You’d hardly find a person who doesn’t think they’re above average intelligence.While we are able to assess other qualities of ourselves quite realistically (physical strength, for example), intelligence is not. We almost always find it great. And, of course, so is the intelligence of our children. Counseling centers have learned to tell mothers of feeble-minded boys that their offspring is highly intelligent, perhaps somewhere on the borderline of genius. Otherwise, there would be an immediate loss of confidence.
But Australian psychologists have noticed something else. Namely, that men overestimate their intelligence more than women. And that more masculine men overestimate their intelligence more than less masculine men. This is consistent with other findings from other research – for example, the fact that the vast majority of men consider themselves more sexually attractive than how their surroundings rate them.
Men overestimate their intelligence more than women. And that more masculine men overestimate their intelligence more than less masculine men
The aspiring politically correct scientists add to the intelligence finding that under-confident women then don’t go to college and don’t become scientists, even if they had the brains to do so. Which is utter bullshit. In fact, other data shows that given the same intelligence and the same knowledge, a girl is many times (!) more likely to achieve higher education. And there are significantly more female students than male students in universities.
Anyway, back to intelligence. It’s not so much the self-confidence that’s advantageous. It’s actually not advantageous at all. If I know what a powerful tool I have in my head, I can work with it and I can arrange myself accordingly. I can use appropriate thought processes. I can write things down on paper that my brain can’t hold. I can break down complex tasks into several simpler ones. In the end, I get more output from my brain that way than someone who doesn’t know what to do with it and who is excited about their own cleverness.
