Comments on: Smart people are especially prone to stupid mistakes

By: Zercov Badinoff

Zercov Badinoff — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 19:12:00 +0000

Was surprised when I saw Lawrence Lessig reference this article. To talk about intelligence - “smart people” – without taking into account personality types doesn’t make sense to me. For example, I’m an INTJ personality type – best characterized by the saying “know what you don’t know”. I tend to question my perspective more than I question others. I’d guess that there are many smart people who are also INTJ personality types.

By: jhertzli

jhertzli — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 04:02:00 +0000

Two questions:

1) What are the cognitive biases of psychologists investigating cognitive biases?

2) Does Diesel have anything to do with this?

By: George Herbert

George Herbert — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 00:45:00 +0000

I haven’t read the book, I have read the New Yorker piece. It seemed to discount the ability of (at least some) smart people to listen to feedback and consider and correct their own biases. Others above have made the same observation / response.

I agree with the “This argument can be used to say ‘I don’t have to listen to you because of cognitive bias’” comments above as well.

The hardest part is balancing being aware of cognitive biases and blind spots and information gaps, and still being aware and decisive enough to be very effective (at work, in life, etc). Plenty of people use this all as an excuse to either just block out awareness of their own limitations or become incredibly indecisive. Neither of those works.

By: loroferoz

loroferoz — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 00:24:00 +0000

To me it seems that the conclusion can be applied to about any human ability. If we are sure of our abilities we tend to rely on them instead of on the tools which can prevent errors and accidents. As these tools have a long history and a lot of (tried) thinking behind, their use can actually make you smarter.

Persons that regard themselves as physically strong and have not had a real accident are much more likely than the “weaklings” to try to do things with their own hands and injure themselves. The weaklings might have after all an incentive to find the right tools or to divide up the job in a reasonable manner, that is to think about what exactly they are doing and how before they actually do it.

There are tools to aid human reasoning and there is knowledge of human reasoning and it’s possible failings going back thousands of years, now strengthened by empirical science. No matter how smart you are, you forgo them at your own risk.

By: Ito Kagehisa

Ito Kagehisa — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 00:07:00 +0000

Be careful! I’ve noticed that most people lie about their opinions when they’re talking to stupid people about their intelligence.

By: vartists

vartists — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 21:36:00 +0000

I believe the most important discoveries were “stupid mistakes” rather than planned calculated, so it’s all good. Besides smart / stupid what is that? How do we measure it? I agree with this delightful BBC documentary on stupidity, this is no simple question to answer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDsnCrSfzCQ

By: Teller

Teller — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 20:31:00 +0000

Magicians claim the more educated the observers, the easier they are to trick.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 19:40:00 +0000

If you can see most of the probable outcomes in any given situation, you need a wee nip to take the edge off.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 19:36:00 +0000

Impressive.

By: Red Pill Junkie

Red Pill Junkie — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 19:07:00 +0000

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/16/Christopher_Hitchens_crop_2.jpg/220px-Christopher_Hitchens_crop_2.jpg

By: blueelm

blueelm — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 18:57:00 +0000

“I don’t have to listen to you because cognitive bias” is cognitive bias.

By: dgeos

dgeos — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 17:08:00 +0000

Both this article and the one yesterday about meritocracies confuse intelligence with arrogance (“…the competitively educated people at the top believe (incorrectly) that they don’t need to have their intuitions reviewed by lesser mortals”)

The key is not to fail to reward merit, but to have the courage to stand up to the arrogance of others, more intelligent or otherwise.

By: asterios9

asterios9 — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 16:54:00 +0000

What bothers me about the recent interest in cognitive biases is how I’ve seen some people use it to simply wave away rationality and discourse – to say, in effect, “people like you aren’t as smart as you think you are, so you should shut up. The end.” You could easily apply such an argument to, say, climate change, or anything that people want to actually argue about.

The thing is that discourse is obviously the antidote to cognitive bias. If the rationale behind an argument is faulty, you have the power to get in there and show it. To throw up your hands and say “I don’t have to listen to you because cognitive bias” is meaningless.

By: miasm

miasm — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 16:08:00 +0000

Luckily, I’m the type of person who doesn’t make mistakes.

By: inkfumes

inkfumes — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 16:05:00 +0000

I am so smart! I am so smart! ESS EMM AY TEE! I mean ESS EMM AY ARR TEE!

By: blueelm

blueelm — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 15:50:00 +0000

This is so true. What I take away from this is standardized tests aren’t good measures of actual intelligence, and getting into a great school doesn’t mean you’re that smart or particularly useful–but you may still be neurotic.

By: pipenta

pipenta — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 15:14:00 +0000

And why the majority of the people behind the wheel figure they are better than average drivers.

By: pipenta

pipenta — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 15:07:00 +0000

Working on a beach profile for an introductory oceanography class, I learned an important lesson. I made a simple mathematical error and the professor chuckled and pointed it out to me. “Your calculations show the water was fourteen feet deep. But you were standing up to your chest holding the stadia stick. How tall ARE you?”

The take home lesson? Always double check your answers to be sure they make sense!

By: llamaspit

llamaspit — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Is there a 4th category (where I think I fit) which includes all 3 of yours at various times and in various subjects?

By: BonzoDog1

BonzoDog1 — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 14:19:00 +0000

The “best and the brightest” who worked for LBJ and the neocons who worked for GWB both managed to launch and wage catastrophic wars, in large part because of blindness of the history of the peoples and the regions in which they were fought.
As for SATs, I always thought they only measured how good a guesser you are.

By: Val A Lindsay

Val A Lindsay — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 13:54:00 +0000

Yup. The assumption is based on the collected opinions of people I consider to be modestly intelligent in turn, so there is that…

By: snagglepuss

snagglepuss — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 13:12:00 +0000

That’s what I like about Dunning – Kruger: It’s FAIR.

So fair that it makes room for EVERYBODY.

By: Bear Naff

Bear Naff — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 12:55:00 +0000

I’m not sure it does – if you have a prejudicial goal outside of the research. These pieces combine into a perfect one-two punch if you’ve got an engineer in your life who has opinions on things that you need to shut up now.

By: Alasdair MacLean

Alasdair MacLean — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 11:53:00 +0000

Well, I don’t know if it makes me smart or stupid, but this book was one of the most boring and badly written books I’ve read in years. Basically a shopping list of dozens of different studies, and little in the way of significant revelation bubbling up from them all. Tried twice but could not manage to finish it…..

By: druidbros

druidbros — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 11:39:00 +0000

I dont know how many others actually have this book but I am currently reading it. Its very good and I think the conclusions some folks have made here are too simplistic. Read it then you can judge. Its a perfect example of those who make snap judgements without having all the information easily available to them.

By: squeeziecat

squeeziecat — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 11:24:00 +0000

smart people drink more: http://theweek.com/article/index/208561/why-do-smart-kids-grow-up-to-be-heavier-drinkers

By: dioptase

dioptase — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 11:05:00 +0000

I’m paid to help a Chinese company create new products. It’s full of bright people who are great at copying other products. But they struggle at coming up with something new. It’s a struggle to get them to stop saying “Company X does this.”

It was an epiphany when I figured out what they problem is. They don’t know how to fail. Making a mistake is a foreign concept. So I’m spending quite a bit of time showing them how to go out on a limb no one else has, fall off, pick themselves up, and do it again. And again.

You would think going out on a limb would be the hardest part. Nope. It’s realizing that the limb broke and they are flat on their back.

The only thing I can think is it must be a byproduct of the education system. Every problem has a textbook solution. Never question the solution, because that would mean the textbook was wrong. Nevermind they grabbed the wrong textbook and misapplied it.

Bright people making dumb mistakes and never questioning it.

By: NelC

NelC — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 10:54:00 +0000

Thank you for demonstrating the thesis of the post so adeptly.

By: dioptase

dioptase — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 10:36:00 +0000

Of course, your assumption could be wrong.

By: Dave Nullstein

Dave Nullstein — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 10:26:00 +0000

The book is more nuanced but is rather tediously aimed at the business management crowd. I made it about 3/4 through and skimmed the rest.
Parts of it were very interesting.