If you ask Americans whether or not they think their former president George W. Bush is smart, most of them will probably tell you they don't think so. However, Bush's IQ score is estimated to be above 120, which puts him in the top ten percent of the population. 

It doesn't seem to make sense. How come someone with such an IQ score is not considered smart? Researchers say: IQ does not tell the whole story. Some people have high IQ scores, but still they can be poor thinkers and decision-makers. 

Keith Stanovich, a Canadian professor of human development and applied psychology, has been looking into the "clever fools" phenomenon for 15 years. He says IQ tests are very good at measuring certain mental faculties , including logic, learning ability, working-memory capacity (how much information you can hold in mind), etc. Those faculties play a part in one's academic success, but rational thinking is more important for us to make good judgments in real-life situations. 

IQ tests fail to work when it comes to rational thinking. That's because they are unable to assess things such as a person's ability to weigh up information, or whether an individual can set aside the cognitive biases that may be misleading. 

"A high IQ is like height in a basketball player," says David Perkins, who studies thinking and reasoning skills at Harvard University. "It is very important, all other things being equal. But all other things aren't equal. It takes a lot more to be a good basketball player than being tall, and it takes a lot more to be a good thinker than having a high IQ."
What anomaly has someone been checking out for many years?
Is there a nickname for it?
Who was doing the research?
Is he American?
What is he?
How long has be been researching it?
Are the evaluations good for testing rationale?
What are they good at testing?
Does anyone make an analogy?
What does he compare it to?
How come someone with such an IQ score is not considered smart?
How come someone with such an IQ score is not considered smart?
clever fools
clever fools
Keith Stanovich
Keith Stanovich
no
Canadian professor o
Canadian
Canadian
15 years
15 years
No
Q tests fail to work when it comes to rational thinking
mental faculties , including logic, learning ability, working-memory capacity (how much information you can hold in mind), etc
mental faculties , including logic, learning ability, working-memory capacity (how much information you can hold in mind), etc
David Perkins
David Perkins
IQ is like height in a basketball player
IQ is like height in a basketball player