What are your perceptions of yourself and your intelligence?

[awein999]

What actions do you take that back up (or put down) your perceptions of yourself?

For example I perceive I'm worse at things I do than I actually am, whether it be intellect in a certain area, or skill at a game or sport. I think this means my perception of "self" is not in tune with the actions that I perform in actual reality, specifically that I don't have high enough self esteem. I rarely have tried to take action or control in my life because I don't want to be wrong.

I'm interested in what you think of yourself (and how you think). Try to say more than what "feels comfortable", admit your faults if you think you have any.

[Magooskie]

I am confident with my self. Honestly this will include Religion. That's the only reason why I'm confident.

Anyways.. I have this habit. Sucking my thumb, I didn't stop. Some times when I sleep I don't, sometimes I do, so I guess I'm slowly starting to get rid of that habit. So I'm pretty confident at that too.

I don't think I am un-confident with any topic really.

Heck, I'm not even sure if this is about confidence, so if this is. Then the only thing I'm not so self confident about is Discussions about certain things, especially intellectual topics. Meaning of life and whatnot.

That's all.

[alloyus]

Awein, I'd actually say that I'm the same as you. I usually think I'm worse at something than I actually am, and never volunteer to do anything because I, too, don't wanna be wrong. Even if I pretty much know I'm right, I won't say anything because I have just about zero confidence xP

[rushyrulz]

I was expecting a Rubix thread, but it wasn't.

What does that say?

Thinking I'm worse than I actually am motivates me to be better, so lack of self-confidence actually benefits me.

[MrRubix]

lol believe it or not in real life I'm not an arrogant prick. I'm smart but I know my limits and weaknesses. As long as you can be honest about weaknesses you'll always have something to work on

[TC_Halogen]

Originally Posted by awein999

What actions do you take that back up (or put down) your perceptions of yourself?

For example I perceive I'm worse at things I do than I actually am, whether it be intellect in a certain area, or skill at a game or sport. I think this means my perception of "self" is not in tune with the actions that I perform in actual reality, specifically that I don't have high enough self esteem. I rarely have tried to take action or control in my life because I don't want to be wrong.

I'm interested in what you think of yourself (and how you think). Try to say more than what "feels comfortable", admit your faults if you think you have any.

I have this exact same issue, on multiple things. I tend to be very hesitant toward trying new things because of this constant "self-conscious-about-everything" attitude. Socializing with people who are considerably better than me at something I'm striving to improve myself on is also difficult, because I don't want to be looked upon for mistakes that may be deemed as stupid.

This thinking seems to block me on really big things too; one thing that comes to mind is making music. I'm a very musically oriented person, but I find myself becoming afraid to share some of the things I've learned/created because I'm worried of what people are going to say/think. Unfortunately, this goes deeper than just my musical capability (the reason why I mention it is because it's what I feel I'm strongest in) - it affects me when writing (stories/fan-fics/school, etc.), and even certain forms of gaming too. Any form of self-expression is difficult for me to share.

However, the difference for me, is that I know what I'm doing typically impresses people, but the amount of modesty I have is overwhelming. For lack of a better explanation - I'm not entirely shy, but more-so afraid of straying too far off of my normal path, thus making people think differently (and in the case that I worry about, think lowly) of me.

[Cavernio]

I know that 10+ years ago I used to be secretly very arrogant, but tried to not act like I was. (And I really think I did a good job of it...or maybe I didn't, but I think I'm a pretty good actor when I want to be :-p) I think I'm much, much less so now, although I'm much less secretive about what I'm sure of. Instead of hiding anything I'm arrogant about, I try to actively not be condescending and judge people poorly. I don't take pride in things I do accomplish very often, and often won't think I've done a good job, but that's not really me putting myself down, that's me just thinking that that's how good I am at something, and if I didn't really try hard to accomplish it, I usually don't take pride in it. And any accomplishments I haven't done recently don't go to my head at all. Like music I wrote when I was 16, even if someone compliments me and says they like it, I'm just like 'yeah, whatever' to myself. I mean I like that they like it and all, but I feel like its dumb for me to take pride in things done so far in my past. I'm constantly reminded that I'm not actively accomplishing more with my life, because I DO see myself as intelligent and can be very hard-working, and because I know just a few bad choices have led me where I am right now, and I'm not doing a whole lot. That and I hate it when someone thinks I'm dumb because I'm just a cashier.
I really try hard to perceive how good I am at things accurately, and I guess I take pride in trying to be open-minded and trying to think outside the box. I don't put myself down telling myself I've done a bad job; I think my self-esteem is exactly where it should be.
I usually hate social situations with people I don't know, because I think most people are jerks. At least if I know someone I know how to act when around them.
I think I'm fairly intelligent, especially when I put my mind to it. But even though I think most people are jerks, I think most people are smart too. When someone doesn't know something I know, I like to share that information with them, or my views about something with them, rather than thinking they're dumb and not worth my time.

[zadkiel91]

Originally Posted by awein999

What actions do you take that back up (or put down) your perceptions of yourself?

For example I perceive I'm worse at things I do than I actually am, whether it be intellect in a certain area, or skill at a game or sport. I think this means my perception of "self" is not in tune with the actions that I perform in actual reality, specifically that I don't have high enough self esteem. I rarely have tried to take action or control in my life because I don't want to be wrong.

I'm interested in what you think of yourself (and how you think). Try to say more than what "feels comfortable", admit your faults if you think you have any.

Same situation as me and TC_Halogen. I don't know why but I tend to kinda judge before attempting to do something and jumping to conclusions before trying something out. I ask myself like ''how am I going to do this? It is hard and will take effort'', but when I attempt it I come to realize that it wasn't hard at all and I accomplish it with a good result in no time. I guess my problem is not about skill or intellect or whatever is at stake (because I finish accomplishing my goal with success), it is the lack of self-confidence. If I work on it I'm pretty sure it will take me far xD

[Rubin0]

I suffer from mediocrity. I know that I am an intelligent person, but I have never found something that I am excellent at. I am always okay at things. I have reached the level that I'm good at things if I really try, but I am never the best. This is why I struggled earlier on in my life to motivate myself to do things. It's an ongoing struggle that I have had to learn to cope with, but I hope someday to find my nitch.

[Patashu]

There's a name for this exact psychological phenomenon. Let me find it...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning...3Kruger_effect

also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases

[XCV]

I'm pretty smart (tested 4 years ago at age 13, IQ was 157) and in direct correlation, maybe because of that, I always perceive myself unrealistically. Just a smidgen; it definitely does not constitute a psych disorder or anything approaching one. The whole off-the-charts expectations-perfectionism fiasco that's seen a lot in those at the edge of the bell curve, basically.

I'm emotionally and psychologically (not physiologically, though) sound, and happy enough with it to not want much else...alright, since this sounds like there's a guidance counselor in the room, I'll break it off here.

[AsphyxZero]

I have had no self-esteem for as long as I can remember. Most other people don't catch on (and I'm glad) though. Actually, my peers/co-workers/command see me as a good soldier. But I can't help but put myself down all the time.

I'm sure I'm intelligent but I don't feel like it.

[Vendetta21]

I used to value intelligence but I don't really anymore I think of myself as a chatty charlatan and a bit of a sophist but mostly for entertainments sake. I value niceness and positive attitude more than anything and basically that's what I try to improve about myself I don't ever really worry about how smart I am or appear to be.

[Vendetta21]

This is because I've found that when you value or worship being intelligent too much you always feel like you're one step away from being made out to be a fraud and there's this neurotic desire to read and read and read even though the only thing you care about in the reading is getting the right bits of information to dominate a conversation about an issue.

[ShAiOnEi]

I'm sure I am intelligent in certain aspects although I'm not extremely knowledgeable so sometimes I get tripped up in crowds where everyone is having half-witted conversations that take a lot of quick thinking and initiative. I feel sometimes that I'm not smart or spontaneous enough to join in so most of the time I get pushed away from groups and only speak out when I feel it's necessary. Alot of people judge your intelligence by how much you know but I feel it's not always the case other ways like problem solving and rationalizing and accuracy is another form of gauging intelligence in my opinion.

[psychoangel691]

Originally Posted by Rubin0

I suffer from mediocrity. I know that I am an intelligent person, but I have never found something that I am excellent at. I am always okay at things. I have reached the level that I'm good at things if I really try, but I am never the best. This is why I struggled earlier on in my life to motivate myself to do things. It's an ongoing struggle that I have had to learn to cope with, but I hope someday to find my nitch.

^ I'm the same way. I'm good at a lot of different things but not really great at anything. It's like my dad says I'm a jack of all trades but a master of none. It gets really frustrating at times and make me feel like I'm never going to find that thing I'm really good at.

[foxfire667]

I personally perceive myself as an intelligent person, and the things that I do generally reflect upon this.

I personally can become fairly decent at a variety of different things, but only one at a time. When I take something in that I gain interest in, I can only focus myself around this particular subject until I lose interest in it. I would imagine this would be derived from a sort of mentality that wants me to maximize my potential within the subject of interest, where if I do not do this, I feel as though I am or have done something wrong.

I also dislike human error, especially within myself. This makes me have a pessimistic sort of self mentality, which can sometimes get in the way of taking charge or saying things which could lead me to be incorrect for whatever reason. This mind-set doesn't run my life, but it occasionally will have an impact on situations like volunteering for competitions, answering questions I'm not absolutely sure I am correct in, etc.

[Iam90]

Originally Posted by Vendetta21

This is because I've found that when you value or worship being intelligent too much you always feel like you're one step away from being made out to be a fraud and there's this neurotic desire to read and read and read even though the only thing you care about in the reading is getting the right bits of information to dominate a conversation about an issue.

I'm so well acquainted with this haha

i don't really know what i value anymore - it used to be intelligence, at a point generosity/kindness, and now - i don't know. what is the point of "valuing" anything? it seems fundamentally insincere when you have to sort through valuing different facets of your personality. i try to just be myself now - as cheesy an aphorism as it is - and it has been workin' out pretty well so far.

[JKPolk]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhrfhjLd9e4

[AquaTeen]

Well I perceive myself as a very self-reliant person and I mean yea there are things I'm not good at but there are of course things I'm good or spectacular at. My intelligence is pretty high for being autistic but that just defines me as a person: Smart! I'm a huge English nerd and science nerd so those are some of the things that I'm highly intelligent in but Math and History not so much so intelligent people are the same as others but I perceive my intelligence as defining me and what I'm interested in