The Intelligence Trap by David Robson.
“Some psychologists now consider that general intelligence, curiosity and conscientiousness are together the ‘three pillars’ of academic success; if you lack any one of these you are going to suffer.”
3 Main Messages:
There is more than one way to measure intelligence.
We can improve learning by spacing lessons and encouraging desirable difficulty.
Great teams are built on dissent, not star players.
I wonder if you can think of someone who scores incredibly well in exams but struggles to hold conversations? Or someone who failed at school but has since shown business savvy and gone on to enjoy incredible success? I can personally think of many examples of both. And so what is intelligence, how do we measure it, and what are the traps we keep falling into?
The Intelligence Trap is an exploration of how we currently measure success, how to hone our decision-making skills, how to improve learning in schools and how to build teams who think and operate successfully. As an educator, I found all of the sections interesting, but was shocked by elements of Part 1 and utterly inspired by sections of Part 3.
Did you know that the US Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is based on an IQ test designed by Lewis Terman about a century ago? Terman was a Stanford academic who was drawn to researching how IQ impacted health, success and happiness and his famous group of identified child prodigies, known as the ‘Termites’. While many of his intentions are still considered worthy by today’s standards, others fall extremely short - given his favour of eugenics and his belief in the ability to predict future law breakers because “morality cannot flower and fruit if intelligence remains infantile”.
Those in the education system have been protesting against the rigidity of national curriculums and teaching to the test for many years. Yet while such tests exist, and while schools, teachers and students are judged and compared by their ability to pass them, many students will incorrectly feel like failures just because they aren’t able to jump thought the preferred hoop. Test results only measure a limited area of a person’s intelligence.
Noting that “Intelligence does not necessarily lead to better decision making,” Robson shares stories of ‘intelligent’ men who have been conned, and the traps of 'meta-forgetfulness’, confirmation bias and my-side bias. Robson goes on to explore the importance of Emotional Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence and Relational Intelligence, and where these are of much more use than a test result.
In Part 2, Robson explores the benefits of diplomacy and relays stories about world leaders who have learned to listen and ask questions, rather than trust in their own judgement. He shares the power of mindfulness in avoiding making mistakes and refers to mastery knowing “when to question your intuitions and eliminate error.” He suggests that we all practise daily reflections in order to build competence and avoid making simple mistakes and he shares the 8 rules of the Bullshit Detection Kit, which he believes are vital to follow if we want to protect ourselves.
I found the third section the most interesting and useful as a school leader. Robson writes about the most important skills we should be teaching school children in order to ensure future success. He stresses the importance of grit, curiosity and growth mindset and explains in detail how to develop each of these in the classroom. He extols the virtues of the East Asian system of education where intellectual humility and open-minded thinking are taught and celebrated. By spacing learning into chunks and introducing “desirable difficulties” into lessons, students are stretched and challenged and actually learn better. He suggests that teachers should:
Space out studies
Use more nuanced materials
Include pre-tests
Vary the environment
Learn by teaching
Use retrieval practice
Vary the learning
Step out of our comfort zones
Explain mistakes
Beware of foresight bias
Finally Robson explores how to build strong teams, giving examples of when humility serves a leader, when leaders should be encouraging dissent and how comparison kills creativity.
In short this book is a must read for anyone who is looking to understand how we understand and think about how we think. There is not just one trap that we can fall into, it seems, but multiple intelligence traps; read this book to learn how to ensure you don’t fall into them!
