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OK, it's on.
Phobia of being stupid
- Thread starter Jean Paul
- Start date
EvilScientist Trainee
Science Advisor
http://phobialist.com/
Any word i tried didn't gave me any results. But i fear you fear being seen as imcompetent, which is something usually linked to Ti. It's important to Ti-users to be able to handle everything by themselves to avoid being seen as someone weak.
Any word i tried didn't gave me any results. But i fear you fear being seen as imcompetent, which is something usually linked to Ti. It's important to Ti-users to be able to handle everything by themselves to avoid being seen as someone weak.
Agent Intellect
Absurd Anti-hero.
I fear being stupid, but not really relative to other people. Not being able to understand something is very frustrating to me, and often sends me into a spiral of self doubt.
Puffy
"Wtf even was that"
Ah, self-doubt, I know thee well.
EyeSeeCold
lust for life
I actually have a quasi phobia. I'm wary of MSG and drugs(alcohol too). I don't want my brain to become less capable than it is. I can't imagine being impaired from an accident.
CoryJames
Banned
I don't think the fear of being perceived as less intelligent than others can be placed under the umbrella of narcissism. Admittedly, I am a narcissist, and I do sometimes experience that fear, but I feel that narcissism manifests itself more in the fear of being controlled, and thus the need to control others as a defense mechanism.
It does surprise me however, that such a common fear has not yet been designated a name.
It does surprise me however, that such a common fear has not yet been designated a name.
Jean Paul
Ideas from nowhere
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Same here
Vrecknidj
Prolific Member
You're not stupid, just a fake who is only one mistake from being caught.
I mean, we all know about this. Don't worry about it.
:-)
Dave
I mean, we all know about this. Don't worry about it.
:-)
Dave
Meer
Jermbl
Don't worry, MSG is harmless.
I'm afraid that drinking tap water has made me less intelligent. I seem to make spelling errors and misplace words in my head more often since moving out of my parents' temple of triple-filtered water.
Maybe it's all the ichiban...
subdude
Redshirt
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I don't have a fear that I'll become less intelligent, but I do fear making boneheaded mistakes. Sure, it's possible that certain things might cause someone to become less intelligent. Even healthy people become less sharp once they get old. For the most part though, smart people don't become unintelligent. However, smart people often do dumb things. That's what worries me. I don't worry about losing a few IQ points. It's unlikely that I'll lose more than a few unless I deliberately try to damage my brain (beyond having a few drinks every now and then). A more legitimate worry for me is that I'll have one of those "How could I be so stupid?!" moments. It's a lot harder for dumb people to be brilliant than it is for brilliant people to be dumb.
SpaceYeti
Prolific Member
I'd say to lose the ego. Even if your IQ is 1000, there's going to be instances where your friend knows more about something than you do.
subdude
Redshirt
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That's a really good point. I have learned a lot over the years from people who were "dumber" than I am. A lot of times, people who are less intelligent still somehow manage to live more intelligently than the smarties of the world. Humility is one of the keys to being successful with the intelligence one has, IMHO.
snafupants
Prolific Member
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To save you the suspense, IQ does diminish slightly with age, especially in areas like fluid intelligence and short term memory, but in other important areas like crystallized intelligence it basically continues to grow thoughout the lifespan.
Comparison to peers, meh: they can think of me however they like. What matters to me is being able to comprehend privately and maintaining a curiosity about the world. As long as my IQ does not plummet due to some mentally devastating accident, whatever happens happens.
Whoever was complaining about the tap water, really? Tap water!?! Alcohol in excess is a valid concern, but water - presuming you are young - has not done that much damage to your brain if it is overseen by some half way responsible municipality and the plumbing is relatively recent. Water, have all the good topics already been bitched about?
Comparison to peers, meh: they can think of me however they like. What matters to me is being able to comprehend privately and maintaining a curiosity about the world. As long as my IQ does not plummet due to some mentally devastating accident, whatever happens happens.
Whoever was complaining about the tap water, really? Tap water!?! Alcohol in excess is a valid concern, but water - presuming you are young - has not done that much damage to your brain if it is overseen by some half way responsible municipality and the plumbing is relatively recent. Water, have all the good topics already been bitched about?
jean-paul phobia
Cure: analysis/awareness of the idea "smart". If that doesn't work, undergo conditioning.
I always find solutions within the simple feat of understanding them.
Jennywocky
Creepy Clown Chick
I kinda know that I'm smart, but I remember being in a stage of life where I couldn't stand that someone else might think that I was dumb... especially if I felt they weren't very smart and so their opinion of me was based on their inability to realize I was smart.
(Gee, that sounds so stupid when I say it like that!)
I just didn't like to feel misrepresented, and I think I also only felt secure with my intelligence (I felt very socially inept, not very desirable, kind of a no one), so all I had going for me was that I was smart. Eventually when I started doing more creative things, I had to wrestle with similar feelings there as well -- not wanting to share, lest someone decide I wasn't very creative at all.
I still can feel that way sometimes but typically do not live like it: (1) I trust that reasonable people can make a reasonable assessment of me, enough that I don't need to convince them of anything, and (2) I guess I just feel better about myself and don't need to be viewed as super-smart or super-creative in order to be okay with who I am. I think this is also part of aging; the longer you're around, the more some things WILL decline (the brain slows down in terms of raw speed), plus you're gonna meet a lot more people and some of them WILL be better than you at things, and you just better have your self-value defined by things that time or other people cannot impact.
In the last year or so, I've even found myself okay (and willing) to ask people for advice when I've felt out of sorts... even if it makes me look less smart. Usually I want to resolve things on my own and seem very independent and self-capable; but less and less of my identity is being wrapped up in that projection. I think I realized that part of relationship building demands that I allow others to contribute to me, so they feel invested in me, and it actually makes me seem more real and human, without degrading their opinion of my intelligence; the autonomy thing, I think, is one reason why many of us struggle with alienation, loneliness, and whatever else. Gotta find a balance.
(Gee, that sounds so stupid when I say it like that!)
I just didn't like to feel misrepresented, and I think I also only felt secure with my intelligence (I felt very socially inept, not very desirable, kind of a no one), so all I had going for me was that I was smart. Eventually when I started doing more creative things, I had to wrestle with similar feelings there as well -- not wanting to share, lest someone decide I wasn't very creative at all.
I still can feel that way sometimes but typically do not live like it: (1) I trust that reasonable people can make a reasonable assessment of me, enough that I don't need to convince them of anything, and (2) I guess I just feel better about myself and don't need to be viewed as super-smart or super-creative in order to be okay with who I am. I think this is also part of aging; the longer you're around, the more some things WILL decline (the brain slows down in terms of raw speed), plus you're gonna meet a lot more people and some of them WILL be better than you at things, and you just better have your self-value defined by things that time or other people cannot impact.
In the last year or so, I've even found myself okay (and willing) to ask people for advice when I've felt out of sorts... even if it makes me look less smart. Usually I want to resolve things on my own and seem very independent and self-capable; but less and less of my identity is being wrapped up in that projection. I think I realized that part of relationship building demands that I allow others to contribute to me, so they feel invested in me, and it actually makes me seem more real and human, without degrading their opinion of my intelligence; the autonomy thing, I think, is one reason why many of us struggle with alienation, loneliness, and whatever else. Gotta find a balance.
walfin
Democrazy
No, that's not what it's about. It's about intelligence, not knowledge.SpaceYeti said:
It feels very very scary (to me) to think about losing intelligence. To wonder what it would be like to feel it slipping away, if one can feel that. To wake up one morning frustrated because you're confused by what seemed perfectly clear and easy to understand the previous day, not because anything new has surfaced or because you suddenly saw that something wasn't as simple as it appeared but because you've simply lost your ability to understand things quickly. To lose the ability to make a witty retort simply because your brain was moving too slowly. To wonder if you would one day not even be able to think about losing intelligence anymore because you're too dumb to do so. And I could do nothing about it. If it was just a lack of knowledge, hard work could probably solve that.
It doesn't matter what others think. I don't know how many people think I am intelligent or I am stupid, but I just know that if I was intelligent, I wouldn't want to join the ranks of the stupid, and if I was stupid, I wouldn't want to lose what little I have.
I'm not sure if there is an English word for this, but I suppose one could say in Esperanto discerbfobio? Maybe discerebrophobia in English?
SpaceYeti
Prolific Member
Well, that is a scary thought, but worrying about it won't prevent it if it's going to happen anyhow.
CoryJames
Banned
http://wimp.com/incrediblebrain/
Speaking of intelligence and whatnot, I am inclined to wonder how the human brain works and why he can do this.
Speaking of intelligence and whatnot, I am inclined to wonder how the human brain works and why he can do this.
CoryJames
Banned
I feel like I'd have to draw a line between being really good at math and...that. I don't know if you watched the whole video but the shit gets pretty intense.