Do people with lower than average IQ know they’re not very smart?

[ChefPapiChulo]

Like less say someone has a 80 IQ, are they aware that they’re not as smart as most people?

[WhiteSteve]

That’s a good question. I’m inclined to say “somewhat”, but maybe only in certain arenas. Like if you go through 13 years of schooling, I can’t imagine someone doesn’t notice that schoolwork and learning come very easily to some of your peers while you struggle. At least in the 80s when I was in elementary school, the less intelligent kids, like to the point we’re discussing, were usually in Special Education, separate from the rest of us. But that’s even blurry because dyslexia or something like that could land you there too. So a dyslexic and a kid with Down Syndrome would be in the same class, so I don’t know how that affects the way someone with a simple learning disability would perceive themselves vs someone truly intellectually disabled. Maybe they’d be like “damn, I must be kinda like that”, or maybe they’d think “well I ain’t THAT disabled”, so I don’t know. And I also don’t know what the current educational standards are, I was like the last of the kids taught that Native Americans were called Indians and Asians were called Orientals, lmao, and I learned to type on a typewriter. So maybe they have better structure in place for Special Ed.

But anyway, I guess I’m just wondering if low IQ just think they aren’t suited for “book learning.” Other than some probably-questionable online test, I haven’t had my IQ tested. The online test gave me a pretty high score, but that and $3 will get me coffee and a donut. I was tested as a young child by a professional organization and was found to be highly intelligent, 99th percentile in some areas, and 90+ across the board, and I give that some credence... but I mean, I was an excellent student in grade school, with basic shit, but high school came around, and for sure my effort dropped, but I also had trouble mastering some of the more complex material in some subjects, like beyond caring less about studying, it just didn’t click as automatically as simpler stuff did. It’s like being a really good Little League player but then all of a sudden pitchers are throwing you curveballs at higher levels and you find out you aren’t Ken Griffey Jr after all lmao. Yet my SATs, I got a near-perfect verbal score, my math score was just “aight.” So I see evidence suggesting I have some exceptional talents, but I’m also aware I have shortcomings and I certainly wouldn’t call myself a genius, no matter what any test said. But I say all that to say that I’ve been being told I’m extremely smart for a long time, like more so than the results would suggest lmao, but I do think I have an ability to think and question on a level I don’t see in most people. That doesn’t mean the answers I arrive at are even correct, but I respect my ability to really think unconventionally and perceive things in a way most can’t seem to.

So I wonder about the opposite happening to a low-IQ kid. It’s easy to compliment someone for being smart, but not so easy to be like “Bud... you aren’t the sharpest knife in the drawer.” My gf’s mother was a high school teacher, and she’s even tell us how she’d arrange students for group projects by their intelligence levels, obviously not saying so, but smart kids were with smart kids, dumb with dumb, average with average. Not to humblebrag more, lmao, but in 2nd grade I was in a class Thanksgiving play and I starred in it with three other kids. I have it on VHS, and it’s clear to me now, somewhat objectively, the four of us had an intelligence the other kids didn’t. We were picked because we were the only 4 of the 30 or so in class who had enough self-awareness to successfully perform, not even as viable actors, just like “these four can probably roughly remember their lines and keep their fingers out of their noses onstage.” So adults can see who is bright and who isn’t in kids from a young age, I think. And as we got older, the two that I knew as they grew up remained smarter than our peers.

[WhiteSteve]

Speaking of self-awareness, I’m rambling long as fuck, lmfao, but to start to wrap up, my guess would be that through frustrating school experience, maybe insults from peers, you might have an inkling that you aren’t that smart. Whether or not your psyche accepts it is another story. There are all kinds of ways your mind might work around it to manufacture the ultimate answer you want to tell yourself. There’s also the aspect of having non-intellectual or at least very specific intellectual talents, and that might help someone still have a positive impression of themselves, even if unrealistic. And then just the overall issue that we base intellectual capacity judgements largely off only one aspect of intelligence, the one demonstrated through academic prowess. I’m not sure if or how accurately IQ tests account for emotional intelligence, musical intelligence, comedic intelligence, etc, all kinds of shit that might make think you’re smart in someway even if your report cards sucked.

After all that though, some of the shit I read on GAG, it makes me wonder, you see a lot of people with dumb ideas that they clearly think are brilliant, lmfao. I have some wild ideas, but at least I know I MIGHT be wrong/crazy, I feel like that’s important, haha.

[Levin]

I saw an old friend that I'd not seen for a good five years walking down the street a few weeks ago. He was walking with the same kind of loud arrogance that he has always walked with. Not to be unkind, but there was never disputing that he was never particularly bright.

I might like to quote Shakespeare here. 'The fool doth think he is wise, the wise man know himself to be a fool.'

Or you might like a bit of Lao Tzu. “Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know.”

[ShadezMcgee]

I feel it is a mixed bag. However the ones that seem like they are on the line with low IQ seem to be the ones that have to always talk, be right and feel like they have something to prove. More vocal.

I know some guys who are on the lower end, but they genuinely are some of the most chill, humble and nicest people.

[hellionthesagereborn]

No. Its called the Dunning Krueger effect. Those who know little are convinced they understand things while those who know a lot realize they don't know much at all and are more likely to question their own opinions and ideas because they can see all the ways they could be wrong. This more then likely extends to intelligence as much as it applies to knowledge.

[Don-__-Don]

https://youtu.be/0Grs_jJ5U6w

This man claims to have a level 75 IQ. I would say that this man is aware as a person can get when it comes to having low intelligence. My heart goes out to him.

[Whatthefluff]

Funny, I just saw that video today. Was it recommended in your youtube also?

[Don-__-Don]

Yeah, lol. A few days ago it was.

[cth96190]

In some part of their mind they do know, but they will lie and rant and deny, which reveals their lack of intelligence to the world.
AOC comes to mind. As one who was trained to assess secondary students for referral to expert help, I believe that AOC is borderline retarded.

[SnackAttack7]

Most people don't know their IQ so it's not something you'll think about. I don't really think IQ is a big deal because someone with a "low" IQ can excel in a particular field over someone with a high IQ.

[OddBeMe]

by stats they think they're smarter.

the smarter you are, the less you know you know.

[loveslongnails]

I would doubt it.