Defining Intelligence 157

Defining Intelligence 157 guess that she doesn’t think about causation because no one ever tried to get her to do so. So she may very well be smart but she sounds stupid because she seems to be unaware of her own causal reasoning and is not very good at it. Being good at understanding causation and figuring what could possibly cause what and why is a hallmark of intelligence. Intelligence can be enhanced by practicing the cognitive processes that are the basis of intelligent behavior and intelligent reasoning. One of these hallmark processes is certainly causation. We could make Miss South Carolina smarter by teaching her how to determine what causes what and asking her to figure things out and explain them to others using a causation model that she could defend. Of course, it would have been better if this process started when she was a small child. Now, with that in mind, let’s look at the Palin remark. Palin was asked about her readiness for the office of vice president, which isn’t much of an office really. What was really being asked was her readi- ness for the presidency, which was not unreasonable to worry about considering John McCain’s age. She responded in a way that made clear that she has no understanding of causation either. In the statements above, she asserted (implicitly) the following beliefs about causation: Any mayor or city manager is ready to be president. Any governor is ready to be president. Any commissioner is ready to be president. Any regulator of gas and oil is ready to be president. If you have a vision of energy independence, you are ready to be president. Now, of course, one of these beliefs is, in fact, shared by the country since we have chosen governors to be president. But the other beliefs are simply wrong. No one thinks that having a vision of energy in- dependence prepares you to be president or that being an oil and gas regulator prepares you to be president. So, what does Palin misunderstand here? She doesn’t get the idea of preparedness as causation. Having a degree in accounting prepares you to be an accountant, most would agree. We believe, as a society, in certain rites of passage preparing you for the next step. Palin apparently has never thought about this or why anyone would hold such beliefs. HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_023897