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Do people on RF believe they are more intelligent than everyone else?

Magic Man

Reaper of Conversation
Some people instinctively know not to do things in certain situations without being told, and others need ot be told repeatedly even though they have a high IQ. I know one particular friend of mine with a very high IQ (speed reader and all) and yet, he is socially inept even in spite of being taught how to socialize and reading up on the subject many times; I know girl who has a not-so-high IQ and yet, she excels wonderfully socially and is something that has just always come naturally to her even as a child. In theory, with the speed reading and the extremly high IQ, this guy should be able to excel socially in no time, yet here we are 5 years later, still same ol' socially inept person. Who's the "unintelligent" one here? The answer is "neither."

It's still the socially-good girl who's unintelligent. I don't really think being good in social situations is an example of intelligence. If you're inherently good at playing tennis, does that make you intelligent? The first person is socially inept and intelligent. The second person is socially ept (if you will) and unintelligent.

The problem isn't a person having knowledge or not, the problem is the concept of labeling people as "unintelligent" and having a definitive measure of such. Learning so-called "hard concepts," is not limited to people with high IQ's and having a high IQ doesn't have any bearing on how well you may or may not excel in some subjects; nor does it make people who have greater difficulty learning said hard concepts "unintelligent." Being intelligent again, is not limited to IQ tests and academics.

Actually that's exactly what it's limited to. For other areas of excellence there are other words, like socially excellent or good at tennis. Neither of those things qualify as intelligent.
 

Mister_T

Forum Relic
Premium Member
mball1297 said:
It's still the socially-good girl who's unintelligent. I don't really think being good in social situations is an example of intelligence. If you're inherently good at playing tennis, does that make you intelligent? The first person is socially inept and intelligent. The second person is socially ept (if you will) and unintelligent.
You're missing the point: For someone so "smart" he should be able to grasp the simple concept of communicating with people (even when studying the concept via books and etc.), yet he doesn't. The girl is not "unintelligent" by any means BTW, just because her IQ is not-so-high; You're treating that as if I said she had a low IQ, which she doesn't (did I mention that she has her own business?). Does that mean everyone who doens't have a very high IQ like my speed-reader friend there. is unintelligent? I don't think so. You give having a high IQ too much stock.

mball1297 said:
Actually that's exactly what it's limited to. For other areas of excellence there are other words, like socially excellent or good at tennis. Neither of those things qualify as intelligent.
It's only limited because you appear to have a very narrow definition of what "intelligence" consists of. Fortunately the definition of intelligence is rather broad:

Wikipedia said:
Intelligence is an umbrella term describing a property of the mind including related abilities, such as the capacities for abstract thought, understanding, communication, reasoning, learning, learning from past experiences, planning, and problem solving.

Intelligence - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 

Magic Man

Reaper of Conversation
You're missing the point: For someone so "smart" he should be able to grasp the simple concept of communicating with people (even when studying the concept via books and etc.), yet he doesn't. The girl is not "unintelligent" by any means BTW, just because her IQ is not-so-high; You're treating that as if I said she had a low IQ, which she doesn't (did I mention that she has her own business?). Does that mean everyone who doens't have a very high IQ like my speed-reader friend there. is unintelligent? I don't think so. You give having a high IQ too much stock.

First, smart and intelligent are different concepts. And no, an intelligent person shouldn't necessarily grasp concepts like social interaction.

As for the rest of this, I'm getting a little confused. Look, if the girl has a low IQ, she is unintelligent. If she has a medium IQ, she is fairly intelligent, but not as intelligent as the professor with a high IQ. I'm not saying anyone without a high IQ is unintelligent. What I'm saying is people with a low IQ but who are good socially are still unintelligent. Them being good socially doesn't mean they're intelligent.

It's only limited because you appear to have a very narrow definition of what "intelligence" consists of. Fortunately the definition of intelligence is rather broad:



Intelligence - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Well, you can use any definitions of words you want, but it makes it confusing. I'd rather stick to the most accurate definition, which is measured by IQ. That's kind of the whole point of the IQ test. If you're good at tennis, I don't consider you intelligent just because of it. I don't consider you intelligent because you're good socially. You're intelligent, if you display intelligence, which means having a high IQ, being able to grasp difficult concepts that involve higher thinking.
 

Mister_T

Forum Relic
Premium Member
mball1297 said:
First, smart and intelligent are different concepts.
No they're not: "Smart" and "Intelligent" are synonymous with each other.

mball1297 said:
What I'm saying is people with a low IQ but who are good socially are still unintelligent. Them being good socially doesn't mean they're intelligent.
The "social" example was just to show that people excel in some areas and fail in others. Labeling a person as "unintellgent" just because that might have a lower IQ (disregarding the fact that IQ tests have been shown to be flawed in terms of gauging a person's intelligence) than a really book-smart person, yet excel in other areas just seems rather disengenous.

mball1297 said:
Well, you can use any definitions of words you want, but it makes it confusing. I'd rather stick to the most accurate definition, which is measured by IQ. That's kind of the whole point of the IQ test. If you're good at tennis, I don't consider you intelligent just because of it. I don't consider you intelligent because you're good socially. You're intelligent, if you display intelligence, which means having a high IQ, being able to grasp difficult concepts that involve higher thinking.
What's confusing is associating scoring high on an IQ test with overall intelligence, when in fact the very definition of the term does no such thing (Not to mention again, that IQ tests have shown to be flawed). I think I'll stick with the definitions since they are the definitive description of said terms/concepts.
 

Magic Man

Reaper of Conversation
No they're not: "Smart" and "Intelligent" are synonymous with each other.

Not really. They're slightly different, but it's not worth arguing. I'm just saying smart shouldn't be used interchangeably when we mean intelligent.

The "social" example was just to show that people excel in some areas and fail in others. Labeling a person as "unintellgent" just because that might have a lower IQ (disregarding the fact that IQ tests have been shown to be flawed in terms of gauging a person's intelligence) than a really book-smart person, yet excel in other areas just seems rather disengenous.

It's not disingenuous. It's just trying to be clear with terms. I can see using terms like "socially intelligent" or "artistically intelligent", but not just "intelligent" when it comes to those things. If you're going to say someone is intelligent, then they should be intelligent by the regular definition, which would be having a high mental capacity.

What's confusing is associating scoring high on an IQ test with overall intelligence, when in fact the very definition of the term does no such thing (Not to mention again, that IQ tests have shown to be flawed). I think I'll stick with the definitions since they are the definitive description of said terms/concepts.

OK, I'll stick with the more accurate definitions then.
 

ChristineES

Tiggerism
Premium Member
At the risk of sounding totally corny, I would like to repeat what I said in the other thread: That different people have different areas in intelligence. Someone may be intelligent in math, someone else in language arts, and someone else in mechanics, and yet a fourth one good at social situations. Not one person does EVERYTHING well, but we all have something that we do well.
 
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