I’ve read several books about decision-making this year. One of the best was What Intelligence Tests Miss. One day, I’ll write up in detail what I learned from the book, but for now I want to share some of what I found interesting. It distinguishes between IQ and rationality and explains that high IQ doesn’t equate to good decision-making.

One thing that stuck with me was what the author called “dysrationalia,” which is the inability to behave rationally despite having adequate intelligence.  

And what does rationality mean? Setting appropriate goals, taking the appropriate action given your goals and beliefs, and having beliefs that make sense given the available evidence.

You can be highly intelligent and still be irrational. This is because smart people can hold beliefs that aren’t grounded in reality and/or make decisions that don’t align with their goals. Said differently, you can be smart and still exercise poor judgment.

This book goes into a lot more detail about traps that lead to poor judgment. If you’re interested in understanding how smart people make bad decisions, you should consider giving this book a read.