Why smart people can be so stupid / edited by Robert J. Sternberg.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Sternberg, Robert J.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Intellect.

Stupidity.

Errors--Psychological aspects.

Errors.

Conduct of life.

Physical Description:

ix, 254 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, [2002]

Summary:

One need not look far to find breathtaking acts of stupidity committed by people who are smart, even brilliant. The behavior of smart individuals -- from presidents to prosecutors to professors -- is at times inexplicably stupid. Why do otherwise intelligent people think and behave so stupidly that they sometimes destroy their livelihoods or even their lives?

This book is the first devoted to investigating what the most current psychological research tells us about stupidity in everyday life. The contributors to the volume, renowned scholars in various areas of human intelligence, present fascinating examples of people sabotaging their own success, and they offer insights into the reasons for such behavior.

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, drawing from the full range of theory and research on stupid behavior to help us understand how people can avoid stupidity and its devastating consequences.

Contents:

1 Why and When Are Smart People Stupid? / Ray Hyman 1

2 Beliefs That Make Smart People Dumb / Carol S. Dweck 24

3 Smart People Doing Dumb Things: The Case of Managerial Incompetence / Richard K. Wagner 42

4 The Engine of Folly / David N. Perkins 64

5 When Smart People Behave Stupidly: Reconciling Inconsistencies in Social-Emotional Intelligence / Ozlem Ayduk, Walter Mischel 86

6 Sex, Lies, and Audiotapes: The Clinton-Lewinsky Scandal / Diane F. Halpern 106

7 Rationality, Intelligence, and Levels of Analysis in Cognitive Science: Is Dysrationalia Possible? / Keith E. Stanovich 124

8 Smart Is as Stupid Does: Exploring Bases of Erroneous Reasoning of Smart People Regarding Learning and Other Disabilities / Elena L. Grigorenko, Donna Lockery 159

9 Personality Dispositions / Elizabeth J. Austin, Ian J. Deary 187

10 When "Stupid" Is Smarter Than We Are: Mindlessness and the Attribution of Stupidity / Mihnea Moldoveanu, Ellen Langer 212

11 Smart People Are Not Stupid, But They Sure Can Be Foolish: The Imbalance Theory of Foolishness / Robert J. Sternberg 232.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0300090331

OCLC:

48098337