It's not really surprising that people's intelligence seems to be rarely overestimated, though, is it? Smartness is impossible to fake, but you can fake stupidity.
In a hypothetical world where social skills (presentation) and IQ are inversely correlated, where you don't know they are inversely correlated, and where you spend most of your time interacting with people in the 140+ IQ range, a person with a 120 IQ could come along and impress you to such a great extent that you immediately hypothesize that their IQ is in the 160+ range, until you see something of substance.
If intelligence is underestimated in some, and talking to someone leads you to believe you can estimate... (read more)
In a hypothetical world where social skills (presentation) and IQ are inversely correlated, where you don't know they are inversely correlated, and where you spend most of your time interacting with people in the 140+ IQ range, a person with a 120 IQ could come along and impress you to such a great extent that you immediately hypothesize that their IQ is in the 160+ range, until you see something of substance.
If intelligence is underestimated in some, and talking to someone leads you to believe you can estimate... (read more)