The Psychology of Stupidity

Through a mix of essays and interviews, Marmion, a psychologist and the editor-in-chief of the French journal Le Cercle Psy, presents a comprehensive and witty inquiry into human folly in its myriad forms. The 28 contributors include psychiatrists, psychologists, and philosophers, as well as a screenwriter (Jean-Claude Carrière) and a marketing consultant (Mark Holiday, formerly of American Apparel). They offer widely varying and sweeping definitions of the subject, beginning with Marmion’s “Stupidity is an unkept promise, a promise of intelligence and confidence that the idiots among us betray, traitors to humanity,” but all can agree on its ubiquity and central role in shaping human affairs, particularly in the 21st century thus far. Philosopher Pascal Engel discusses the limits of what rationality can accomplish, Patrick Moreau unpacks the perils of linguistic laxness, and Marmion himself discusses heuristics, “the intuitive reasoning that people bring to their daily lives,” a concept coined by contributor Daniel Kahneman and his late colleague Amos Tversky. Among the wealth of insights, one of the salient takeaways is the importance of humility and self-skepticism, acutely stated by social psychologist Ewa Drozda-Senkowska: “Ignorance is a strong engine of knowledge, provided that you know you’re ignorant, and that you know what you don’t know.” Urgent and transformative, this compendium will leave readers equally amused, appalled, and enlightened. Agent: Marleen Seegers, 2 Seas Agency. (Oct.)