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Thinking and intelligence

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Black and white photo of a military officer in profile wearing a uniform and cap against a blurred landscape background.

Thinking and intelligence

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Why some of the smartest people can be so very stupid

Struggling to understand is perfectly honourable. Being wilfully stupid is something else and we should strive to fix it

by Sacha Golob

Close-up photo of a mushroom in an autumn forest surrounded by fallen leaves and trees in the background.

Nature and the environment

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The fungal mind: on the evidence for mushroom intelligence

The evidence for fungal intelligence is in: they can operate as individuals, make decisions, learn, and have short-term memory

by Nicholas P Money

Bronze statue head with curly hair and beard on black background, depicting a solemn expression, sculpture.

Thinking and intelligence

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Lost perspective? Try this linguistic trick to reset your view

By using ‘distanced self-talk’, you can leverage the structure of language to take a step back and see the bigger picture

by Ariana Orvell

A girl walks towards a woman on a pavement with a grey building in the background, casting shadows from a tree.

Thinking and intelligence

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Talking out loud to yourself is a technology for thinking

Talking out loud to oneself is a technology for thinking that allows us to clarify and sharpen our approach to a problem

by Nana Ariel

Photo of a man sitting on grass near a bridge with people relaxing and walking in a park setting.

Thinking and intelligence

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Being alone with your thoughts is a skill you can practise

People go to extreme lengths to avoid time with their own thoughts. We’ve found some ways to make it more pleasurable

by Rémy Furrer

Impressionist painting of a figure standing by the sea, observing a distant boat. The scene is enveloped in blue tones with a serene, misty atmosphere.

Cognitive and behavioural therapies

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The philosophical roots of CBT help explain its limitations

Not all psychological problems are thinking problems. Trying to solve them purely cognitively, with CBT, won’t help us mature

by Bradley Murray

Photo of a cafe interior with a man sitting alone reading, sunlight casting shadows others using phones, cyclist passing outside.

Habits and routines

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In praise of habits – so much more than mindless reflexes

Rather than mindless mechanisms for routines, habits are a species of belief that display a great deal of intelligence

by Ian Robertson & Katsunori Miyahara

Photo of a man in a crowd wearing a large letter Q with the American flag pattern. Many people wear red hats.

Thinking and intelligence

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How conspiracy theories bypass people’s rationality

Prior research has focused on the negative reasons people are drawn to conspiracies, but there’s another side to the story

by Jan-Willem van Prooijen

Photo of two children sitting on a wooden fence in a rural field under a clear blue sky.

Personality

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The fence is uncomfortable, but it affords the best view

Ambivalence is often misconstrued as flakiness. In fact, recognising both sides of an argument fosters empathy and insight

by Iris Schneider

Person sitting cross-legged on the floor with instructions book to assemble flat-pack furniture with a cat getting in the way.

Thinking and intelligence

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When a tricky task makes your brain hurt, here’s what to do

Although thinking hard is a daily experience, psychologists are only just beginning to understand how aversive it can be

by Todd Vogel

Abstract illustration of a man in profile, reclining with a pipe in his hand, set against a red and black background.

Decision-making

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Do you think more clearly when reading or when listening?

How we take in information has a remarkably significant effect on how intuitive or analytical we are in thinking about it

by Janet Geipel & Boaz Keysar

Photo of people sitting on a street using smartphones at night, illuminated by screen light.

Knowledge and reason

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The antidote to fake news is to nourish our epistemic wellbeing

There’s more to wellbeing than physical and mental health: we also need epistemic wellbeing, or good access to knowledge

by Kenneth Boyd