Re-envisioning intelligence in cultural context

Intelligence has been associated with sundry public goods, such as employer ratings of job performance, educational attainments, and even life outcomes related to marriage and longevity. However, one increasingly important aspect of modern life has not been examined vis-à-vis the role of intelligence: How does intelligence relate to resistance to misinformation and fake news? Misinformation in social media has become so common that most major outlets routinely assign journalists and fact-checkers to verify claims made. However, even the fact-checkers often disagree with each other. In this chapter we discuss how intelligence today must address how people become aware of, identify, and resist misinformation. Current conceptions of intelligence should incorporate how people reason in today's information-rich era, which requires us all to use our intelligence to distinguish trustworthy, accurate information from fake news. The evidence points to the importance of assuming an "openly active method of thinking" to recognize and combat misinformation. This type of thinking is related to psychometric intelligence, but only moderately. Intelligent, highly educated people from varied backgrounds and perspectives may be just as vulnerable as less-educated people to biases that undermine thinking. Furthermore, smart people may deliberately craft fake news because its dissemination helps to achieve their goals.