The Art and Science of Stupidity

Guest Opinion

By Isiah Smith, Jr. | Nov. 11, 2023

I have long been fascinated with the subject of cognitive incompetence, better known as stupidity. (You may make of that what you will.) Perhaps it is because we’re increasingly living in a virtually simmering vortex of stupidity. Therefore, it should not come as a surprise that scientifically trained professionals, especially neuroscientists, have studied the condition and written scholarly articles and even books about it.

So, if one is writing about stupidity, or cognitive incompetence, there’s plenty to work with, especially in politics. Additionally, writing teachers typically counsel students to write about what they know. So here goes…

Stupidity has a causal relationship to our lack of “consensual reality,” that is, our failure to agree on an objective set of facts. “Stupidity” as used here, isn’t about low IQ, nor is it about people who are unable to function well in their everyday life.

Rather, as noted by the psychology professor Robert J. Sternberg, it is about “the kind of stupidity that has left countries in the nearly perpetual throes of war that no one ever seems to win and where it is often not even clear what is at stake or how the battle lines have been drawn.” The Vietnam and Iraq wars are two of the most egregious examples of this cognitive incompetence. So, too, is America’s misguided War on Drugs, which destroyed millions of lives without a whiff, or notion, of what would constitute victory.

Neuroscientist Bobby Azarian recently published an essay discussing stupidity as an existential threat to America: “It may sound like an insensitive statement, but … there are a lot of stupid people in the world.” Many of them unfortunately enjoy positions of power. A larger number vote, thus creating a “collective stupidity.”

“Stupidity” is a scientific concept that “refers to a specific type of cognitive failure.” One may be highly educated, or smart in the traditional sense, with a high IQ. But if one is ignorant of one’s limitations and concomitant ignorance, or claims expertise that one does not possess, it may lead to stupid actions and compromised thinking.

The scientific name for this condition is the Dunning-Kruger (D-K) effect, the tendency for individuals to overestimate “their level of intelligence, knowledge, or competency in a particular area.” Politicians who claim to know more than trained experts are exhibiting signs of the D-K effect, or stupidity. One must know an awful lot to know one doesn’t know much.

Today, the D-K effect threatens our national security. Fortunately, for the continued security of our nation, it is now being widely written about, investigated empirically, and subjected to empirical studies (many of which have been published in peer-reviewed journals, the gold standard for scientific legitimacy).

The greatest danger posed by the D-K effect is that numerous political “leaders” suffer from it. They know so little and exude so much unearned confidence. Unfortunately, voters find moronic confidence and bombastic bragging attractive. Consequently, ignorant candidates with overinflated confidence are more likely to prevail over candidates who appear less confident.

In Why Smart People Can Be So Stupid, edited by Robert J. Sternberg, the editor writes that a book on stupidity is particularly timely, “as Americans watch political leaders at all points in the political spectrum behaving in ways that, to outsiders at least, appear breathtakingly stupid.” (Neither of the two major parties own the franchise to stupidity!)

Sternberg’s book was published September 1, 2003. Twenty years on, the level of stupidity in American politics is frighteningly high. The book is particularly helpful because of the scholarly research supporting it and because it examines the behavior of allegedly “smart” people, from presidents to prosecutors to professors, who are at times so incredibly cognitively incompetent as to defy logic.

For example, a president of the U.S., graduate of Yale Law School, and a Rhodes Scholar demonstrated such “stupid” behavior that it’s mystifying. Other cognitively suspect actions flowed from the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal: a seasoned prosecutor and judge, reputedly “brilliant,” pursued the scandal with such dogged determination that he permanently damaged his reputation. Intelligence tests cannot determine who will use their intelligence or who will squander it by engaging in amazing, breathtaking acts of stupidity.

Representative Jordan of Ohio, a benighted supporter of a former president who is a defendant in a Georgia criminal case, demanded (in writing!) that the Georgia prosecutor provide him all the evidence she has of the defendant’s criminality, the Constitution and states’ rights be damned!

As Senator Fetterman stated: “You all need to know that America is not sending their best and brightest to Washington, D.C. Sometimes you literally just can’t believe, like, these people are making the decisions that are determining the government here. It’s actually scary.”

It is scary, but what can we do about out-of-control stupidity in America? We can start by teaching our children critical thinking skills and mindfulness. These are not cures, but we must start somewhere.

Isiah Smith, Jr. is a retired government attorney.