From: Eugen Leitl (eugen@leitl.org)
Date: Wed Jan 08 2003 - 12:48:34 MST
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 8 Jan 2003 13:33:57 -0600
From: Ian Pitchford <ian.pitchford@scientist.com>
To: evolutionary-psychology@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [evol-psych] Why Smart People Can Be So Stupid
Metapsychology
Why Smart People Can Be So Stupid
by Robert J. Sternberg (Editor)
Yale University Press, 2002
Review by Keith S. Harris, Ph.D. on Jan 1st 2003
We all know of people like that. They are educated, intelligent, sophisticated,
verbal and very often successful. They run companies, run for office, teach in
major universities, and receive coveted awards for competence in their chosen
fields: People that, once in a while, without reasonable explanation, do stupid
things - - sometimes very stupid things.
This collection of eleven loosely connected chapters provides a good foundation
from which to launch an inquiry into why smart people commit serious goofs, and
yet leaves plenty of room for the reader to continue with her or his own
speculations.
The authors, distinguished academics, are all well respected in their areas of
specialization. The list of contributors includes Prof. Robert Sternberg, the
current President of the American Psychological Association (for 2003) and a
frequently published researcher in the area of intelligence, and Prof. Walter
Mischel, with whose work every psychology student is familiar.
Full text
http://mentalhelp.net/books/books.php?type=de&id=1487
WHY SMART PEOPLE CAN BE SO STUPID
Edited by Robert J. Sternberg
2002 Anthropology
272 pp. 2 illus., 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Cloth ISBN 0-300-09033-1 $29.95
AMAZON - US
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0300090331/darwinanddarwini
AMAZON - UK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0300090331/humannaturecom
One need not look far to find breathtaking acts of stupidity committed by
people who are smart, or even brilliant. The behavior of smart
individuals--from presidents to prosecutors to professors--is at times so
amazingly stupid as to seem inexplicable. Why do otherwise intelligent people
think and behave in ways so stupid that they sometimes destroy their
livelihoods or even their lives?
This book is the first devoted to investigating what the most current
psychological research can tell us about stupidity in everyday life. The
contributors to the volume, renowned scholars in various areas of human
intelligence, present fascinating examples of people messing up their lives,
and they offer insights into the reasons for such behavior. From a variety of
perspectives, the contributors discuss
The nature and theory of stupidity
How stupidity contributes to stupid behavior
Whether stupidity is measurable
While many millions of dollars are spent each year on intelligence research and
testing to determine who has the ability to succeed, next to nothing is spent
to determine who will make use of their intelligence and not squander it by
behaving stupidly. Why Smart People Can Be So Stupid focuses on the neglected
side of this discussion, reviewing the full range of theory and research on
stupid behavior and analyzing what it tells us about how people can avoid
stupidity and its devastating consequences.
Robert J. Sternberg is IBM Professor of Psychology and Education, and director
of PACE, the Center for the Psychology of Abilities, Competencies, and
Expertise at Yale University. He is the author or editor of some sixty books
and a widely known expert on intelligence testing.
Why do intelligent people sometimes behave in ways so stupid that they destroy
their livelihoods or even their lives? This book is the first to investigate
the psychological basis for stupidity in everyday life. Experts shed light on
the nature and theory of stupidity, whether stupidity is measurable, how people
can avoid stupidity and its devastating consequences, and much more.
This original book gathers together the best thinking and research on what
causes smart people to do foolish things. A highly original work with an
exceptional list of contributors.î--Martin Ford, Graduate School of Education,
George Mason University
Why Smart People Can Be So Stupid offers serious answers to a neglected
conundrum, one with ramifications for understanding the very nature of
intelligence itself. As always, Robert Sternberg takes on important issues in a
creative way, and has gathered a strong band of contributors, each of whom
offers an insightful analysis. A rewarding read.î--Daniel Goleman, Ph.D.,
author of Emotional Intelligence
One way to generate interesting, new research ideas in science is to take an
old idea and turn it on its head (as Yale social psychologist, William McGuire
once said, ëthe opposite of a great truth is also a great truthí). In this
volume, Bob Sternberg and the experts he has assembled attempt to understand
the psychological basis of narrow models of intelligence. Foolishness runs
rampant--from the schoolroom to the boardroom to the bedroom--in part because
we are afforded insufficient practice to hone our practical, emotional, and
social competencies, what Jack Mayer and I like to call our ëhot
intelligences.í By revealing the many ways in which smart people behave
maladaptively and the social conditions that give rise to such bungling, the
contributors to this volume stimulate new directions for theory, research, and
practice with respect to human intelligence.î--Peter Salovey, Chris Argyris
Professor and Chair of Psychology, Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health,
Yale University
This bookís intent is something that academia needs. Intelligence may be
something of a cult, but stupidity only receives cursory treatment. . . .
Precisely because the state of being dumb has no analogue to being smart, Why
Smart People Can Be So Stupid provides valuable insight into a subject that
eludes, but intrigues as well.î--James A. Crawford, The Harvard Crimson
News in Brain and Behavioural Sciences - Issue 81 - 14th December, 2002
http://human-nature.com/nibbs/issue81.html
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