Within Myside Bias
Why Smart People Still Defend Bad Ideas
Strong reasoning ability can improve analysis, but it can also supply better arguments for a conclusion someone wants to keep.
On this page
- Stanovich, West and Toplak's findings on intelligence
- Reasoning horsepower versus reasoning direction
- How skill can become a shield for identity
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Introduction
High intelligence is often assumed to protect people from biased thinking. Research on myside bias suggests otherwise. Strong analytical ability certainly helps people understand complex evidence, detect logical flaws and build sophisticated arguments. Yet those same abilities can also be used to defend conclusions that someone already wants to believe. The problem is not a lack of reasoning power but the direction in which that reasoning is deployed. When a belief is tied to identity, values or prior commitments, intelligence may produce a more articulate defence rather than a more impartial evaluation. This distinction matters for anyone seeking to improve their thinking: becoming smarter is not the same as becoming more intellectually fair. [Sage Journals]journals.sagepub.comSage JournalsMyside Bias, Rational Thinking, and Intelligenceby KE Stanovich · 2013 · Cited by 666 — Myside bias occurs when people evalu…
Intelligence predicts reasoning power, not reasoning direction
One of the most influential findings in this area comes from the work of Keith Stanovich, Richard West and Maggie Toplak. Across numerous studies using different measures of myside bias, they found surprisingly little relationship between conventional intelligence and the tendency to favour one’s own prior beliefs. Participants with higher cognitive ability often performed better on many reasoning tasks, but they were not consistently less likely to evaluate evidence in a one-sided way. [Sage Journals]journals.sagepub.comSage JournalsMyside Bias, Rational Thinking, and Intelligenceby KE Stanovich · 2013 · Cited by 666 — Myside bias occurs when people evalu…
This result challenged a widespread assumption in psychology and education. Intelligence tests primarily measure cognitive capacity—abilities such as working memory, abstract reasoning and pattern recognition. They do not directly measure whether a person actively seeks disconfirming evidence, treats opposing arguments fairly or revises beliefs when warranted. Stanovich therefore argues that rational thinking should be understood as partly separate from intelligence, requiring dispositions that intelligence tests largely overlook. [Sage Journals+2Not Equal]journals.sagepub.comSage JournalsMyside Bias, Rational Thinking, and Intelligenceby KE Stanovich · 2013 · Cited by 666 — Myside bias occurs when people evalu…
The distinction helps explain an everyday puzzle. Highly educated professionals, scientists, lawyers or academics may display excellent reasoning within their areas of expertise while simultaneously defending deeply held political, ideological or personal beliefs with remarkable selectivity. Their reasoning skills have not disappeared; they have been recruited in service of a preferred conclusion.
Stanovich, West and Toplak’s findings on intelligence
The research programme distinguishes between reasoning competence and thinking dispositions. Competence refers to having the mental tools needed for complex reasoning. Thinking dispositions refer to habits such as actively considering alternative explanations, seeking evidence that could prove oneself wrong and separating identity from factual claims.
Across many experimental paradigms—including evaluating arguments, generating evidence and testing hypotheses—the researchers repeatedly found that avoiding myside bias depends far more on these dispositions than on raw intellectual ability. They therefore argue that myside bias is one aspect of rational thinking that conventional IQ measures fail to capture. [Sage Journals]journals.sagepub.comSage JournalsMyside Bias, Rational Thinking, and Intelligenceby KE Stanovich · 2013 · Cited by 666 — Myside bias occurs when people evalu…
Reasoning horsepower versus reasoning direction
A useful analogy is to think of intelligence as engine power rather than navigation. A more powerful engine allows a vehicle to travel faster, but it does not determine whether the driver is heading towards the correct destination.
Reasoning works similarly. Greater intelligence often enables people to:
- generate more supporting arguments;
- detect weaknesses in opposing arguments;
- explain complex positions more persuasively;
- remember relevant evidence more effectively.
Those are genuine cognitive strengths. However, if the underlying goal is to defend an existing belief rather than test it, these strengths simply make the defence more sophisticated.
Researchers sometimes describe this as reasoning acting more like an advocate than a judge. The advocate searches for persuasive arguments supporting a client. The judge evaluates competing evidence under consistent standards. Intelligence improves both activities, but it does not automatically decide which role reasoning will play. [Sage Journals]journals.sagepub.comSage JournalsMyside Bias, Rational Thinking, and Intelligenceby KE Stanovich · 2013 · Cited by 666 — Myside bias occurs when people evalu…
This explains why debates between highly intelligent people often produce increasingly elaborate arguments without producing agreement. Each participant may genuinely reason well while applying that reasoning asymmetrically.
How skill becomes a shield for identity
Beliefs connected to personal identity create especially fertile ground for myside bias. Political affiliation, moral convictions, professional expertise and long-held public positions all carry social and emotional consequences if abandoned.
In these situations, intelligence can strengthen belief defence in several ways.
More sophisticated counter-arguments. Instead of dismissing contrary evidence outright, intelligent individuals may construct nuanced explanations for why it should be discounted.
Selective scrutiny. High reasoning ability can be directed towards identifying every possible weakness in unfavourable evidence while accepting supportive evidence with much lighter scrutiny.
Narrative coherence. People with stronger verbal and analytical skills often become better at integrating contradictory facts into an existing worldview without substantially changing that worldview.
Confidence. Expertise in one domain may create justified confidence that unintentionally spills into unrelated domains, making alternative viewpoints seem less plausible than they deserve.
None of these mechanisms require conscious dishonesty. Most occur because motivated reasoning operates largely outside deliberate awareness, making people feel that they are simply being objective. [Sage Journals]journals.sagepub.comSage JournalsMyside Bias, Rational Thinking, and Intelligenceby KE Stanovich · 2013 · Cited by 666 — Myside bias occurs when people evalu…
Why education alone is not enough
These findings also help explain why additional education produces only limited reductions in myside bias. Education undoubtedly improves knowledge, vocabulary and many forms of analytical reasoning. It often teaches students how to construct stronger arguments.
What education does not always teach is how to become equally skilled at challenging one’s own conclusions.
Several studies cited by Stanovich and colleagues suggest that years of formal education have relatively modest effects on reducing belief-protective reasoning unless education explicitly develops habits such as evaluating competing hypotheses, considering alternative explanations and distinguishing evidence from personal commitment. [Sage Journals]journals.sagepub.comSage JournalsMyside Bias, Rational Thinking, and Intelligenceby KE Stanovich · 2013 · Cited by 666 — Myside bias occurs when people evalu…
This does not mean education is ineffective. Rather, its benefits depend partly on what is being taught. Courses emphasising debate, source evaluation, probabilistic thinking and intellectual humility are more directly aimed at reducing biased reasoning than courses focused solely on acquiring information.
What separates rational thinkers from merely intelligent thinkers?
The research points towards a practical distinction between intelligence and rationality. [keithstanovich.com]keithstanovich.com46 Intelligence and Rationality1108 keith e. stanovich, maggie e. toplak, and richard f. west. Page…Read more…
Intelligent thinkers typically excel at solving difficult problems once the goal has been defined.
Rational thinkers additionally ask whether the goal itself is appropriate and whether their preferred conclusion deserves confidence.
Habits associated with more rational thinking include:
- actively searching for evidence that could prove a favoured belief wrong;
- applying the same standards of evidence to both preferred and opposing claims;
- separating criticism of an idea from criticism of personal identity;
- treating confidence as proportional to the quality of evidence rather than to reasoning ability;
- viewing belief revision as successful learning rather than personal defeat.
Stanovich has described this orientation as active open-mindedness: a disposition to seek reasons why one’s own view might be mistaken rather than merely accumulating reasons why it appears correct. Intelligence makes this process more effective only when a person genuinely chooses to pursue it. [Sage Journals+2Not Equal]journals.sagepub.comSage JournalsMyside Bias, Rational Thinking, and Intelligenceby KE Stanovich · 2013 · Cited by 666 — Myside bias occurs when people evalu…
The lesson for improving analytical thinking
The central lesson is not that intelligence is unimportant. Higher cognitive ability provides valuable tools for analysing evidence, recognising patterns and solving complex problems. The evidence instead shows that these tools do not automatically direct themselves towards truth.
Improving analytical thinking therefore requires cultivating reasoning habits alongside reasoning ability. Better logic, stronger memory and deeper expertise are valuable, but they are insufficient if they consistently serve only the beliefs a person already wishes to preserve.
In practice, the most reliable safeguard against myside bias is not simply becoming smarter. It is deliberately adopting thinking habits that make it psychologically acceptable—and intellectually routine—to discover that a cherished belief may need revision. [Sage Journals+2keithstanovich.com]journals.sagepub.comSage JournalsMyside Bias, Rational Thinking, and Intelligenceby KE Stanovich · 2013 · Cited by 666 — Myside bias occurs when people evalu…
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Further Reading
Books and field guides related to Why Smart People Still Defend Bad Ideas. Use these as the next step if you want deeper reading beyond the article.
Thinking, Fast and Slow
Provides foundational understanding of cognitive biases and reasoning errors that underpin myside bias.
The Enigma of Reason
Explores the idea that reasoning often evolved to justify and defend beliefs rather than discover truth.
What Intelligence Tests Miss
Directly explains Stanovich's distinction between intelligence and rational thinking, including biases such as myside bias.
Rationality
Examines rational thinking, belief formation, and how intelligent people can still reason poorly.
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Endnotes
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Source: not-equal.org
Title: Not Equaltoward a test of rational thinking / Keith Stanovich, Richard
Link: https://not-equal.org/Sources/Source376-Stanovich2016.pdfSource snippet
intelligence test, one does not automatically get a measure of rational thinking. To get the latter, we need to actually construct a test...
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Source: keithstanovich.com
Title: Stanovich Toplak 2023 1
Link: https://www.keithstanovich.com/Site/Research_on_Reasoning_files/Stanovich_Toplak_2023_1.pdfSource snippet
Not one of these biases was attenuated by high intelligence. The failure of general...Read mor...
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Source: keithstanovich.com
Title: 46 Intelligence and Rationality
Link: https://www.keithstanovich.com/Site/Research_on_Reasoning_files/Stanovich_Toplak_West_2020.pdfSource snippet
1108 keith e. stanovich, maggie e. toplak, and richard f. west. Page...Read more...
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Source: journals.sagepub.com
Link: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0963721413480174Source snippet
Sage JournalsMyside Bias, Rational Thinking, and Intelligenceby KE Stanovich · 2013 · Cited by 666 — Myside bias occurs when people evalu...
Additional References
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Source: researchgate.net
Link: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258127972_Myside_Bias_Rational_Thinking_and_IntelligenceSource snippet
(PDF) Myside Bias, Rational Thinking, and IntelligenceMyside bias occurs when people evaluate evidence, generate evidence, and test hypot...
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Source: englelab.gatech.edu
Link: https://englelab.gatech.edu/articles/2021/Burgoyne%20et%20al.%20%282021%29.%20Understanding%20the%20relationship%20between%20rationality%20and%20intelligence_%20a%20latent-variable%20approach.pdfSource snippet
the relationship between rationality and...by AP Burgoyne · Cited by 47 — And, in fact, measures of rationality and fluid intelligence c...
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Source: maggietoplak.com
Link: https://maggietoplak.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Stanovich-K.-E.-West-R.-F.-Toplak-M.-E.-2013.-Myside-bias-rational-thinking-and-intelligence.pdfSource snippet
Maggie ToplakMyside Bias, Rational Thinking, and Intelligenceby KE Stanovich · 2008 · Cited by 664 — Avoiding myside bias is thus one rat...
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Source: academia.edu
Link: https://www.academia.edu/55787043/Myside_Bias_Rational_Thinking_and_Intelligence -
Source: youtube.com
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewIlSr7grqUSource snippet
2010 Grawemeyer Award Winner in Education...
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Source: youtube.com
Title: Maggie Toplak: What IQ Tests Miss
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGka5bQIgS4Source snippet
Rich West: "[Good Judgment]({{ 'good-judgment/' | relative_url }}), Decision Making, and Rational Thinking: What Intelligence Tests Miss"...
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Source: youtube.com
Title: Why Intelligence Doesn’t Make You Rational or Reasonable | John Vervaeke
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_MlMxr109ESource snippet
Maggie Toplak: What IQ Tests Miss...
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Source: youtube.com
Title: Why Smart People Still Make DUMB Decisions: The Dark Side of Genius
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYLmv7uZZ6k -
Source: youtube.com
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJNcHnxhfYkSource snippet
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