No doubt you know several folks with perfectly respectable IQs who just don’t seem all that sharp. The behavior of such people tells us that we are missing something important by treating intelligence ...

Making good decisions is not easy, and making the best possible (“optimal”) decisions is even harder. Instead, humans often use shortcuts and rules of thumb. From firm managers and policymakers to ...

Steven Pinker’s new bestseller, “Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters,” is filled with riddles and quizzes and problems to ponder. Reading it, I bombed on every single one. The ...

FOR believers in rationality, the modern world is often a frustrating and bewildering place. Despite the many and manifest successes of science, it seems ever harder to penetrate the fog of ...

Conspiracy theories describe what adherents believe to be secret plots by powerful and malevolent groups to control, impoverish or harm hard-working people. Many conspiracy theorists share the ...

There are two kinds of leaders: One type is what I call the "rational optimist," who can see opportunities in difficult situations and respond appropriately when problems arise. I consider the other ...

Through the story of the whale ship Essex, novelist Karen Thompson Walker describes how our most vivid fears are often not the most realistic. In Karen Thompson Walker's 2012 novel The Age of Miracles ...