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Why do smart people do foolish things?

Intelligence is not the same as critical thinking, and the difference matters
HEATHER A. BUTLER, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN
2017-10-07T23:29:37Z 2017-10-07T23:29:37Z 0 COMMENTS

This article was originally published by Scientific American.

We all probably know someone who is intelligent, but does surprisingly stupid things. My
family delights in pointing out times when I (a professor) make really dumb mistakes.
What does it mean to be smart or intelligent? Our everyday use of the term is meant to
describe someone who is knowledgeable and makes wise decisions, but this definition is
at odds with how intelligence is traditionally measured. The most widely known measure
of intelligence is the intelligence quotient, more commonly known as the IQ test, which
includes visuospatial puzzles, math problems, pattern recognition, vocabulary questions,
and visual searches.

The advantages of being intelligent are undeniable. Intelligent people are more likely to
get better grades and go farther in school. They are more likely to be successful at work.
And they are less likely to get into trouble (e.g., commit crimes) as adolescents. Given all
the advantages of intelligence, though, you may be surprised to learn that it does not
predict other life outcomes, such as well-being. You might imagine that doing well in
school or at work might lead to greater life satisfaction, but several large scale studies
have failed to find evidence that IQ impacts life satisfaction or longevity. Grossman and
his colleagues argue that most intelligence tests fail to capture real-world decision-
making and our ability to interact well with others. This is, in other words, perhaps why
smart people, do dumb things.

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 The ability to think critically, on the other hand, has been associated with wellness and
longevity. Though often confused with intelligence, critical thinking is not intelligence.
Critical thinking is a collection of cognitive skills that allow us to think rationally in a goal-
orientated fashion, and a disposition to use those skills when appropriate. Critical
thinkers are amiable skeptics. They are flexible thinkers who require evidence to support
their beliefs and recognize fallacious attempts to persuade them. Critical thinking means
overcoming all sorts of cognitive biases (e.g., hindsight bias, confirmation bias, etc.).

Critical thinking predicts a wide range of life events. In a series of studies, conducted in
the United States and abroad, my colleagues and I have found that critical thinkers
experience fewer bad things in life. We asked people to complete an inventory of life
events and take a critical thinking assessment (the Halpern Critical Thinking
Assessment). The critical thinking assessment measures 5 components of critical
thinking skills including verbal reasoning, argument analysis, hypothesis testing,
probability and uncertainty, decision-making, and problem-solving. The inventory of
negative life events captures different domains of life such as academic (e.g., I forgot
about an exam), health (e.g., I contracted a sexually transmitted infection because I did
not wear a condom), legal (e.g., I was arrested for driving under the influence),
interpersonal (e.g., I cheated on my romantic partner who I had been with for over a year),
financial (e.g., I have over $5000 of credit card debt), etc. Repeatedly, we found that
critical thinkers experience fewer negative life events. This is an important finding
because there is plenty of evidence that critical thinking can be taught and improved.
Is it better to be a critical thinker or to be intelligent? My latest researchpitted critical
thinking and intelligence against each other to see which was associated with fewer
negative life events. People who were strong on either intelligence or critical thinking
experienced fewer negative events, but critical thinkers did better.
Intelligence and improving intelligence are hot topics that receive a lot of attention. It is
time for critical thinking to receive a little more of that attention. Keith Stanovich wrote an
entire book about What Intelligence Tests Miss. Reasoning and rationality more closely
resemble what we mean when we say a person is smart than spatial skills and math
ability. Furthermore, improving intelligence is difficult. Intelligence is largely determined
by genetics. Critical thinking, though, can improve with training and the benefits have
been shown to persist over time. Anyone can improve their critical thinking skills: Doing
so, we can say with certainty, is a smart thing to do.

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