Survey reveals men's (over)confidence and areas where we're all above average

Are men irrationally confident or are women too humble?

Your answer likely hinges on your gender. Your confidence in how correct you are in that conclusion does so, too.

But one thing we can all agree on: We're not very good dancers.

According to a survey by the folks at YouGov, men are far more likely than women to think they're above-average in mechanical ability, sports and intelligence. And most other things, too, which is irrational.

For instance, the fact that 57% of men think they're above average in driving ability likely means that at least 17% of them are wrong (and maybe more).

That men are more confident than women that they're "above average" in most areas was a key takeaway from the YouGov survey. In what may be the definition of irony, a far higher percentage of men than women thought they were above average in self-awareness.

Similarly, 39% of men thought they were above average in persuasiveness compared to just 27% of women might reflect a failure to distinguish between "persuasion" and "getting my way."

The percentage of men who think they're above average is generally higher than the number of women who think that. When I saw the survey results, I asked Mrs. Brad and several female co-workers whether they thought the confidence gap between men and women was due to  overconfidence by men or underconfidence by women.

If you know women like I do (I'm above average in that, of course), you know the answer: The women were unanimous in thinking men were overconfident.

I suspect there are plenty of sociological reasons for that gap. Many women grew up being told about their limitations and being reminded that they don't quite measure up, while many men grow up being told they could do anything.

Also, men are terrible judges of themselves. I was a sports editor for decades and an almost uncountable number of men either told or implied to me that they were really good athletes, when my eyes told me they were average at best. We live in a world filled with Uncle Ricos (the character in "Napoleon Dynamite" who thought he was a great quarterback in high school, but just didn't get the chance).

The male confidence in being "above average" in things (more than half of men think they're above average in sense of humor, critical thinking, intelligence and even listening (!)). Full disclosure: A  disproportionate number of women think they're above average in areas including trustworthiness (81%) and loyalty (76%).

While we can make fun of the fact that there are areas where well more than half the people think they're above average, there are some areas where almost all of us think we're below average.

Most of us think we're below average in public speaking ability and artistic ability. Most of us think we're below average in sexual ability and charisma.

And the areas in which the smallest percentage of us think we're above average? Running and dancing. Not at the same time (dancing "The Running Man" must be horrible), but separately.

A reminder: In many areas, most of us think we're above average and in others, most of us think we're below average.

For the former, we're  like the residents in Garrison Keillor's "Lake Wobegon," which is described as a place, "where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average."

Except when they dance or run.

Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@outlook.com.