Why "Smart" People Are "Stupid"

[drwex]

Today's xkcd (http://xkcd.com/c242.html) is funny, but it also illustrates a truism: smart people are more likely than less-smart (in the IQ sense) to make the same mistake twice or even three times.

It's a combination of curiousity asking questions that normal people really don't care about (is that a random thing? is it repeatable?) with the arrogance of the smart (that couldn't possibly happen to me... again).

Contextually, this is part of the discussion about why conventional (IQ-like) measures of intelligence are outmoded or just flat-out wrong. It's part of the science of why intelligence and emotion are really inseparable (and thus why Meyers-Briggs is a load of horsepuckey) and makes me want to get back into reading that body of literature.

Comments

[xthread.livejournal.com]

I don't really see M-B as a model of intelligence; it's a horoscope wearing a lab coat. People who try to evaluate personalities for real use things like the MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) ...

You would probably be horrified how many companies use M-B as a formal part of their employment planning process.

[drwex]

Not horrified because I'm familiar with it. I turned down a job once because they used M-B. They hastened to assure me that I didn't have to take the test and I pointed out that I still didn't want to work there because if that was how they made hiring decisions then there were deeper problems and we'd probably both end up unhappy.

[xthread.livejournal.com]

Let me clarify - not the hiring process, the planning process - 'We need a handful of ENTPs on this team, another ENTJ on that one, and Joe has no business being in that role, he's an ...'

I agree with your assessment that it's a bad thing, by the way, although I know of no company that actually uses MMPIs or anything like it to perform personality assessments. Managers are using M-B because they're trying to get some kind of handle on personality types, and the only tool they have is pretty blunt. It might be a good thing that they're trying at all, but it's a really poor tool.

[drwex]

Ah, no, I hadn't seen that. And you're right, it would horrify me. Anyone who thinks in terms of personality types rather than in terms of people is already one step too far removed from reality to be an effective manager, imnvho.

[xthread.livejournal.com]

It was exceedingly twitch-inducing.
Worse yet, it was someone of sufficient age, ostensible experience, and close personal connection to other key executives that 'he's a blooming loon!' was not an adequate justification to relieve ourselves of the individual.