r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • 20d ago

Neuroscience Twin study suggests rationality and intelligence share the same genetic roots - the study suggests that being irrational, or making illogical choices, might simply be another way of measuring lower intelligence.

https://www.psypost.org/twin-study-suggests-rationality-and-intelligence-share-the-same-genetic-roots/
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u/peteypete78 20d ago

Dumb people make dumb decisions? Who would have thunk it.

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u/BrainKatana 20d ago

Incredibly smart people also make dumb decisions so something seems off about this study.

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u/Sinai 20d ago

That's the great thing about quantitative testing, because you can show exactly how much more often dumb people make of wrong decisions in different situations, and then you have learned something about how much more or less intelligence matters in different situations.

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u/BonJovicus 20d ago

That's the great thing about quantitative testing

Yes but that tells us very little about how this plays out for the individuals in their everyday lives. The study can say "on average X type of people exhibit Y% more behavior," but it is very clear that people in the thread or lay people in general will interpret this as "dumb people make dumb decisions and smart people make smart decisions", ergo if I think someone is dumb, all of their decisions are irrational whereas if I believe I am smart all my decisions are rational.

A better example might be clinical drug trials. For them to even make it to market they have to overall be both safe and effective on a population level, and yet there will always be patients for whom this is not true because of each individual's unique genetic AND environmental factors. I'm never surprised when medication that was worked well for one patient doesn't work well for the next one to walk in the clinic.

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u/Sinai 20d ago

The failure of a percentage of laymen to interpret conclusions says nothing about the validity of the testing or its usefulness.

I drop a pass from an NFL quarterback, it doesn't mean he's a bad quarterback or that passer ratings are meaningless.