Sequel of Stubbornness of beliefs.
Smarter people make poorer decisions
The popular wisdom is that the smarter you are, the less susceptible you are to fake news. After all, part of being “smart” is being good at processing information.
So, it feels like smart people should have the ability to spot reasoning and fight it.
Surprisingly, being smart can actually make our biases worse.
A different frame – the smarter you are, the better you are at constructing a narrative that supports you. And framing the data to fit your point of view.
After all, people in the political “spin room” are generally pretty smart for a reason.
In 2012, psychologists tested the blind-spot bias. Meaning – people who are better at recognizing biased reasoning in others. But, are blind to bias in themselves.
In six of the seven biases tested, “more intelligent participants showed larger bias blind spots.”.
Dan Kahan’s found “The better you are with numbers. The better you are at spinning those numbers to conform to, and to support your beliefs”
Can’t help it
Unfortunately, this is just the way evolution built us. We are wired to protect our beliefs even when our goal is to truthseek.
This is one of those instances where being smart doesn’t help us. As with visual illusions, we can’t make our minds work differently than they do no matter how smart we are.
Excerpt From: Annie Duke. “Thinking in Bets”