New Neuroscience Reveals 5 Secrets That Will Make You Smarter

IQ is real, folks. It’s a number that tells you how good someone is at puzzle-solving, logical reasoning, and making you feel inadequate at dinner parties. But here’s the rub:

IQ isn’t everything.

Greater education and intelligence don’t necessarily lift you up; sometimes they just provide better tools for digging trenches. Check this out: “Intelligent and educated people are less likely to learn from their mistakes, for instance, or take advice from others. And when they do err, they are better able to build elaborate arguments to justify their reasoning, meaning that they become more and more dogmatic in their views. Worse still, they appear to have a bigger ‘bias blind spot,’ meaning they are less able to recognize the holes in their logic.”

A 2013 study from the Journal of Experimental Psychology found that people who were better at wise reasoning did better in nearly every area of life. They were happier, had better relationships, and were even less likely to die in the next five years. The twist?

Intelligence is pretty much unrelated to wise reasoning. And unrelated to those increases in health or happiness. You could have an IQ so high it requires oxygen, and it wouldn’t make you all that much wiser, healthier, or happier.

And so we enter the hilariously tragic world of cognitive bias, where even the sharpest minds among us manage to trip over their own intellectual shoelaces. The thing here is distinguishing between “cognitive ability” and “cognitive style.”

Cognitive ability is your brain’s horsepower – the raw, unfiltered, can-solve-differential-equations-while-watching-Netflix kind of power. Cognitive style, on the other hand, is what you actually do with that brainpower. It’s the difference between owning a high-end supercomputer and using it solely to play Minesweeper.

As University of Pennsylvania professor Phil Tetlock said about making accurate predictions: “A brilliant puzzle-solver may have the raw material for forecasting, but if he doesn’t also have an appetite for questioning basic, emotionally charged beliefs, he will often be at a disadvantage relative to a less intelligent person who has a greater capacity for self-critical thinking.”

Raw smarts are powerful – but only if we use them well. So how do we use them well?

Well, we’re going to get some great thinkin’ tips from David Robson’s wonderful book, “The Intelligence Trap: Why Smart People Make Dumb Mistakes.”

Let’s get to it…

Consider The Opposite

When trying to make wiser decisions you always want to double back and sincerely ask yourself, “How could I be wrong?”

Yes, I know, the one thing we’re all missing in life is more internal conflict, but this is a powerful way to sharpen your thinking and avoid bias. Just taking a second to seriously consider the opposite reduces a wide range of reasoning errors from anchoring to overconfidence to “myside bias.”

It’s basically mental cosplay. Argue with yourself like it’s a high-stakes courtroom drama where you’re both the prosecutor and the defense attorney.

(For more scientific ways to get smarter, click here.)

This is a great way to stress test your decisions. But how can you make sure you’re being objective — especially when emotions take hold of you?

Use Self-Distancing

Let’s be honest: you usually give way better advice to your friends than you do to yourself. And that fact can help us a lot when feelings rise.

Mentally step back and pretend you’re a third party watching yourself. Kinda like an out-of-body experience, but without the weird hospital lighting. I know, it sounds ridiculous, but bear with me. Self-distancing is backed by real science, which makes it slightly less embarrassing when you do it.

Ethan Kross, a neuroscientist at the University of Michigan, found that self-distancing provides a more reflective attitude toward your problems. It dampens hot emotions and makes you more rational.

Ever watch a horror movie where the protagonist is heading into the basement even though there’s clearly a chainsaw-wielding maniac down there? You’re yelling at the screen, “DON’T DO IT!” That’s self-distancing. Listen to your inner movie fan.

Research has shown this helps people be better public speakers, stay open minded — and even improves their relationships.

Eli Finkel at Northwestern University studied 120 unhappily married couples over two years. He gave half of them a short overview on self-distancing. At the end of the study the ones who got the tutorial had greater intimacy and trust – while the control group just got worse.

It makes sense. You’re arguing with your spouse but then you step back. You start asking yourself, “Hmm, I see that this person, who is not me, is currently feeling attacked by a harmless suggestion about shelving. Is this a documentary about insanity?” It’s like putting on noise-canceling headphones for your out-of-control feelings.

By stepping back from the fiery pit of the argument and observing yourself from a distance, you get the chance to see how ridiculous you both look. You realize you’re just two people yelling about a trash can, and suddenly, you don’t want to throw your partner off a cliff anymore. Congratulations, you’ve gained the gift of emotional maturity.

(For more on how to self-distance, click here.)

You’re becoming a Tyrannosaurus of rationality. But what about judging the feasibility of your plans? All too often, reality is not a thing people enjoy acknowledging…

Use Base Rates

The best way to avoid bias in making decisions is to start with a “base rate.” (No, this is not a statistical measurement used by DJ’s.)

They’re not sexy and they’re not cool like Han Solo. But base rates are the statistical bedrock upon which rational thinking is built. They are the cold, hard facts of how frequently things actually happen in the real world.

Your friend says you should both play the lottery. You think the lottery seems like a waste of money. You friend says, “You can’t win if you don’t play!” You’re torn.

Here’s where base rates come in. The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million. That right there is an eye opener. In fact, that number is almost too big to get our brains around, so let’s go further down the base rate rabbit hole to put it in perspective…

According to the National Weather Service, your odds of being struck by lightning in any given year in the U.S. are about 1 in 1.2 million. Which means, statistically speaking, you are 244 times more likely to have the heavens zap you into a crispy crouton than to win the Powerball.

Let that sink in. Lightning has a significantly better chance of singling you out for some electromagnetic barbecue than you do of swimming in a sea of lottery cash. Do you ever prepare for a random act of Zeus before you go outside? No? Well, winning the lottery is 244 times less worthy of your attention. Do not play the lottery.

Focusing on base rates is like having a superpower, but without the spandex suit and tragic backstory. It’s a way to cut through the nonsense and see the world for what it is. It’s saying, “I see your fantasies and I raise you reality.” It’s the antidote to magical thinking, the cold shower that wakes you up from your fever dreams.

It doesn’t take heavy math skills. Next time you’re freaking out over something bad happening in the future or trying to decide on taking a chance on a risky proposition, ask yourself: “How often does this thing actually occur?”

(For more on how to make good decisions, click here.)

Okay, we have to discuss intuition or people are going to scream at me. Should you trust your gut? The answer is yes – sometimes…

Use Emotional Differentiation

Lisa Feldman Barrett is a neuroscientist at Northeastern University. When she was in graduate school a fellow student asked her out. She didn’t dig him but she was overworked and needed a break, so she agreed.

While they’re having coffee, there are butterflies in her stomach. She feels flushed. She realizes, “Oh my god, I’m in love.” Before they part, she agrees to a second date. Then, walking on air, she goes home…

And vomits. That feeling in her stomach wasn’t love; it was the flu. Her body wasn’t trying to tell her “This is the man of your dreams.” It was saying, “Girl, you’re about to spend the next 48 hours in bed with a bucket.”

“Trust your gut,” they say. Sure. Let’s all rely on an organ whose main job is to digest nachos. Solid plan. This is the problem with trusting our instincts. Our bodies are running on software that hasn’t had a decent update in about 200,000 years. Your gut will have you thinking you’re head over heels when in reality you’re just head over toilet.

But isn’t there a place for intuition? Yes. But it takes practice.

Lisa later studied stock market investors. She found that the best ones had intense feelings when making their trades. Financial Spidey-Sense. But what made these investors different from the ones who had intense wrong feelings?

The top investors were better at emotional differentiation. They had a nuanced, precise vocabulary that distinguished their emotions. To them “content” and “joyful” were very different. They didn’t conflate “anger” with “frustration.” And this ability to discern what they were feeling let them know when they could trust their intuition (and probably how to tell “infatuation” from “illness.”)

This is bad news for those of us who still use “fine” as an umbrella term for every emotion from “slightly perturbed” to “I-just-saw-my-ex-at-the-grocery-store-and-walked-into-a-pyramid-of-canned-tomatoes.” If feelings were flavors, we’d be living in a world where everything tastes vaguely of chicken.

But at times we are capable of this discernment. “I’m not depressed; I’m just sleep deprived.” Or “I’m not angry; I’m hungry.”

Take some time to work on this. Start labeling your emotions more finely and you can improve. This trains your intuition and helps you make better gut decisions. And let’s all hope the next stock market crash isn’t attributable to “vague vibes.”

(For more on how to skillfully understand your emotions, click here.)

Okay, we’ve covered a lot. Let’s round it all up – and we’ll learn the one word that can help make you much smarter…

Sum Up

Here’s how to get smarter:

• Consider The Opposite: No, this is not a mental autoimmune disorder; it’s epistemological hygiene. Consider how you could be wrong and you’re less likely to be wrong.
• Use Self-Distancing: Sounds like something I might do at a family reunion. In reality, it’s stepping outside your emotional meltdown to look at the situation from a cool, objective distance, as if you’re watching a Netflix show about a character named “You.”
• Use Base Rates: Those grim reapers of magical thinking that most people completely ignore because math is hard and hope is addictive. Before you worry about the unlikely or predict the impossible ask, “How often does this actually occur?”
• Use Emotional Differentiation: The top investors are out there deciphering the exact flavor of their emotional state like wine connoisseurs, while we’re over here chugging emotional boxed wine. Get nuanced about your feelings and intuition can become a sixth sense.

We’d all love to have clear answers in life – but sometimes a little ambiguity can lead to better thinking.

Researchers did a study where students were given a method to solve a type of math problem. Half the students were told this was “the way to solve this equation” and the other half was told this was “one way to solve this equation.” And that little word made all the difference.

Students who heard “one way” were 50% more likely to get the right answer. And, when tested, they had a more thorough understanding of the mathematical principle. Researchers redid the study with students in the humanities and social sciences. It worked again and again.

When we hear, “This is the cause, end of story,” we’re like, “Cool, I’ll just memorize that and never think about it again.” But with a little ambiguity it’s like we’ve been handed the intellectual equivalent of a treasure map. We’re no longer following orders — we’re exploring. It’s like handing someone a mystery novel instead of a manual.

Our brains expand faster than the plot holes in a Fast & Furious movie. Instead of mindlessly regurgitating what we’re told, we’re thinking critically. When we hear, “Hey, this is one option, but there might be others,” we start thinking we have agency — and we start using our brains.

Don’t let yourself get locked on to one idea. Don’t get lazy. Leave some wiggle room. Stay open-minded. Ambiguity doesn’t always create confusion. Sometimes it creates curiosity. And curiosity? That’s the stuff of brilliance.

Whatever your cognitive ability might be, start using these tools to improve your cognitive style. Consider the opposite: What if this problem isn’t as difficult as I think it is? Then self-distance: What would I tell my friend if they were in this situation? Check the base rates: How does this usually play out in the real world? Use emotional differentiation: Am I really “unhappy” with this situation, or am I just “frustrated” with this one issue? And, finally, consider there might be more than one way to make things better…

Having a high IQ doesn’t come with a warranty against being stupid. Being smart is great, but being aware of how your brain is trying to trick you?

That’s genius.