them got a 2.1 at University whereas I got a 1st, which is for me reinforcement that tangible results aren't really as relevant here.

This is not me being arrogant either- I think that for me to consider someone more intelligent than I am, they have to present their thoughts and ideas to me in a way that changes my opinion or outlook, or actually teach me something. And I don't mean teach me facts. Anyone can read some information and regurgitate. It's something more than that.

p.s I'm female

Reply 115