The Intelligence Trap: Revolutionise your Thinking and Make Wiser Decisions

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I would have to say because of all the examples and stories, this book made it fun to read. While reading this book, you will realize, this book is actually making you smarter while you are enjoying this wonderful read. We assume that smarter people are less prone to error. But greater education and expertise can often amplify our mistakes while rendering us blind to our biases. This is the 'intelligence trap'.

Our HR Department has given this book to me as a participant of a workshop meant for senior management. I can vouchsafe that most of the participants must have shelved it, which is rather unfortunate as this book is an eye-opener on how our knowledge and experience may, in effect, blinker our visions and damages our ability as economic policy makers. Somebody in our HRD has done a great job in selecting this book so that "meaningful conversations" can be aided. We can get much much more from our teams and joining the minds in the proper way and leverage the brain power in our institution. The unconscious tendency to apply our brainpower only when the conclusions will suit our predetermined goal. It may include the confirmation or myside bias (preferentially seeking and remembering information that suits our goal) and discomfirmation bias (the tendency to be especially sceptical about evidence that does not fit our goal). In politics, for instance, we are far more likely to critique evidence concerning an issue such as climate change if it does not fit with our existing worldview. It is difficult to overestimate the influence of this work, but none of the early studies by Kahneman and Tversky had tested whether our irrationality varies from person to person. Are some people more susceptible to these biases, while others are immune, for instance? And how do those tendencies relate to our general intelligence? Conan Doyle’s story is surprising because we intuitively expect more intelligent people, with their greater analytical minds, to act more rationally—but as Tversky and Kahneman had shown, our intuitions can be deceptive. A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking. Here are my favourite take aways from reading, The Intelligence Trap: Why Smart People Make Dumb Mistakes by David Robson:

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And so they returned to the Ambassador Hotel, closed the curtains, and waited for inspiration to strike. Jean sat in a kind of trance with a pencil in one hand as the men sat by and watched. The belief that intelligence and talent are innate, and exerting effort is a sign of weakness. Besides limiting our ability to learn, this attitude also seems to make us generally more closed-minded and intellectually arrogant.” The final stage of expertise, when we can pause and analyse our gut feelings, basing our decisions on both intuition and analysis. See also Mindfulness. After disappointing results in the Euro 2012 championships, the coach, Louis van Gaal, reassembled the team — reducing the percentage of ‘top talent’ from 73 percent to 43 percent. It was an extraordinary move, but it seems that he had judged the dynamics correctly: as Galinsky and his co-authors point out in their paper, the Netherlands did not lose a single game in the qualifying rounds of the 2014 World Cup. This same polarization can be seen on many other charged issues, such as stem cell research or evolution and creationism, with more educated individuals applying their brainpower to protect their existing opinions, even when they disagree with the scientific consensus. It could also be observed in beliefs about certain political conspiracy theories. When it comes to certain tightly held beliefs, higher intelligence and knowledge is a tool for propaganda rather than truth seeking, amplifying our errors.

When you form you opinion, it will include more points of view to help you make a more balanced decision. The downside of many of these books is that while the subject is extremely interesting, the text often has the ability to put me to sleep. Fortunately, Mr. Robson is an able author and keeps the discussion on individual topics short and memorable with current anecdotes adding spice to the story. Maybe David Robson's dismissal of the paranormal is a rare 'bias blind spot'*. Perhaps he would counter that my arguments are examples of 'motivated reasoning'*, with I found presented research and examples of biased thinking to be very interesting and convincing. The chapter about interpretation of "fake news" should be a mandatory read for everyone.Burvīga grāmata ar daudz un ļoti dažādiem piemēriem kā inteliģenti cilvēki savu zināšanu dēļ iekrīt nepareizos lēmumos un pat veic prātam neaptveramas izvēles. For those who are new to these psychological-terms-concept-world thingies, this book is a great starter. I learned a lot of fascinating psychological theories. carefully selected evidence and rationalisation. Such is the stimulation of psychodynamic disagreement.