Most children and parents consider academic results the most important factor in assessing intelligence, a survey revealed.
About 2,000 Primary Four to Six pupils aged nine to 12 were interviewed about their views towards themselves and their intelligence.
More than 70 per cent classified themselves as average to clever, among them five per cent rated themselves 'very smart'.
Within the 26 per cent who perceived themselves as 'unintelligent', half thought they were 'useless losers', while the rest said they lacked confidence.
Seventy-four per cent of respondents believed teachers thought class performance most important when examining intelligence.
About 64 per cent thought their parents assessed their intelligence by school work.
The questions were based on the idea of 'multiple intelligence' first mooted by Professor Howard Gardner of Harvard University in 1983.