Why do smart people sometimes act irrationally

Psychologist Ray Herbert, author of "Think: Outsmart typical trick your brain", once expressed an interesting idea why smart people are often not rational, he wrote that we all know very smart people, get good grades in school, it is easy to pursue the goals that build fine career, but sometimes commit stupid acts. They probably high IQ, but unfortunately, IQ does not reflect a particular, peculiar to them form cognitive deficit characterized by the inability to act rationally, in spite of high intelligence. For the first time this psychological phenomenon described by Keith Stanovich of the University of Toronto back in 1990: within a few years, he has researched the issue and found that the violation of rationality are the result of an incorrect assessment of the actions in terms of goals. The standard IQ test can not detect this defect, so if you want to identify the smartest among smart, you need to use other diagnostic methods. Therefore Stanovich and colleagues developed a new method of testing - the so-called RQ-test.



Of course, rational behavior is very important in our world, but is it always necessary to calculate their actions and to take a cold-blooded decision? After all, irrational thinking, according to the theory of cognitive psychology, going on with emotions at the deeper levels of the inner world of man. That emotions help us make the right choices: for example, risking their lives, rushed to the highway and save a stranger happened to be there a child. From the point of view of rationality, it is foolish, but from the standpoint of humanism and morality - an example to follow.

via factroom.ru