Psychological research suggests that greater intelligence, education and expertise might actually amplify our errors.

有心理學研究指出愈是聰明、專業和教育程度愈高的人，更是有可能將我們的錯誤放大。

Why Smart People Do Stupid Things?

為什麼聰明的人總是做出愚蠢的事？

1. Cognitive Miserliness

第一，認知吝嗇

Consider this question.

試想想以下的問題。

How many animals of each species did Moses take on the ark?

摩西帶了多少種物種上諾亞方舟？

The answer, of course, is zero.

答案當然是零。

It was Noah, not Moses, who was supposed to have built the ark.

是諾亞建造方舟，而不是摩西。

But many intelligent people get this wrong.

不過有許多聰明的人都答錯。

They are cognitive misers, they are capable of intelligent reasoning but they don't apply that brain power effectively, instead relying too much on their gut feelings.

他們是認知吝嗇者 (cognitive misers)，他們具有智慧推理的能力，可是卻不會有效地運用智慧，而是過於依賴自覺。

Cognitive miserliness can cause us to be swayed by irrelevant information and our own feelings.

認知吝嗇會導致我們容易受到不相干或自身的感覺所說服。

For example, leading us to poor financial decisions when buying a house.

舉例來說，會導致在買房子時作出的不適當的財政決策。

It can also explain why apparently intelligent people can fall for fake news if they rely too much on the gist rather than the details of a statement.

這也解釋了聰明的人如果過於依賴新聞要旨而沒有細閱內文，都會對假新聞信以為真。

2. Motivated Reasoning

第二，動機性推理

Sometimes, thanks to the emotional pull of an argument, we think in a very one-sided manner.

我們有時候會因為針對一個論點所帶出的情感牽扯，使我們會變成單向思考。

So Arthur Conan Doyle is the perfect example of motivated reasoning.

Arthur Conan Doyle 就是動機性推理的最佳例子。

Now he was obviously an incredibly intelligent man—he was a doctor and also wrote all of the Sherlock Holmes books where he really shows a very clear understanding of what logical deduction should be.

他的確是一位非常聰明的男子，他不僅是一名醫生，更撰寫了一系列福爾摩斯的書籍，這表示他很清楚明瞭何謂邏輯推理。

But in his own private life, Arthur Conan Doyle was not nearly so rational.

可是他的私下的生活，Arthur 的頭腦可沒如此理性。

He had a very strong emotional belief in spiritualism and often visited fraudulent mediums.

他對通靈有著強烈的情感信念，並且經常造訪常作欺詐的靈媒。

Now, Arthur Conan Doyle's friends—which included Harry Houdini the illusionist—often tried to persuade him that he was wrong and to show him the evidence that he was being scammed by these people, but Arthur Conan Doyle just didn't believe their arguments.

Arthur 的朋友，包括魔幻師 Harry Houdini，常常試著說服他的想法是錯誤的，並向他展示被欺騙的證據，但 Arthur 就是不相信他們的說法。

So, for instance, he would try to bring in the latest physics on the electromagnetic field to explain how fairies might exist but just appeared in another wavelength.

例如，他會嘗試物理學中最新的電磁場科技去解釋這世界上有小精靈的存在，只是他們以另外一種波長展現出來而已。

You may not believe in fairies but motivated reasoning can lead to polarized political views.

也許你並不相信小精靈的存在，可是動機性推理可導致兩極的政治觀點。

It may also allow you to rationalise poor business ventures or a failing love affair.

可以使你合理化你所錯估的商業投資或失敗的戀愛關係等問題。

3. The Curse of Expertise

第三，專業知識所帶出的盲點

You may hope that education or professional expertise would protect you from error but these can also backfire.

或許你認為教育或專業知識可以讓你免於犯錯，但有可能會適得其反。

After years of experience in a job, experts for instance, might begin to act on autopilot and that automatic decision-making can sometimes miss vital information.

經過多年的工作經驗，有的專家就會自我開啟自動駕駛模式，如此不假思索地作出決定反而會錯過一些重要的資訊。

This may explain a terrible case from 2004, when a man called Brandon Mayfield was accused of conducting the Madrid bombings.

這可以解釋 2004 年有一名稱 Brandon Mayfield 的男性因於馬德里鐵路放置炸彈被控一項嚴重罪行。

Now, Brandon Mayfield had not left the USA during that time and yet the FBI's fingerprint examiners still accused him of the crime.

Brandon Mayfield 當時沒有出境美國，可是 FBI 的指紋辨識員卻指控他參與該罪行。

The Spanish police had found a fingerprint on a plastic bag near the scene of the crime.

西班牙警方在案發現場的附近找到一枚在塑膠袋上的指紋。

Now the FBI had put that into their computers and they had found about 20 candidates who might have made the match.

FBI 隨後輸入至他們的電腦系統並找到有 20 名與該指紋吻合的可疑人士。

And when they looked at Brandon Mayfield's, they were sure that they were identical.

可是當他們看到 Brandon Mayfield 的指紋時，他們確定指紋和他的一模一樣。

Yet, when you look at the fingerprints, there are actually some very important differences that they had completely missed, but thanks to the curse of expertise they were susceptible to confirmation bias.

當你仔細看那些指紋，會發現其實他們遺漏一些很重要的差異。但是由於受到專業知識的盲點影響，他們會容易受到確認偏差的影響。

So they only saw the bits that matched and were completely blind to the bits that didn't match.

因此當他們只看到吻合的部分，卻完全忽視不吻合的部分。

4. The Too-Much-Talent Effect

第四，人才過多效應

Sometimes smart people can act stupidly thanks to the people who are around us.

有時候聰明的人會因為身邊人而導致他們的行為很愚蠢。

A sense of conflict and competition within a group can actually reduce each team member's problem-solving skills and creativity.

團隊內部的衝突和競爭意識會降低成員解決問題的能力和創造力。

Even just one or two arrogant team members can completely ruin the group dynamic and reduce the performance of the whole team.

就算只有一或兩位傲慢的成員就足以破壞整個團隊的活力和影響團隊的表現。

One study found that people's individual IQ levels actually drop when they feel in competition with others.

有一項研究指出一個人要與他人競爭時，他們的智商會下降。

Just think of Iceland's victory in the 2016 Euro Championships.

試回想冰島於 2016 年歐洲國家盃中勝利的那一場。

Now Iceland is a tiny country compared to the rest of Europe, it really doesn't have a huge pool of talent, and yet they performed extraordinarily well and in fact they humiliated the England football team by defeating them despite all of our really top-tier players.

冰島與其他歐洲國相比只是一個小小的國家，他們國內確實沒有太多人才，可是表現卻異常出色。儘管我們派出所有頂級球員，但他們卻以勝利狠狠地羞辱了英格蘭足球隊一番。

Now this is an example of the too-much-talent-effect.

這就是人才太多的一個例子。

Because England with so many star players really struggled to have a cohesive group dynamic, there were too many egos vying for attention.

這是因為英格蘭擁有許多明星球員，而他們難以發揮團隊該有的凝聚力，因此會為了爭取注意力而表現得自負。

Luckily, there are things that you can do to avoid these thinking traps.

幸好有一些方法可以避免這些思維上的陷阱。

For example, you can try arguing against yourself.

例如你可以嘗試反對自己。

Consider your initial gut reaction and then deliberately try to think from the opposite point of view.

先想你當下的直覺反應，然後再故意以相反的角度思考。

Another technique you can use is called self-distancing.

另外一種方法是自我抽離。

Step out of your shoes for a second and think about your issue from an outside perspective.

先跳出自身立場，以立場外的角度思考你的問題。

Or you might try mental time travel.

或是你可以嘗試時間旅行。

Imagine yourself in a month or a year's time, looking back at your decision.

想像自己在一個月或一年後來回顧你的決定。

Lastly, why not try fine-tuning your emotional awareness.

最後，何不嘗試微調你的情感意識呢？

Being able to label our feelings helps us to control them.

能夠表明自己的感受有助我們控制情緒。

Various studies have shown that this simple technique has actually reduced emotional responses and made people less biased.

有不同的研究結果顯示出這些簡單的方法可以減少我們的情緒反應，並減低他們對事物的偏見。

Thanks for watching.

謝謝收看！

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別忘了要按訂閱，並打開小鈴鐺，才可以在第一時間接收新影片的通知。

See you again soon!

我們下次再見！