> It reports that, in a large national survey, 65 percent of Americans expressed the belief that they are smarter than a typical person.

...

> Looking at education level, 73 percent of people with college degrees asserted they were more intelligent than average.

> “Given that the average college graduate has an IQ of approximately 13 to 15 points above the population mean,” the researchers write, “college graduates in our sample actually slightly underestimated their relative intelligence,”

Is it really that shocking of a result that 15% of people below average intelligence would overestimate their ability? However, as the research you linked points out the ones most likely to underestimate are college graduates. Which includes the American CS graduates we're talking about in this thread.

Maybe, just maybe! It could be the American CS Grads we're being told are "overestimating" their skills are actually underestimating them. As this research implies.

I won't bother wasting a lot of words on how people perceive americans, nor about how obviously not all americans are "trump & co."

Hopefully, I'm not overestimating my reading comprehension ;-)

> Hopefully, I'm not overestimating my reading comprehension ;-)

I am afraid you have :-) Where did you get your 15%? It is actually 65% of the population that overestimates itself.

If you wanted to talk actual numbers you would have read the study referred to in the article. Here it is; 65% of Americans believe they are above average in intelligence: Results of two nationally representative surveys - https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal... In particular; read carefully the section "Education: Are beliefs calibrated?" since that clarifies your misunderstanding.

Like all statistical studies there can be discussions on sampling/methodology/distributions/etc. but the overall conclusion seems definite viz. last para;

Despite these limitations, we conclude that Americans’ self-flattering beliefs about intelligence are alive and well several decades after their discovery was first reported. Our results update the textbook phenomenon of intelligence overconfidence by (1) replicating the effect using large, representative, contemporary samples and two distinct survey methods, (2) demonstrating a degree of calibration across levels of education, and (3) showing moderation based on sex and age. The endurance of the smarter-than-average effect is consistent with the possibility that a tendency to overrate one’s own abilities is a stable feature of human psychology.

And i might add, more pronounced in the American Culture than others. For more understanding on this see Richard Nisbett's The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently...and Why - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Geography_of_Thought