IQ Vs Critical Thinking - Research

The key to success in life is the ability to make the right decisions: where to invest, how to take care of your health, which will help build strong relationships or avoid pain and mistakes.

What resources does a person have for this? There are two candidates: intelligence and critical thinking. And the latest research has shown that IQ just loses out in finding the right answers and actions in life.

Intuitively, we could have guessed before that a person of brilliant education and upbringing, a "walking encyclopedia" and "collection of tips on etiquette" in one bottle may be completely unsuitable in everyday life. And now there is proof of this. Scientists from Claremont McKenna College and California State University, Dominguez Hills published data from an experiment with 244 students and already graduated adults, who were asked to complete two questionnaires and then complete a test task.

The IQ questionnaire was standard (testing memory, visual perception, mathematical logic, etc.), and questions based on research (objective observations) were collected to calculate the level of development of critical thinking.

Then the participants were given a more difficult test task: it was necessary to make a decision in a specific situation from the past (what measures to take - and where it will lead). For the analysis, statistical and demographic data, historical background and other necessary information were provided. The researchers themselves checked to what extent the subjects' conclusions corresponded to the successful outcome of this situation in real life.

It turned out that the percentage of people who found the solution closest to a real successful experience is higher among those with high scores in critical thinking.

People with high IQs, as a rule, also coped well with the task of avoiding troubles and problems (and therefore scientists among themselves called their way of thinking - "avoidance thinking"). And yet, experience has shown that it is quite possible, without having encyclopedic knowledge, to succeed in life. In particular, thanks to the ability to critically evaluate information and make the right choice.