Why clever people make stupid decisions

摘要

Making the right decision is difficult, not least because our brains have many inbuilt biases that lead us to behave in ways that defy logic and good sense. In this extract from the New Scientist book, The Brain: A user's guide, we look at why that is and some of the most common cognitive biases to avoid. HOW intelligent are you? When it comes to making good decisions, it doesn't matter, because even the brightest people can do ridiculous things. Clever people act foolishly because intelligence is not the same thing as our capacity for rational thinking - and that's what matters when it comes to making good decisions. IQtests, designed to measure general intelligence, are very good at measuring certain cognitive abilities, such as logic and abstract reasoning. But they fail when it comes to measuring those abilities crucial to making good judgements in real life. That's because they don't test things such as the ability to weigh up information, or whether a person can override the intuitive cognitive biases that lead us astray. Understanding the factors that lead intelligent people to make bad decisions is shedding light on society's biggest catastrophes. More intriguingly, it may suggest ways to evade the stupidity that plagues us all.