Do you often feel intellectually superior to others?

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I have trouble relating with people because I always feel "different" or not normal, which causes me to feel inferior to them. This sort of ties in to my constant suspicion of others trying to exploit me or make me look dumb.

I completely agree with what you said invisiblesilent and your opinions in regards to dating. Perhaps it is due to my age group, but in that respect, it is not only my frustration with struggling to find someone who matches me intellectually that has served as an obstacle. Guys have actually openly admitted that my intelligence makes me intimidating.

Sometimes I feel this way, but I try to check myself, because everyone has different kinds of intelligence. I know IQ-wise, I'm in like the 99.95 percentile. I pick up languages very fast, sometimes in French class, everyone is struggling to comprehend something, and I'm like, "But we did this all last semester! And it's really easy!" On the other hand, I'm not very good at math and technology, so I feel really inferior to people who are like, "Oh, you just have to program the blah-blah-blah to solve the differential equation using so-and-so's theorem."

In terms of practical intelligence, I think I'm above a lot of people. I just this summer realized that there are a lot of people who can't read a map. I've also known many a genius who couldn't navigate a supermarket without help because it didn't occur to them to read the signs that tell you what's in what aisle, and many a genius who then forgot where he parked his car. I'm generally quite good with stuff like that. I'm the person who, when someone is pushing on a door and it won't open, points out that it says "Pull". I'm not sure if that's necessarily intelligence or just common sense.

But I also believe there's such a thing as social intelligence, and I'm very much below everybody else in that. Knowing what to say in a situation, knowing how to get people to like you, knowing what other people are feeling--I'm hopeless at all of that, and that's when I feel most inferior.

When I was younger I almost always felt like the OP. More recently however, I find that my ineffectiveness in communicating the ideas and arguments in my head leaves me often feeling quite the opposite. I more often than I'd like to admit feel lost in a discussion even when I am knowledgeable on the subject; often more knowledgeable than my peers in my opinion.

Maybe it's just my age but I often feel that way.

Especially when I have to listen to conversations of people in public transportation, e.g. a train, then it's raining mental facepalms.

Other than that, I usually seek people I can talk to on the same level as I, my religion/history teacher is one of those. I enjoy conversations with him, this is probably the case because he talks more about interesting/deeper topics than my peers*. This didn't prevent me from making him speechless a few times though. He often states how interesting our conversations are.
Same goes for my art teacher. They're both probably around their 50s, never asked them about their age because I fear that might sound rude or offensive.

*Conversations of peers usually sound like this: "I was so drunk on Saturday, I think I vomitted five times, cool, eh?" "That boy/girl over there is hot" "When I played COD, there was this cheater and..." - probably yet another reason why I have a hard time talking to them.

invisiblesilent, I can relate to your post. Your views on relationships and dating are equal to mine. I'm still young, so I don't see a point in rushing things but peers don't seem to understand this point of view.
It's as if they use relationships to raise their status, as if relationships were meaningless achievements to be on a better social level as in "the more you have, the better, only quantity matters" and so I've seen them exchange girlfriends/boyfriends every year - simply ridiculous. Maybe they really use it to raise their social status, I don't know.

I would sooner feel intellectually inferior. I have but a limited general knowledge, I know little about arts and science, and in recent years I've had trouble learning about these things, and trouble motivating myself to learn.

I used to be top of my class, and reasonably interested in nerdy sciency things; I used to be a walking encyclopedia on prehistoric fauna, but all of that is outdated now. These days, I'll come across dinosaur-related articles and have reactions like "Whoa! Deinonychus is feathered now?"

I can't engage in meaningful conversations with other people on the topics of politics, philosophy, arts, or science, because I simply lack the intellectual baggage. I kinda sorta have a basic knowledge of my special interests, like linguistics and Indonesia, but it's also not much to write home about. When I'm among people who are really into those subjects -whether they're autistic or not at all- I'll usually run out of things to say in 2 hours time or so.

But I agree with what Rascal77 on what he says about intellectual ability having many facets to it.

Being 23, I thought it would have gone away. Now it has gotten stronger, alas, but I know it is a rather foolish sentiment, nothing I am proud of really. It has probably a lot to do with the fact that I graduated and are now doing my graduate school in a different city and a different country, and I still feel rather alienated. As I profess somewhat egalitarian values myself (or at least I believe I do), it does make for some very cringe-inducing cognitive dissonance at times, haha... But in the end I do not think it is so much intelligence that matters (which is often just about how quick a person will pick up on concepts and facts; their natural ease with certain complex cognitive tasks in my experience, but then again I could be wrong), but ultimately what kind of a character that person in question has. It may sound like a horrible platitude- but what use is it if one's intellectual equals or superiors, who may offer some very rewarding conversations, granted, turn out to be utter scumbags? I know this rhetorical question may seem misleading. It is perfectly possible to be in the enviable position of having friends who are both dependable and fiendishly clever.

Anyway this is just my unworthy, so-called "opinion", based on my very limited experience of life so far.

Why not? Jesus got crucified for trying to teach the truth, didn't he?

Nope.

Oh, and my experiences have taught me that most people who define themselves as "intellectually superior" are neither.

Last edited by XFilesGeek on 13 Jan 2013, 10:41 am, edited 1 time in total.

If Jesus was a carpenter in the middle east, who worked and preached outdoors often, why is he so pale?

my auntie had 2 budgerigars that she claimed were very intelligent because they could talk.
whenever i tried to have a conversation with them, i was puzzled as to why they never seemed to understand what i was saying, and i was irritated with their answers to my questions. all they ever said in response to my thoughtful conversation was "who's a pretty boy", and i assumed they were jealous of my appearance, and after explaining to them that i did not consider appearances to be important, they stubbornly continued to call me a pretty boy, and that was all they said. what snobs!

they could not even let me finish my sentence before they mocked me by saying "who's a pretty boy then"

talk about prejudice! marylin monroe had an IQ of more than 160, and she copped the same treatment.

... and emaciated?

<-- This avatar more resembles a homeless street-preacher from downtown Los Angeles than any middle-eastern carpenter who spent most of his life in the sun.

Sometimes, but it has nothing to do with IQ or feeling superior in other aspects of life. I get very frustrated when people refuse to use reason and disregard science as if it was a matter of opinion: thinking that it's not their fault because they don't understand is the only way I have to suppress my anger towards them. I have become a better person by society's standards since I've started telling myself "Shut up, it's not their fault, they don't understand."
I say this has nothing to do with IQ because I don't really know the IQ of anyone around me; also, I'm on better terms with my "intellectually disabled" classmates than with other people who get good grades but are unable to organize a coherent sentence to substantiate their beliefs.
Also, I don't feel superior to people in other aspects of life because I'm well aware that many people who don't think as much as I do are much happier than I am.

This

Also, IQ is kind of an imperfect measurement from what I understand. Yet it's measurable and objective which is why it's still being used. I don't see the point of developing an ego over it yet see others do so.

Luckily, mine's a weak 104, so no delusions of superiority here.

There is no such thing as a 'social superior', Rhiannon, we are all people, all equal. No one is better than anyone else.