Walking Disaster Areas, or, Smart != Reasonable

[Beleth]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18826900/

"[S]mart people don't automatically make good decisions," said Eric Johnson, a professor at the Columbia Business School, who was not involved in the study.If reasoning is a distinct skill, then a big question is whether it can be taught. Bruine de Bruin hopes to answer this question by teaching people better reasoning skills and following them over time to see how their lives change.


This explains a great deal about a friend of mine...

[scotth]

Smart people tend to be more likely to uncover some of the proper reasoning skills without being taught, but it is far from gauranteed.

Smart people are possibly better able to apply proper reasoning skills once taught.

That people (of all stripes) should be taught reasoning (another name for critical thinking) skills should not be surprise to anyone who frequents this forum. These are the tools to make any mind more powerful.

[Moochie]

What makes a person "smart"? Compared to what? Isn't it just a word we use to hide from ourselves the festering stupidity that might be there?

M.

[Fnord]

It's easy to make a reasoned and informed decision - one that will provide ongoing benefits to one's life for a long time to come. Just ask yourself these few questions:

1) Which need is greatest? (We're talking "Necessities of Life" here, not a mere craving.)
2) Which option meets that need with the greatest efficiency, the greatest effectivenenss, and the for the longest period of time?
3) Will meeting this need with this option require the immediate resolution of another need, or will it help to diminish the importance of any other need?

Of course, a flood of emotion-based desire will usually drown out a reasoned decision, as any parent with both a migraine and a crying three-year old will attest.

Also, one person's reason is another person's folly; ask any two opposing candidates for an elected office.

Send in the nit-pickers!

[Slimething]

What makes a person "smart"? Compared to what? Isn't it just a word we use to hide from ourselves the festering stupidity that might be there?

Agree. Will Rogers once said that "An ignoramus is someone who doesn't know what you just found out."

Sometimes, when I'm fatigued or in a hurry, I'll do something the stupid way only to realize it later. Of course, that gives me a grand opportunity to laugh at the imbecile in the mirror. "What an ultramaroon!" (That one's from Bugs Bunny.)

[Moochie]

Agree. Will Rogers once said that "An ignoramus is someone who doesn't know what you just found out."

Sometimes, when I'm fatigued or in a hurry, I'll do something the stupid way only to realize it later. Of course, that gives me a grand opportunity to laugh at the imbecile in the mirror. "What an ultramaroon!" (That one's from Bugs Bunny.)


How spooky! I just finished watching a Salute To Bugs Bunny -- a feature-length program made back in 1990 showing some of the early cartoons and the folks who made them. Great show! :)

M.

[my_wan]

What makes a person "smart"? Compared to what? Isn't it just a word we use to hide from ourselves the festering stupidity that might be there?

M.

In a quote from the referenced article;

Many people are affected by the way that information is framed, marketed or spun, as in advertisements, thereby exhibiting poor decision-making skills, says Wändi Bruine de Bruin. But people with strong reasoning skills make the same choices no matter how information is presented to them.


This seems to me to be one of the best indicators of intelligence that is independent of knowledge. Something that many IQ test can't really determine except by peer weighting it. I would like to see the results of some of those planned studies. I would also like to see how it correlates with other forms of intelligence.