Jumia Books The Intelligence Trap: Revolutionise your Thinking and Make Wiser Decisions by David Robson

The Intelligence Trap: Revolutionise your Thinking and Make Wiser Decisions by David Robson explores the paradox that being intelligent or highly educated does not necessarily protect individuals from making poor decisions or falling into cognitive traps. Robson shows that smart people can be even more susceptible to certain errors because of overconfidence, biases, and the misuse of reasoning.

Key insights from the book include:

Intelligence alone does not guarantee immunity to cognitive biases; in some cases, high IQ and expertise can amplify mistakes.

Intellectual humility—recognizing the limits of one's knowledge and being open to continuous learning—is essential to avoiding errors.

Confirmation bias leads people to favor information that supports their existing beliefs, which smart individuals can fall victim to just like anyone else.

Even experts can make flawed judgments due to overconfidence and bias.

The book provides a cognitive toolkit to help apply intelligence more wisely, improve decision-making, regulate emotions, fine-tune intuition, and think more flexibly about complex problems.

Historical and contemporary examples illustrate how intelligence can "backfire," including failures at NASA, Nokia, and in scientific communities.

The author draws from behavioral science and lessons from figures like Socrates, Benjamin