SCIENCE
Who Gets Smarter from Anti-Bias Training?
Thu May 08 2025
Nowadays, it's clear that everyone makes mistakes when thinking. Even with all the new methods to help people think better, not everyone gets better at it. A recent study looked at why some people improve more than others. It turns out, how open-minded someone is might be more important than how smart they are.
The study had people do tasks before and after some training. The tasks were designed to see if people could avoid common thinking traps. After the training, some people did better, some stayed the same, and some were already good at the tasks. The people who improved were in the middle of the other two groups.
The study found that being open-minded was more important than just being smart. Smart people might still make mistakes if they aren't open to changing their minds. Also, people who could spot their own mistakes were more likely to try harder and improve. This shows that wanting to think better is just as important as being able to.
So, what does this mean? Well, it's not just about being smart. It's also about being open to new ideas and wanting to improve. This is important to keep in mind when trying to help people think better. It's not a one-size-fits-all situation. Some people might need more encouragement to try harder. Others might need to work on being more open-minded.
In the end, it's clear that improving how we think is complicated. It's not just about being smart. It's about being open to new ideas and wanting to do better. This is something to think about the next time someone tries to help you think better. It might not be as simple as just learning new facts or doing puzzles. It might be about changing how you think about thinking.
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questions
What if debiasing interventions were as addictive as a good Netflix series, would everyone benefit equally?
How do thinking dispositions influence the effectiveness of debiasing interventions?
What are the implications of finding that thinking dispositions are more critical than cognitive capacities in debiasing success?
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