I've noticed in this sort of thing that people, on average, tend to rank themselves at about 7. What's interesting is that while this applies to both men and women, men tend to choose more extreme numbers while women chose numbers closer to the middle.

Yes, that is the trend I noticed when I asked my co-workers and the poll confirms this. On a side note even the really stupid people I asked rated them self as 7 or 6. Also obviously the three people who placed them self below 5 are just trying to distort the poll results. For example looking at a previous post from NoisyApe he appears to be at least average but he checked 2 instead.

Now suddenly the world makes sense to me. Humans are incapable of judging their own intelligence, and all of us believe we are smarter than everyone else.

Yes, that is the trend I noticed when I asked my co-workers and the poll confirms this. Also on a side note even the really stupid people I asked rated them self as 7 or 6.

This is pretty much exactly the Dunning-Kruger effect.

People who could legitimately claim to a 9 or 10 are better aware of their own limitations, and so pitch it down a couple of points. Those who should realistically be evaluated a 5 or below, are convinced of their own intelligence/blind to their weaknesses, and thus add a few points. The intersection of these two groups tends to cluster around a 7.

Yes, that is the trend I noticed when I asked my co-workers and the poll confirms this. Also on a side note even the really stupid people I asked rated them self as 7 or 6.

The opposite of intelligent is uninteligent.

The opposite of stupid is smart.

These two scales are unrelated. Plenty of intelligent people are stupid.

What matters in life is either being smart, or at least, not being stupid.

People who could legitimately claim to a 9 or 10 are better aware of their own limitations[/quote]

Yet they don't rank their intelligence.

DK effect has more to do with knowledge, awareness or experience. It's about unknown unknowns. Intelligence can be measured, despite being a somewhat meaningless metric.

IQ tests are part of all top-tier companies (aka skill tests). They measure raw IQ. Then, they have a trial period, during which they measure how smart people are. Degrees are used even before that, since they require a combination of both. It's perfectly possible for someone to get highest degrees from top tier schools without having ever opened a book - that is a very smart person. It's also possible for someone to spend years in books to produce a new scientific breakthrough - most likely a sign of intelligence. It's exceptionally rare for the latter kind to see any recognition or acknowledgment of such work. Historically, successful people had a healthy does of both. History is also full of exceptionally intelligent people who never prospered. Tesla was intelligent, Edison was smart.

Smart people then progress through company ranks. The rest move or are moved out. IQ is not a factor, it merely serves as a first filter. Among all smart people, one would also wants all of them to be intelligent.

[quote name='SteveDeFacto' timestamp='1327765383' post='4907029']
Yes, that is the trend I noticed when I asked my co-workers and the poll confirms this. Also on a side note even the really stupid people I asked rated them self as 7 or 6.

This is pretty much exactly the Dunning-Kruger effect.

People who could legitimately claim to a 9 or 10 are better aware of their own limitations, and so pitch it down a couple of points. Those who should realistically be evaluated a 5 or below, are convinced of their own intelligence/blind to their weaknesses, and thus add a few points. The intersection of these two groups tends to cluster around a 7.
[/quote]

I personally don't think it is a matter of shifting a few points one way or the other. I think all humans believe they are actually smarter than everyone else. I think this may actually be evolved in to us in order to give us the confidence to act on our beliefs. The smarter people tend to over come this irrational way of thinking but still deep down they feel like they are smarter than everyone else. Notice no one picked 5 and only a few jokers picked numbers below 5 even though the majority should have picked 5.

I think all humans believe they are actually smarter than everyone else. I think this may actually be evolved in to us in order to give us the confidence to act on our beliefs.

Better than everyone else, sure - that's just part of a healthy human ego. Smarter I'm not sure about, a lot of people are acutely aware of their intellectual limitations.

The smarter people tend to over come this irrational way of thinking but still deep down they feel like they are smarter than everyone else. Notice no one picked 5 even though the majority should have.[/quote]
Who is going to claim to be mediocre, even on an anonymous test? I'd bet that the few who picked below 5 were all fairly smart people, who just wanted to have a little fun at the expense of your statistics.

[quote name='SteveDeFacto' timestamp='1327768678' post='4907055']
I think all humans believe they are actually smarter than everyone else. I think this may actually be evolved in to us in order to give us the confidence to act on our beliefs.

Better than everyone else, sure - that's just part of a healthy human ego. Smarter I'm not sure about, a lot of people are acutely aware of their intellectual limitations.

The smarter people tend to over come this irrational way of thinking but still deep down they feel like they are smarter than everyone else. Notice no one picked 5 even though the majority should have.[/quote]
Who is going to claim to be mediocre, even on an anonymous test? I'd bet that the few who picked below 5 were all fairly smart people, who just wanted to have a little fun at the expense of your statistics.
[/quote]

Yes, better is probably a more accurate word but still I think it equates to smarter in their eyes. For example a homeless beggar on a street corner may be fully aware of his metal disabilities but will say he has "street smarts." He may not be entirely happy with his situation but he feels like all of the working people are suckers who he can use and that the only reason he is in this situation is because The Man is keeping him down. I have actually lived in a homeless shelter for 6 months and all of the people there thought they were somehow better than everyone else.

10 DAMN IT!

Who is going to claim to be mediocre[/quote]
Someone running for the presidency?
Just your average Joe Blow works well for the plebs ahem voters

Now suddenly the world makes sense to me. Humans are incapable of judging their own intelligence, and all of us believe we are smarter than everyone else.

Alot of people actually believe themselves to be dumber than everyone else, in my experience.

I think part of the problem is people mistake knowledge for intelligence. They don't know very much information, or have too many skills, as use that to measure their intelligence.

Alot of people also don't realize that they are able to increase their intelligence, just like they can increase their knowledge.

My intelligence isn't that great, despite having alot more knowledge (mostly trivial, but also alot of practical knowledge) than the average person. I also have alot of practical skills the average person has... but neither skills (experience in a task or field) nor knowledge (facts and information) directly equals intelligence (problem-solving capabilities - or as Google defines it, "The ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills.").

All three can be grown in yourself.
Knowledge: Read more in a subject of interest, or listen to someone else talk about that subject (at a conference or something, or in a video)
Skill: Put that knowledge to use. Make it experiential knowledge. I may know how to build a house, but that doesn't mean I can.
Intelligence: Do something that stretches your mind, Most commonly, study math, because math forces you to think in new ways, which directly helps you think better about things that aren't even remotely mathematical.

I personally have decent knowledge and experience in multiple fields (and very little knowledge, and no experience, in other areas), but I suffer in intelligence - so I need to study math more. ([size=2]Or study other things that force you to think in radically different ways, like learning a new spoken language, or learning a new programming language that's radically different from those you already know)

Alternatively, you can just kill more monsters, and the next time you level up, put your points into intelligence, instead of maxing out charisma.

You have a peculiar ability to repeatedly post idiotic threads.