Professor Robert J. Sternberg9780300090338, 0-300-09033-1
One need not look far to find breathtaking acts of stupidity committed by people who are smart, or even brilliant. The behavior of smart individuals-from presidents to prosecutors to professors-is at times so amazingly stupid as to seem inexplicable. Why do otherwise intelligent people think and behave in ways so stupid that they sometimes destroy their livelihoods or even their lives? This book is the first devoted to investigating what the most current psychological research can tell us about stupidity in everyday life. The contributors to the volume, renowned scholars in various areas of human intelligence, present fascinating examples of people messing up their lives, and they offer insights into the reasons for such behavior. From a variety of perspectives, the contributors discuss: The nature and theory of stupidity, how stupidity contributes to stupid behavior, and whether stupidity is measurable 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, reviewing the full range of theory and research on stupid behavior and analyzing what it tells us about how people can avoid stupidity and its devastating consequences. |
Table of contents : Contents……Page 6 Preface……Page 8 Acknowledgments……Page 10 1 Why and When Are Smart People Stupid? Ray Hyman……Page 12 2 Beliefs That Make Smart People Dumb. Carol S. Dweck……Page 35 3 Smart People Doing Dumb Things: The Case of Managerial Incompetence. Richard K. Wagner……Page 53 4 The Engine of Folly. David N. Perkins……Page 75 5 When Smart People Behave Stupidly: Reconciling Inconsistencies in Social-Emotional Intelligence. Ozlem Ayduk and Walter Mischel……Page 97 6 Sex, Lies, and Audiotapes: The Clinton-Lewinsky Scandal. Diane F. Halpern……Page 117 7 Rationality, Intelligence, and Levels of Analysis in Cognitive Science: Is Dysrationalia Possible? Keith E. Stanovich……Page 135 8 Smart Is as Stupid Does: Exploring Bases of Erroneous Reasoning of Smart People Regarding Learning and Other Disabilities. Elena L. Grigorenko and Donna Lockery……Page 170 9 Personality Dispositions. Elizabeth J. Austin and Ian J. Deary……Page 198 10 When “Stupid” Is Smarter Than We Are: Mindlessness and the Attribution of Stupidity. Mihnea Moldoveanu and Ellen Langer……Page 223 11 Smart People Are Not Stupid, But They Sure Can Be Foolish: The Imbalance Theory of Foolishness. Robert J. Sternberg……Page 243 List of Contributors……Page 254 Index……Page 256 |
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