re: #54 Vicious Babushka

I still don’t understand the importance attached to “IQ” and how it correlates to human accomplishment. For one thing, we have a stereotype of people who score very high on standard “IQ” tests, who are socially low-functioning (so-called “nerds), while people who may achieve only moderate “IQ” scores have highly developed social skills and achieve higher success than the “nerds.”

Success is also correlated with a certain capacity for self deception. Sucks but it’s true.

Most people deceive themselves at least occasionally. For example, we may see ourselves as more attractive or skillful than we really are, giving us confidence during speeches or meetings; or we may overestimate our chances of succeeding at new ventures, to muster the courage to get started. But only in the past five years have behavioral scientists begun using new, experimental research techniques to understand when and why we are most likely to lie to ourselves.

An ability to block out negatives can be helpful in facing tough challenges, scientists say. An oft-cited 1991 study of 40 competitive collegiate swimmers found those who were more likely to deceive themselves by blocking out negative information were also more likely to win races. Using a scale with questions designed to measure self-deceptive tendencies and a visual test using pairs of positive and negative words to see which swimmers noticed the positive words and blocked out the negative ones, the researchers discovered that swimmers who qualified for a national championship engaged in more self-deception than those who didn’t qualify.