Monday, March 7, 2011

The intelligence gap - Edward de Bono and SDT - 1

Edward de Bono the creator of the term ' lateral thinking ' says it is important to teach people and kids how to think and not what to think.




Our thinking will be influenced by the way we view ourselves. People who view the self as an object , and rate themselves as intelligent people are usually poor thinkers. Because they are so concerned about defending their positions , they cannot allow themselves to explore and experience the intrinsic value of learning. Carol Dweck says something similar . People or kids with a growth mindset , see themselves and thinking as a process , whereas kids etc with a fixed mindset , see themselves as objects with fixed innate abilities that gets in the way of learning and the intrinsic reward of learning. They are not self determined , not connceted with their true inner selves , and are not intrinsically motivated.

De Bono calls this the ' Intelligence trap'.



'Unfortunately, many people with a high intelligence actually turn out to be poor thinkers. They get caught in the ‘intelligence trap’, of which there are many aspects. For example, a highly intelligent person may take up a view on a subject and then defend that view (through choice of premises and perception) very ably. The better someone is able to defend a view, the less inclined is that person actually to explore the subject. So the highly intelligent person can get trapped by intelligence, together with our usual sense of logic that you cannot be more right than right, into one point of view. The less intelligent person is less sure of his or her rightness and therefore more free to explore the subject and other points of view.

A highly intelligent person usually grows up with a sense of that intellectual superiority and needs to be seen to be ‘right’ and ‘clever’. Such a person is less willing to risk creative and constructive ideas, because such ideas may take a time to show their worth or to get accepted. Highly intelligent people are often attracted to the quick pay-off of negativity. If you attack someone else’s ideas or thinking, there can be an immediate achievement together with a useful sense of superiority. In intellectual terms attack is also cheap and easy because the attacker can always choose the frame of reference. '

From Edward de Bono’s I Am Right, You Are Wrong

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