Are you intelligent? How do you gauge intelligence?

[Terrifiedofwastingmylife]

Sure, there are different kinds of intelligence so there will be many answers to this question. But I am interested in how people define intelligence? Are you comfortable in your intelligence?

I do not feel intelligent, according to any definition of it. My brain seems to have really slowed over the last decade, I find it very difficult to learn new systems (I get almost mentally paralysed from fear and stress) and struggle to retain information. I sometimes worry if I'm in the early stages of vascular dementia, which would obviously be different from not having any raw intelligence to begin with. But perhaps I've always been like this, I've just not realised before, and it's nothing to do with dementia.

Anyway, whatever the cause I mostly feel the opposite of intelligent - I can't even work out in my fuzzy brain what it even means anymore.

I’ve done a number of IQ tests and I always tend to come out slightly above average.

it’s a difficult one because whilst some topics would make me look highly intelligent, others would make me look thick as pig shit.

My short term memory is terrible but my long term memory is practically photographic

As you say there are many ways to measure intelligence and the “official” measurement scales such as those provided by Mensa etc need to be treated with scepticism.

I have to say your post makes me wonder if you could be menopausal? The sorts of things you describe sound like the symptoms of menopause. But you also sound as if you lack confidence and a lot of “intelligence” is projecting yourself with confidence.

I see myself as wise more than intelligent - not sure being clever is the be all and end all, contrary to how my parents think.

I think of myself as intelligent but I can’t remember anything and I’m shit at pub quizzes, so I may be deluded 😀

My measure of intelligence is whether people ‘get’ stuff and I usually do whereas I often feel like people around me don’t?

My favourite quote is 'You wouldn't judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree'

really? So all academics with PhD’s are borderline autistic? Not any I’ve met or worked with.

I’m a specialist in my field. I’m not autistic, or even borderline.

Dunning Kruger for me- usually people that are intelligent think they aren’t particularly, because they are aware they can’t know everything, even if they know a lot, or even if they are specialists in their field. The people who think they know everything are often the people that don’t.

I think I’m fairly intelligent. I generally can grasp new concepts relatively easily and I’m fairly confident there is nothing in an a level or undergrad level qualification I couldn’t understand with a bit of time & effort. I’m not exceptionally bright though. I work with a couple of people who are and the speed and ease with which they make connections is impressive. Do you mean just above average or do you mean up in the top 1% OP?

Difficult my DS has what I think would be called high social intelligence - he’s got the gift of the gab and talk to anyone about anything. He’s just been to Cambridge Uni on a school trip and it’s made him not want to apply. He tried to speak to various people and none of them could even look him in the eye, bearing in mind they will all have been incredibly academic and intelligent.

I think on a good day I can be intelligent in the fact that I connect bits of information together and process them and make decisions that are rational and thought out...but oh my word do i hear you @Terrifiedofwastingmylife about being more intelligent a decade or so ago. I blame the children and having to dumb down to biff chip and kipper and explaining maths in terms of cake and pizza for the past decade.

I'm not at all intelligent. I talk too much, my vocab is limited and I blurt out nonsense. I have a few degrees but it's down to persistence and I feel constantly stupid compared to my colleagues.

Do you mean just above average or do you mean up in the top 1% OP?

I just mean enough to cope with life tbh! I'm hopelessly drowning half the time.

So average, or above, is desirable.

I have a first class honours degree of thirty years but think I just write well.

I don't know how intelligent I am now, but when I was at uni I earned money by sitting lots of new IQ tests because I consistently scored over 140 on validated tests.

Sadly this aptitude seems to be more of a party trick than anything else, it certainly hasn't been reflected in my very average attainment in life since then .

I’m intelligent but it’s not something I would say anywhere other than on an anonymous forum. It’s not really socially acceptable to be considered smart. I was bullied at school for being a square. I got good grades with very little effort until A- level but it was easier and more palatable to let people assume I worked all hours. The bullying was much worse on the occasions I admitted I hadn’t actually revised.

I think my mind works pretty fast. It has to digest a lot of information very quickly and analyse and retain it. I work in an industry where everyone has to be quick thinking and intelligent. I think I hold my own.

I have always done well academically. Yes, I'm bright, but a lot of my ability is due to having a really good memory. I got through some subjects at school by memorising and churning out, with precious little understanding of the subject -- so you might think that because I've got an A level in Klingon, I'm super-clever, but I didn't understand a word of Klingon at the time and I remember nothing of it now.

(I've just been told it wasn't Klingon. Oh. It seemed like it to me ---)

OTOH I do actually learn other stuff easily, and can pass on information ("teach" if you prefer). And I have a wide range of intellectual interests. I'd love to do another degree and I know I'd get in, and do well, but I can't afford it! I am academic - I like learning for the sake of learning :)

But oh dear, it took me many years to learn emotional intelligence - and I think that's more important than academic intelligence. So hats off to anyone who has an early and easy understanding of EI.

I just mean enough to cope with life tbh! I'm hopelessly drowning half the time.

Oh I don't think intelligence necessarily helps you to cope with life. Some of the smartest people I know are also idiots, whereas I know lots more who aren't especially intelligent but consistently show good judgement.

I totally get you with the struggling vs 10
years ago. There is just so much domestic stuff to keep track of with the kids calendars as well as our own and my work has got more complex & involved. I also think the volume of information available at your fingertips with smartphones and internet and the always on nature of a lot of jobs can be a bit overwhelming.

Does common sense count ?

I've worked with highly intelligent people but they didn't have one ounce of common sense.

I’m intelligent, based on having been very close to the top in most school subjects in a large cohort (400 in my year). I’m also often bemused by how pleased my bosses are with me when I perform tasks that seem pretty basic. I think it’s very hard to judge others, unless you meet them in a context where their lack of intelligence becomes apparent, such as a lack of knowledge about fairly basic things or an apparent inability to work things out in any kind of logical way. Even then it’s hit and miss!

That said, you could have been describing me when you said “My brain seems to have really slowed over the last decade, I find it very difficult to learn new systems (I get almost mentally paralysed from fear and stress) and struggle to retain information.” I think it’s probably down to menopause and I’m hoping it will change back sometime. Despite sometimes forgetting so many things that I feel an absolute idiot, I still manage to get through life and work quite well overall, which I think is down to having been bright to start with.

These threads are always the same, with professors who can't operate toasters and school drop outs who can connect effortlessly with others. No MNer will admit to knowledge based intelligence 🤣

I'm intelligent, and I know lots of stuff. But my main guage of it in others is generally being interested in things, and being able to ask intelligent questions even where they have no subject knowledge at all.

The most intelligent person I've ever met is my step father, who is a total all rounder. He had a very old fashioned early education and I think they just don't make them like that any more. Ideally, we would download the contents of his brain.

I have a PhD in a STEM subject but for the life of me cannot figure out IQ tests.

I think on one spectacular occasion scoring 44 😂

I remember doing one with my friends brother (certified maths genius) and being astounded at how easily and quickly he could see the patterns.

On paper I have a PhD so guess would be perceived as in the top percent of intelligence.

In reality I feel like a halfwit most of the time.

Oh I don't think intelligence necessarily helps you to cope with life

How can it not, though?

I'm working on a spreadsheet at the moment, for example. I don't trust my brain at all. So I have to check the information I'm putting in, cell by cell, double checking and triple checking and once more for good measure, because if I get somebody's name misaligned with their organisation I will absolutely melt down on the phone if I ask for the wrong person...

I feel it would be much easier if my memory was razor sharp and I had confidence to know I was accurate. To just...know all my data was all correct.

Then I could enjoy the bits of my job that are much more creative and stimulating.

The fucking dull-brained shit memory is the bit that makes me worry I'm not cut out for a decent career and I'm just totally fucking screwed.