Being smart and making wise decisions are not the same thing. Experts are convinced that a high level of intelligence affects grades in school, success at work, and even relations with the law. But it does not guarantee well-being, life satisfaction, and longevity. The difference between critical thinking and intelligence, the stupidity of smart people, and the qualities that help us avoid negative events, in the material of Heather Butler, assistant professor of psychology at California State University (CSUDH).
We all probably know someone smart who is surprisingly often doing unreasonable things. My family rejoices pointing out the moments when I (the professor) make really stupid mistakes. What does it mean to be smart or smart? Our daily use of the term is intended to describe someone who is knowledgeable and makes wise decisions, but this definition conflicts with how mental ability is traditionally assessed. A well-known measure of intelligence is the level of intelligence, which is measured by an IQ test that includes visuospatial puzzles, math problems, visual search and pattern recognition problems, and vocabulary questions.
The benefits of intelligence are undeniable. Intelligent people are more likely to get better grades and succeed in school. They are more likely to be successful at work. And they are less likely to get into trouble (like committing crimes) as adolescents. However, given all the benefits of intelligence, you may be surprised to learn that it does not determine other life achievements, such as well-being. You can imagine that success in school or at work can lead to more satisfaction in life, but several large studies have not found evidence that IQ affects life satisfaction or longevity. Grossman and colleagues argue (1) that most intelligence tests fail to capture real-world decision making and our ability to interact well with others. In other words,perhaps this is why “smart” people do “stupid” things.
On the other hand, the ability to think critically is associated with health, well-being, and longevity. Although it is often confused with intelligence, critical thinking is not intelligence. Critical thinking is the collection of cognitive skills that enable us to think rationally and purposefully, and the tendency to use these skills when needed. Critical thinkers are friendly skeptics. They are flexible thinkers who need evidence to support their beliefs and help them recognize erroneous attempts to persuade them. Critical thinking means overcoming all kinds of cognitive biases (for example, confirmation bias, asserting non-objective, etc.).
Critical thinking helps predict a wide range of life events. In a series of studies (2, 3) conducted in the United States and abroad, my colleagues and I have found that critically-minded people experience fewer problems in life.
We asked people to take an inventory of life events and evaluate critical thinking (assessment of critical thinking according to D. Halpern ⓘ
Diana Halpern is a researcher and author of The Psychology of Critical Thinking.). This score measures five dimensions of critical thinking, including verbal reasoning, argument analysis, hypothesis testing, probability and uncertainty analysis, decision making, and problem solving.
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In the list of negative life events, there were cases from different fields: from academic (for example, I forgot about the exam), from the field of health (for example, I contracted a sexually transmitted infection because I did not use a condom), legal (for example, I was arrested for driving under the influence of illegal substances), interpersonal (for example, I cheated on my partner, with whom I was with more than a year), financial sphere (for example, I have more than 5 thousand dollars in credit card debt), etc. We have repeatedly discovered that critical thinkers experience fewer negative events in life. This is an important finding because there is a lot of evidence that critical thinking can be taught and improved.
Which is better: be able to think critically or have high intelligence? My latest research has focused on comparing these properties of the human psyche in order to understand which one is associated with fewer negative life events (4). People who were strong in intelligence or critical thinking experienced fewer negative experiences, but critical thinkers did better.
Intelligence and its improvement are hot topics that receive a lot of attention today. Now is the time to learn a little more about critical thinking. Keith Stanovich has written an entire book about this: What Intelligence Tests Miss Yale University Press (2010). Reasoning and rationality have more to do with what we mean when we say that a person's mind is not limited to spatial skills and mathematical ability. In addition, it is difficult to improve intelligence, which is largely determined by genetics. Critical thinking, however, can improve with training, and its benefits have been shown to persist over time. Anyone can improve their critical thinking skills: and we can confidently say that doing this is a smart thing.