Posted on 05/14/2014 10:22:17 AM PDT by dsc
Forget being smarter than a fifth-grader. Most Americans think they’re smarter than everyone else in the country.
Fifty-five percent of Americans think that they are smarter than the average American, according to a new survey by YouGov, a research organization that uses online polling. In other words, as YouGov cleverly points out, the average American thinks that he or she is smarter than the average American.
A humble 34 percent of citizens say they are about as smart as everyone else, while a dispirited 4 percent say they are less intelligent than most people.
Men (24 percent) are more likely than women (15 percent) to say they are “much more intelligent” than the average American. White people are more likely to say the same than Hispanic and black people.
So, this many smart people must mean that, on the whole, the United States ranks pretty high in intelligence, right?
Not quite. According to the survey, just 44 percent of Americans say that Americans are “averagely intelligent.” People who make less than $40,000 a year are much more likely to say that their fellow Americans are intelligent, while those who make more than $100,000 are far more likely to say that Americans are unintelligent.
The results are not surprising. Western cultures have a habit of inflating their self-worth, past research has shown. The most competent individuals also tend to underestimate their ability, while incompetent people overestimate it. Not out of arrogance, but of ignorance—the worst performers often don’t get negative feedback. In this survey, 28 percent of high school graduates say they are “slightly more intelligent” than average, while just 1 percent of people with doctoral degrees say they are “much more intelligent.”
Of course, a Ph.D. doesn’t necessarily measure intelligence, nor does how much money you make. Those factors, along with gender and race, may be better indicators of humblebrag ability than brainpower.
What are the social, economic, and political consequences of convincing people who are dull-normal at best, and downright stupid a lot of the time, that they are just as smart as everyone else? And then urging them to vote?
How can a group of people prosper if the stupid are not willing to be led by the dull, the dull by the bright, or the bright by the brilliant? And why would they accept being led if they thought they themselves were as smart as the brilliant--or at least the bright.
It's farging brilliant! (<-- That is the only exclamation point I have used this year.) It's a virus, analagous to a computer virus, that will destroy a functioning society if successfully introduced into the cognosphere.
My mind is blown. Or maybe I'm just one of the stupid, drooling through life in thrall to delusions of adequacy.
Half the country is below average.................
I just think I’m smarter than liberals but that’s not saying much.
I’m average too.
The popularity of Reality shows convinces me...
An interesting problem in Bayesian (subjective) probability. When all is said and done, the average has to be average!
Yes, yes, but what about the scheme of introducing this belief through the education system, in the effort to harm this country?
Full Title:
Average Americans Think They’re Smarter Than the Average American, on Average
Some animals are more average than others.
“... while those who make more than $100,000 are far more likely to say that Americans are unintelligent.”
That is the way people in that income bracket make a lot of their money. The guy buying a coke and a bag of chips for $5 is not so smart - but the guy who owns the store selling to him?
It seems to be working quite well in the USA.
Average *liberal* Think They’re Smarter Than the Average American see Obama voters.
FMCDH(BITS)
Umm..., 55% is pretty close to 50%, so what’s the problem? And if the average is skewed by larger numbers at the lower extremes, then 55% might even be too low.
The author obviously belongs on the left side of the intelligence graph.
There’s a reason people are on the Left side of the Bell curve.................
Exactly. And neither are either of those knowledge. People conflate all of them. So what did those polled think “intelligence” is?
Yes, and that half which is below average makes up the majority of the Democrat Party.
Of course, I think I am above the average in intelligence. It stands to reason. I majored in sciences at the University level; my IQ measured above average; and I am a conservative.
The last reason actually proves that I am above average in intelligence. It goes without any more evidence that the average Freeper IQ is in the upper half of the population.
Most people think everything they know is everything there is to know. I’ve had managers who had competent people working for them and assumed that because the work was being well done that anybody could do it. Those are people who do not know what they do not know. That’s a special level of ignorance. Others feel that because they’re extremely competent on one subject, oral surgery, for example, that they are equally competent at everything else, piloting a plane for example. (More doctors are killed flying a plane than any other profession.)
Thanks. I’m glad I read all they way down before posting.
Based on this study, only 5% of Americans think they’re smarter than they are. That’s actually pretty good perception.
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