# Intelligence vs Rationality



## Retired (Apr 21, 2010)

There was a recent interview with Maggie Toplak a psychologist from York University on the Agenda discussing the question: Do intelligence and rationality go hand in hand?

I was fascinated by research being done on why some really smart people do some really dumb things. It seems that IQ tests do not predict how well a person will be able to make rational decisions or to have street smarts.

How can the average person determine their Rationality Quotient, and how can one improve on the way they make rational decisions?


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## Murray (Apr 21, 2010)

It is funny. I have always heard that IQ and street smarts usually do NOT go hand in hand. One example, my dad was very intelligent, but NO common sense. Very interesting.


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## forgetmenot (Apr 21, 2010)

Very interesting really  You would think someone with high intelligence could rationalize things out better


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## Daniel (Apr 21, 2010)

> It seems that IQ tests do not predict how well a person will be able to  make rational decisions or to have street smarts.


OTOH, a University of Florida study (Brains  come before beauty) showed that intelligence was a better predictor of career/financial success than anything else they measured.  To create and maintain such success, a certain degree of rationality is required.


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## Retired (Apr 21, 2010)

> To create and maintain such success, a _certain degree_ of rationality is required.



I would say, as a sideline observer, that rationality is _everything _in creating and maintaining success.  Poor decisions are the surest way to "blow the bundle".


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## Daniel (Apr 23, 2010)

To your first point:



> In the end, it remains quite obvious that raw intellect is not  necessarily worth as much as some give it credit for. Intelligence is  not a substitute for good judgment. Practical wisdom does not follow  from the conferring of a degree. My gardener tells me things that make  sense that I would never have figured out on my own. *The guys who were  described as "the smartest guys in the room" are the same ones who  brought down the Enron Corporation.* Great political failures have been  perpetrated by those who were chosen because they were the "best and the  brightest." The "absent minded professor" is a well-known stereotype.
> 
> http://forum.psychlinks.ca/psycholo...emotional-intelligence-im-not-feeling-it.html


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## Daniel (Apr 23, 2010)

A similar point:

_"The IQ test was invented to predict academic performance, nothing else. If we wanted something that would predict life success, we'd have to invent another test completely."_ ~ Robert Zajonc

BTW, another thing about intelligence is that it is not static:



> R_ecent behavioral research has show that intensive training with  adults can increase IQ-type scores.
> 
> http://forum.psychlinks.ca/psycholo...and-what-they-may-say-about-intelligence.html_


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