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Book Group Discussion: What Intelligence Tests Miss: The Psychology of Rational Thought

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Tuesday, January 15, 2013 - 1:00pm to 3:00pm

Keith Stanovich (2010) demonstrates that IQ tests (or their proxies, such as the SAT) are radically incomplete as measures of cognitive functioning. They fail to assess abilities that most people associate with “good thinking,” such as judgment and decision making.

The unmeasured abilities are crucial for planning, evaluating evidence, judging risks and probabilities, and making effective decisions. They are measurable cognitive processes. Rational thought is just as important as intelligence, Stanovich argues, and it should be valued as highly as the other abilities currently measured on intelligence tests. (Note: this discussion is not about "emotional intelligence," interpersonal skills, musical abilities, math vs. verbal ability, and so forth. It is about rationality--which may be what Jeff Center folks are focused on when we value critical thinking and reasoning --sc/adapted from