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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 of a large mushroom growing on the forest floor surrounded by fallen leaves and trees.

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 bust of a bearded man with curly hair, showing detailed facial features, on a black background.

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

A man sits on grass in a park with others around and a bridge in the background on a sunny day.

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

Café scene with people seated at tables, a man cycling outside. Sunlight creates shadows.

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

A man with a confused expression and a large “Q” sign around his neck, surrounded by people in Trump-themed clothing.

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

Two children sitting on a wooden fence in a rural area under a blue sky with scattered clouds, with fields in the background.

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

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

Four people sit on the side of the street at night, engrossed in their mobile phones, the screens casting light on their faces.

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