Average Americans Think They Are More Intelligent than the Average American

In a report by Pearson and the Economist Intelligence Unit earlier this year, the U.S. was ranked 14th in the overall index, competing with 39 other countries and one region (Hong Kong).

The ranking system from Pearson is based on two-thirds cognitive intelligence -with America ranking 11th, a relatively high place - and one-third educational attainment where it ranked 20th, which is unsurprising given that high school dropout rates in the U.S. have increased in the last couple of decades, according to Dosomething.org.

From these results, can we take it to mean that Americans are smarter than most of the world?

In a recent report by YouGov, an internet-based census firm, American respondents were asked how intelligent they thought Americans were. Majority of respondents across different levels of educational background - from high school graduates up to those with post-graduate degrees - and economic background believe that most Americans are averagely intelligent. In fact, forty-four percent of the respondents answered that they thought that Americans possess average intelligence.

When they were asked how intelligent they perceived themselves compared to the average American, fifty-five percent answered that they are more intelligent than the average American. A third of the country (thirty-four percent) believe themselves to be about as smart as the average person, while only four percent think that they are less intelligent than the average American.

Results from this poll show that average Americans think they are more intelligent than the average American.

Sixty-one percent of males thought themselves more intelligent than the average American compared to only fifty percent for the females. Moreover, a high percentage of white people (sixty percent) think themselves more intelligent than average Americans, as compared to their black and Hispanic counterparts, who scored with only forty-two percent each.

Also, respondents who come from higher income families generally think that they are more intelligent than most Americans, while those with incomes of under $40,000 per year are more likely to think that they are less intelligent.

While majority of the survey's respondents belong to the group with the highest educational attainment of a high school education, based on these findings, it could be said that the more educated Americans tend to downplay their capabilities, while those who are less educated tend to do the opposite.

Of course, it should also be noted that having or not having a post-graduate degree doesn't necessary translate to intelligence.