Thought experiment - where do you lie?

I want to give this a try and see where it goes. Einstein was famous for presenting his ideas on special/ general relativity using thought experiments. Anyway here we go!

So much talk about alpha this, and alpha that, I want to see where you all think you lie in that spectrum. Use a simple rating scale 1-10, and guess based on personality and where you are right now. 1 is a complete wimp who lets people walk all over them, and 10 is that dude at the college bar with a ton of friends and a new chick every time you go out. Since the poll is anonymous, don't feel the need to lie and exaggerate..no one is judging you.

I'd love to get 100 results for this, but am not holding my breath. These kind of polls at first appear juvenile, so mods please let this one slide

the fact that you define alpha as "that dude at the college bar with a ton of friends and a new chick every time you go out" is what is wrong with this forum.

backbreaker said:

the fact that you define alpha as "that dude at the college bar with a ton of friends and a new chick every time you go out" is what is wrong with this forum.

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lighten up francais, it was an example.

Keep the votes coming. need a good sample set here...

I'm not sure how useful this will be. Even if everyone is being honest, everyone tends to have an exaggerated sense of their own best qualities. People do the same with looks. They think they are better looking than they are in reality.

speakeasy said:

I'm not sure how useful this will be. Even if everyone is being honest, everyone tends to have an exaggerated sense of their own best qualities. People do the same with looks. They think they are better looking than they are in reality.

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Anything that satisfies a sense of curiosity need not necessarily be 'useful'. This forum brings together a vary diverse group of people so its always interesting to see where everyone stands.

I'll justify why I put myself where I did. I put myself just above average at a 6. yes, its rather arbitrary, but I understand that I am not really much of a fan of 'leadership' roles...but they seem to fall into my lap year in and year out.

Just the other day, a friend from college shoots me a text asking if we had a pickup game of hockey on campus we could go to. For one thing, that tradition started dying out once I left campus and is all but a memory. It made me reminisce a bit and remind me of when I started that and kept up the group organizations for years upon years. As I said, I hate leadership roles, but I was the guy knocking on peoples doors, keeping people interested and recruiting new people to play. Ironically I look back and miss it all!

I find myself in the same situation now. I am liaison to an entire university with our project, and will be pretty much dictating what initiatives we need to take from here on out. Most people work desk jobs for a boss....I am the boss. That defiantly puts me one notch above the norm at this stage of the game.

Again, I am at the point in my life where I am cognizant of who I am. I am not the big bad leader of the pack, but I take pretty hard core efforts at embracing important initiatives and crushing them ( like Conan crushes his enemies) . If there is a godfather of a group, I liken myself more towards a consigliare of sorts.

/steps off podium

backbreaker said:

the fact that you define alpha as "that dude at the college bar with a ton of friends and a new chick every time you go out" is what is wrong with this forum.

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Yeah, I thought so too. You said: "1 is a complete wimp who lets people walk all over them". I'm very quiet and reserved and am the last person to be hanging out at a college bar with lots of friends, but trying to walk all over me would be imprudent. It seems like you're trying to combine 2 different things into 1 poll; social skills and assertiveness, but it doesn't always work that way.

Kerpal said:

Yeah, I thought so too. You said: "1 is a complete wimp who lets people walk all over them". I'm very quiet and reserved and am the last person to be hanging out at a college bar with lots of friends, but trying to walk all over me would be imprudent. It seems like you're trying to combine 2 different things into 1 poll; social skills and assertiveness, but it doesn't always work that way.

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It's a general feel. If you are very assertive, but not very social, then you've have to adjust your rating to compensate for it.

I gave myself a 7. I have the mindset and attitude of a leader and lady's man to a tee, yet I don't have enough experience under my belt to justify a higher score since I'm still a young buck. I think this is a very important factor in how you rate yourself - experience in dealing with all types of social situations.

Kerpal said:

Yeah, I thought so too. You said: "1 is a complete wimp who lets people walk all over them". I'm very quiet and reserved and am the last person to be hanging out at a college bar with lots of friends, but trying to walk all over me would be imprudent. It seems like you're trying to combine 2 different things into 1 poll; social skills and assertiveness, but it doesn't always work that way.

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I guess I should have been more clear in that regard as it is open to interpretation as stated in the OP. The idea is this...are you the top dog or not?

only at ~20 votes, and am still hoping for 100 or so. keep em comin!

I put 9 because for my age, I'm surrounded mostly by lazy dumbsh*ts who carry around too much pride. It's not that I'm awesome, its just that people around me suck. I consider myself average.

Alle_Gory said:

I put 9 because for my age, I'm surrounded mostly by lazy dumbsh*ts who carry around too much pride. It's not that I'm awesome, its just that people around me suck. I consider myself average.

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Valid point my man as there is no true 'baseline' for this poll. A nerd who is at the top of the social ladder in a crew that plays dungeons and dragons likely won't be at the top of the social ladder with the football team. again, try and assume 5 is about the norm for everyday society.

I have been reading the Selfish Gene and read the section about hawks and doves. The idea is that natural equilibrium exists only if a certain number of aggressors AND pacifists exist . Someone who is like a hawk will always fight and someone who is like a dove will go away and suffer no injuries. When too many hawks start killing each other, the doves disseminate into that situation quite easily ( the smaller number have a disproportionally large payoff), while if there are too many doves, it only takes one hawk to start spreading also due to a large payoff. In a simple system, we see that the optimal payoff is when both coexist.

Could this be the same for the so called 'alpha's and 'betas'? In a system with all alpha males, how could a beta male permiate the system and thrive? Would it be because all the top echelon males are making **** so hard for them that the beta is able to waltz in and do whatever they needed to? The opposite scenario is pretty obvious so I won't even bring that one up. The scenario starts getting interesting when you throw asymmetry in - the beta can fiercely defend themselves, and the payoffs become much more complex.

Amazing what reading does for the mind. Brings up more questions than it answers...

By definition, there have to be many more betas than alphas.

Kerpal said:

Yeah, I thought so too. You said: "1 is a complete wimp who lets people walk all over them". I'm very quiet and reserved and am the last person to be hanging out at a college bar with lots of friends, but trying to walk all over me would be imprudent. It seems like you're trying to combine 2 different things into 1 poll; social skills and assertiveness, but it doesn't always work that way.

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couldnt' have said it better myself

I'd like to get some more votes for this old poll. Shamelessly bumping hoping for more data points!

I think the idea of 'alpha' is too black and white. Same as people ask if you are a leader or a follower, when some people are just lone wolves. Alpha also depends on the situation, amongst a club, I am probably a lot more alpha, than I am in a work environment. And if your skillset is higher than most, you are probably more likely to be 'alpha' than in a situation where your skillset is lower i.e. on a sports pitch, many captains aren't necessarily the best leaders, but the best players, or longest serving players.

Gaucho said:

I think the idea of 'alpha' is too black and white. Same as people ask if you are a leader or a follower, when some people are just lone wolves. Alpha also depends on the situation, amongst a club, I am probably a lot more alpha, than I am in a work environment. And if your skillset is higher than most, you are probably more likely to be 'alpha' than in a situation where your skillset is lower i.e. on a sports pitch, many captains aren't necessarily the best leaders, but the best players, or longest serving players.

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agreed whole hardheartedly. This was supposed to get an idea on the spectrum where people think they lie. Assigning a number is kind of arbitrary, but this is more of an exercise of perception than reality. 5 means you are about normal, 10 means you are usually the best, and 1 means that you are always at the bottom. Obviously one wouldn't expect anyone to be the extremes.

Just go with it, still trying to 100

People are inherently narcissistic I believe, so the majority of votes are going to be 5 or higher. Its the same as most people think they are above average IQ, above average athletacism yadda yadda, impossible for the majority to be above average.

Gave myself a 7 because I can be inconsistent.

Subtract 2 from everyone else for an accurate reading.

Gaucho said:

People are inherently narcissistic I believe, so the majority of votes are going to be 5 or higher. Its the same as most people think they are above average IQ, above average athletacism yadda yadda, impossible for the majority to be above average.

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Its funny how average carries with it a negative connotation. In regards to intellect, I think one can get a good gauge on that by observing TV watching habits. What kind of shows do you watch? The average kind ( Jersey shore etc) appeal to those on the average side of things. What kind of news do you read? Celebrity gossip? Same story. Do you like to read up on physics, business, finance, and things like that? I'd say the innate curiosity puts you above the norm..

How about being average with women? Do we associate average with the AFC? Or do we associate average with a guy who has a girlfriend? In the case of the girlfriend, those of the posters who post about getting a gf and who can not are clearly below the norm - yet they probably voted higher?

I would contend that many folks here are above average intellect. People who post here are introspective of their situation and are actively seeking to change it. This is more than you can say for most people who are comfortable doing the same thing day in and day out. I would also insist that many people here have a below average ability to attract women otherwise we would not be here! I include myself in this group even though I can get women these days and everything seems to *think* I am good at it.

Hopefully we get a few more votes.

I would contend that many folks here are above average intellect.

If the median IQ is 100 for the general population, I bet it is 110-115 for any Internet forum. As a statistical sample, all of the people here got screened in a number of ways. They have a computer or smart phone with an Internet connection; they can usually form somewhat coherent sentences; and they are choosing to interact with people in a written form. All of those things screen out the people who have very low IQs, say in the 60-80 range, and the median ends up being much higher than that of the overall population.

synergy1 said:

Its funny how average carries with it a negative connotation. In regards to intellect, I think one can get a good gauge on that by observing TV watching habits. What kind of shows do you watch? The average kind ( Jersey shore etc) appeal to those on the average side of things. What kind of news do you read? Celebrity gossip? Same story. Do you like to read up on physics, business, finance, and things like that? I'd say the innate curiosity puts you above the norm..

How about being average with women? Do we associate average with the AFC? Or do we associate average with a guy who has a girlfriend? In the case of the girlfriend, those of the posters who post about getting a gf and who can not are clearly below the norm - yet they probably voted higher?

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I disagree on TV shows, I watch a lot of junk because I use TV as a time for my brain to space out. Last thing I want to watch is something I have to concentrate, when I spend all day doing that. I read a lot more about physics, finance etc because of innate curiosity, but not so when it comes to TV.

Curiosity or hard work can also put you above the norm when it comes to information, which is why IQ doesn't come close to telling the entire story. Some people have high IQ but have no personal drive or no ability to multi-task, or no ability to co-ordinate other people and the list goes on and on. I also find a lot of people with too higher IQ end up with analysis paralysis (they can't make tough decisions) and they never let the dust settle (they are always jumping from one thing to another, working out this or working out that, but never see the big picture a lot of the time and give things time to come together).

AFC to me is someone who is walked over by woman. This can either be as a single male or in a relationship. I've been in a relationship for 7 years, but I'm very happy to be there, I've done my time picking up chicks and I'm well and truly past that stage of my life. Others go vice-versa and settle down younger and then end up breaking up and chasing tail. Chasing tail or being in a relationship doesn't define somebody, it's how they feel and act during that time of their life.

The world is definately far from black or white and most things, there are just no answers for IMHO, most comes down to personal interpretation.