THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF IDIOTS
1. Mara Sidoli, “Farting as a Defence Against Unspeakable Dread,” Journal of Analytical Psychology 41, no. 2 (April 1996): 165–78.
2. David Graeber, “On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs: A Work Rant,” Strike! 3, August 2013, www.strikemag.org/bullshit-jobs.
3. Roger C. Schank and Robert P. Abelson, Scripts, Plans, Goals and Understanding: An Inquiry into Human Knowledge Structures, chapters 1–3 (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1977).
4. Daniel J. Simons and Daniel T. Levin, “Failure to Detect Changes to People During a Real-World Interaction,” Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 5, no. 4 (1998): 644–49.
5. Ellen J. Langer, “The Illusion of Control,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 32, no. 2 (1975): 311–28.
6. Leo Montada and Melvin J. Lerner, eds., preface to Responses to Victimizations and Belief in a Just World, (New York: Springer, 1998) vii-viii.
7. Franck Daninos, “Moto Fantôme de l’A4: Une Harley Peut-Elle Rouler Sans Pilote Sur Plusieurs Kilometres?” [The Phantom Motorcycle of the A4: Can a Harley Travel for Several Kilometers Without a Driver?], Sciencesetavenirs.fr, June 21, 2017.
8. Miron Zuckerman, Jordan Silberman, and Judith A. Hall, “The Relation Between Intelligence and Religiosity: A Meta-Analysis and Some Proposed Explanations,” Personality and Social Psychology Review 17, no. 4 (August 2013): 325–54.
9. Susan T. Charles, Mara Mather, and Laura L. Carstensen, “Aging and Emotional Memory: The Forgettable Nature of Negative Images for Older Adults,” Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 132, no. 2 (2003): 310.
10. Georges Brassens, “Le Temps ne Fait Rien à l’Affaire” [Age Has Nothing to Do with It], 1961.
11. Ellen J. Langer, “The Illusion of Control.”
12. Shelley E. Taylor and Jonathan D. Brown, “Illusion and Well-Being: A Social Psychological Perspective on Mental Health,” Psychological Bulletin 103, no. 2 (198), 193–210.
13. Jean-François Verlhiac, “L’Effet de Faux Consensus: Une Revue Empirique et Théorique” [The Effect of False Consensus: An Empirical and Theoretical Review], L’Année Psychologique 100 (2000): 141–82.
14. Dale T. Miller and Michael Ross, “Self-Serving Biases in the Attribution of Causality. Fact or Fiction?” Psychological Bulletin 82 (1975): 213–25.
15. Justin Kruger and David Dunning, “Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One’s Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 77, no. 6 (1999): 1121–34.
16. Steven J. Heine, Shinobu Kitayama, and Darrin R. Lehman, “Cultural Differences in Self-Evaluation: Japanese Readily Accept Negative Self-Relevant Information,” Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 32 (2001): 434–43.
17. Esther R. Greenglass and Juhani Julkunen, “Cynical Distrust Scale,” Personality and Individual Differences (1989).
18. Paul Rozin and Edward B. Royzman, “Negativity Bias, Negativity Dominance, and Contagion,” Personality and Social Psychology Review 5 (2001): 296–320.
19. Lee Ross, “The Intuitive Psychologist and His Shortcomings: Distortions in the Attribution Process,” Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 10 (1977): 173–220.
A TAXONOMY OF MORONS
1. Xavier de La Porte, interview with Gérard Berry, in L’Obs, November 21, 2016, www.nouvelobs.com/rue89-le-grand-entretien/20160826.RUE7684/gerard-berry-l-ordinateur-est-completement-con.html.
A THEORY OF ASSHOLES
1. Robert Sutton, professor of management at Stanford University, published The No Asshole Rule in 2007, in which he defends the idea of a professional environment free of assholes, particularly sexual harassers.
FROM STUPIDITY TO HOGWASH
1. Robert Musil, Über die Dummheit, 1937.
2. Kevin Mulligan, Anatomie della Stoltezza [Anatomies of Foolishness] (Milano: Jouvence, 1996).
3. Harry G. Frankfurt, On Bullshit (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992).
4. Georges Picard, De la Connerie [On Stupidity] (Paris: Éditions Corti, 1994).
5. Alain Roger, Bréviaire de la Bétise [A Breviary of Stupidity] (Paris: Gallimard, 2008).
TO BE HUMAN IS TO BE EASILY FOOLED
1. Rolf Dobelli, The Art of Thinking Clearly (New York: HarperCollins, 2013).
2. Kathryn Schulz, Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error (New York: HarperCollins, 2010).
3. Daniel Kahneman, Thinking Fast and Slow (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2011).
LET JUSTICE DO ITS WORK (OF DIGESTION)
1. Shai Danziger, Jonathan Levav, and Liora Avnaim-Pesso, “Extraneous Factors in Judicial Decisions,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108, no. 17 (April 26, 2011).
CRITIQUE OF THE PURE REASONER
1. Jean-François Bonnefon, Le Raisonneur et Ses Modèles [The Reasoner and His Models] (Grenoble, France: PUG, 2011).
ON STUPIDITY IN THE BRAIN
1. A recent article of high caliber was voluntarily suppressed by members of the neurological community, particularly those affiliated with university hospitals. The article reports that taking early retirement increases the risk of contracting Alzheimer’s by 15 percent. Out of solidarity, I will not give my sources, for fear that they might be misused and wrongly interpreted by the French government’s health ministry.
INTENTIONAL IDIOCY
1. Robert J. Sternberg, ed., Why Smart People Can Be So Stupid (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003).
2. Keith E. Stanovich, What Intelligence Tests Miss: The Psychology of Rational Thought (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009).
3. Sophie Brasseur and Catherine Cuche, Le Haut Potentiel en Questions [High Potential in Questions] (Wavre, Belgium: Mardaga, 2017).
4. Keith E. Stanovich, Richard F. West, and Maggie E. Toplak, The Rationality Quotient: Toward a Test of Rational Thinking (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2016).
WHEN VERY SMART PEOPLE BELIEVE VERY DUMB THINGS
1. Gérald Bronner, La Démocratie des Crédules [The Democracy of the Gullible] (Paris: Presse Universitaires de France, 2013), 296.
2. Miron Zuckerman, Jordan Silberman, and Judith A. Hall, “The Relation Between Intelligence and Religiosity: A Meta-Analysis and Some Proposed Explanations,” Personality and Social Psychology Review 17, no. 4 (August 2013): 325–54.
3. Heather A. Butler, “Who Do Smart People Do Foolish Things? Intelligence Is Not the Same as Critical Thinking and the Difference Matters,” Scientific American, October 3, 2017.
4. Les Lois de l’Attraction Mentale [The Laws of Mental Attraction], directed by Loki Jackal (Nancy, France: La Tronche en Biais, November 2017), documentary.
5. John Stachel, David C. Cassidy, Robert Schulmann, eds., Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, The Early Years 1899–1902 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1987).
WHY WE FIND MEANING IN COINCIDENCES
1. Nicolas Gauvrit, Vous Avez Dit Hasard?: Entre Mathématiques et Psychologie [Did You Say Luck?: Between Mathematics and Psychology] (Paris: Humensis, 2014).
2. Editor’s Note: A theory elaborated by Anne Ancelin Schützenberger, inspired by psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, and psychodynamics, which proposes that tensions and traumatizing events endured by one’s ancestors can condition the psychological problems and behaviors of a subject.
3. Editor’s Note: A meaningful coincidence for the observer, produced by “significant and creatively productive chance,” according to Carl Gustav Jung.
THE LANGUAGE OF STUPIDITY
1. Picard, De la Connerie.
2. George Orwell, 1984 (London: Secker and Warburg, 1949).
3. Éric Chauvier, Les Mots Sans les Choses [Words Without Things] (Paris: Editions Allia, 2014), 76.
4. It is this “indifference to reality” that is, according to Harry G. Frankfurt, “the very essence of stupidity.” Cf. Harry G. Frankfurt, On Bullshit (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992), 34.
5. Claude Hagège, L’Homme de Paroles, [The Man of Words] (Paris: Fayard, 1985), 202.
6. Cf. Jacques Dewitte, “La Lignification de la Langue” [The Lignification of Language], Hermès, La Revue, no. 58 (March 2010): 48–49.
7. René Zazzo, who calls the inability of the subject to “decenter” himself and “to see through other’s eyes” one of the principal sources of stupidity. Cf. “Qu’est-ce que la Connerie, Madame?” [What Is Stupidity, Madame?] in Où en Est la Psychologie de l’Enfant? [Where Are We in Child Psychology?] by René Zazzo (Paris: Denoël, 1983), 52.
8. Statements marked by stupidity and empty words chiefly reflect herd instincts. Theodor Adorno writes that they “seem to guarantee, even as they leave your mouth, that you’re not doing what you’re doing,” which is bleating “with the crowd.” Cf. Theodor Adorno, The Jargon of Authenticity (New York: Routledge Classics, 2003), 60.
STUPIDITY AND NARCISSISM
1. René Zazzo, Où en Est la Psychologie de l’Enfant? [Where Are We in Child Psychology?] (Paris: Denoël, 1984).
2. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) (Issy les Moulineaux, France: Elsevier Masson, 2015).
3. Jerald Kay, “Toward a Clinically More Useful Model for Diagnosing Narcissistic Personality Disorder,” American Journal of Psychiatry 165, no. 11 (2007): 1379–382.
4. Frederick S. Stinson, Deborah A. Dawson, Rise B. Goldstein, S. Patricia Chou, Boji Huang, Sharon M. Smith, W. June Ruan, Attila J. Pulay, Tulshi D. Saha, Roger P. Pickering, and Bridget F. Grant, “Prevalence, Correlates, Disability, and Comorbidity of DSM-IV Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Results from the Wave 2 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions,” Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 69 (2008): 1033–45.
5. Jean M. Twenge and W. Keith Campbell, The Narcissism Epidemic (New York: Atria, 2009).
6. Eric Russ, Jonathan Shedler, Rebekah Bradley, and Drew Westen, “Refining the Construct of Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Diagnostic Criteria and Subtypes,” American Journal of Psychiatry 165, no. 11 (2008): 1473–81.
7. Christopher Lasch, The Culture of Narcissism (New York: W. W. Norton, 1979).
8. Daniel N. Jones and Delroy L. Paulhus, “Introducing the Short Dark Triad (SD30): A Brief Measure of Dark Personality Traits,” Assessment 21, no. 1 (2014): 28–41.
9. Ernest H. O’Boyle, Donelson R. Forsyth, George. C. Banks, and Michael A. McDaniel, “A Meta-Analysis of the Dark Triad and Work Behavior: A Social Exchange Perspective,” Journal of Applied Psychology 97, no. 30 (2012): 557–79.
10. Robert Sutton, excerpt from “Are You a Certified Asshole,” The No Asshole Rule (New York and Boston: Business Plus, 2007).
11. Christopher J. Carpenter, “Narcissism on Facebook: Self-Promotional and Anti-Social Behavior,” Personality and Individual Differences 52 (2012): 482–86.
12. J. A. Lee and Yongjun Sung, “Hide-and-Seek: Narcissism and ‘Selfie’-Related Behavior,” Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking 19, no. 5 (May 2016): 347–51.
13. Silvia Casale, Giulia Fioravanti, and Laura Rugai, “Grandiose and Vulnerable Narcissists: Who Is at Higher Risk for Social Networking Addiction?” Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking 19, no. 8 (2016): 510–15.
14. Maeve Duggan, “Online Harassment,” Pew Research Center, October 22, 2014, www.pewinternet.org/2014/10/22/online-harassment.
15. Erin E. Buckle, Paul D. Trapnell, and Delroy L. Paulhus, “Trolls Just Want to Have Fun,” Personality and Individual Differences 67 (2014): 97–102.
STUPID AND EVIL SOCIAL NETWORKS
1. François Jost, La Méchanceté en Actes à l’Ere Numérique [Evil Deeds in the Digital Age] (Paris: CNRS Éditions, 2018).
2. Web 2.0 refers to the second stage of development of the World Wide Web (now known retrospectively as Web 1.0), featuring increased interactivity, collaboration, and communication channels, and the extensive presence of user-generated content.
3. Guy Debord, La Société du Spectacle [The Society of the Spectacle] (Paris: Folio 1996).
4. Thomas Coëffé, “Étude: Les Images sur Twitter Permettent de Booster l’Engagement,” [Images on Twitter Can Boost Engagement] BDM Media Blog, October 7, 2013, www.blogdumoderateur.com/twitter-images-engagement.
5. “Le Philosophe Masqué,” [The Masked Philosopher], interview with Christian Delacampagne, February 1980, in Le Monde, April 6, 1980, reprinted in Dits et Écrits, vol. IV (Paris: Gallimard Quarto, 2001), text no. 285.
6. Défi du Sauté dans l’Eau La Chute du Rire [The Water Plunge Challenge: The Torrent of Laughter], YouTube, June 9, 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwIuTLBmEkE, accessed March 24, 2018.
7. I have preserved the spelling used in the comments.
8. Un Dîner (Presque) Parfait [An (Almost) Perfect Dinner], www.youtube.com/watch?v=M&trhwLQ3QQ.
ANIMATED WISDOM
1. Vladimir Jankélévitch, L’Innocence et la Méchanceté [Innocence and Evil] (Paris: Flammarion, coll. Champs, 1986).
2. Adèle Van Reeth and Michaël Foessel, La Méchanceté [Evil] (Paris: Plon-France, 2014), 95.
3. Harry G. Frankfurt, On Bullshit (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992), 32.
THE INTERNET: THE DEATH OF INTELLIGENCE?
1. Howard Gardner, Truth, Beauty and Goodness Reframed (New York: Basic Books, 2011).
2. There’s no accounting for taste.
STUPIDITY AND POST-TRUTH
1. Armand Farrachi, Le Triomphe de la Bêtise [The Triumph of Stupidity] (Arles, France: Actes Sud, 2018).
2. Sebastian Dieguez, Total Bullshit! Au Coeur de la Post-Vérité [Total Bullshit! At the Heart of Post-Truth] (Paris: Presse Universitaires de France, 2018).
3. Harry G. Frankfurt, On Bullshit (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992).
4. “Word of the Year, 2016,” https://languages.oup.com/word-of-the-year/2016/.
5. Pascal Engel, “The Epistemology of Stupidity,” in Performance Epistemology: Foundations and Applications, ed. M. A. Fernández Vargas (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016): 196–223.
6. Alain Roger, Bréviaire de la Bêtise [A Bréviary of Stupidity] (Paris: Gallimard, 2008); see also Michel Adam, Essai sur la Bêtise [Essays on Stupidity] (Paris: La Table Ronde, 2004).
7. Laura Penny, Your Call Is Important to Us: The Truth About Bullshit (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2005).
8. Belinda Cannone, La Bêtise S’Améliore (Paris: Pocket, 2016).
9. Raymond Nickerson, “Confirmation Bias: A Ubiquitous Phenomenon in Many Guises,” Review of General Psychology 2 (1998): 175–220.
10. Oliver Hahl, Minjae Kim, and Ezra W. Z. Sivan, “The Authentic Appeal of the Lying Demagogue: Proclaiming the Deeper Truth About Political Illegitimacy,” American Sociological Review 83 (2018): 1–33.
11. Keith E. Stanovich, “Rationality, Intelligence and Levels of Analysis in Cognitive Science: Is Dysrationalia Possible?” in Why Smart People Can Be So Stupid, ed. R. Sternberg (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002): 124–58.
12. Barbara K. Hofer and Paul R. Pintrich, eds., Personal Epistemology: The Psychology of Beliefs About Knowledge and Knowing (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2002).
13. Let us note that it is also very difficult for a rational, intelligent person to imagine the mental world of a fool, a phenomenon sometimes called “the curse of knowledge.” Susan A. J. Birch and Paul Bloom, “The Curse of Knowledge in Reasoning About False Beliefs,” Psychological Science 18 (2007): 382–86.
14. David Dunning, “The Dunning-Kruger Effect: On Being Ignorant of One’s Own Ignorance,” Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 44 (2011): 247–96.
15. “Brandolini’s Law,” Ordres Spontane Blog, August 7, 2014, ordrespontane.blogspot.ch/2014/07/brandolinis-law.html.
16. Sebastian Dieguez, “Qu’est-ce Que La Bêtise?” [What Is Stupidity?], Cerveau & Psycho 70 (2015): 84–90.
17. Stefaan Blancke, Maarten Boudry, and Massimo Pigliucci, “Why Do Irrational Beliefs Mimic Science? The Cultural Evolution of Pseudoscience,” Theoria 83 (2017): 78–98.
18. Adrian Piper, “Pseudorationality,” in Perspectives on Self-Deception, eds., B. McLaughlin and A. Rorty (Oakland: University of California Press, 1988), 173–97.
19. Robert Musil, De la Bêtise [On Stupidity] (Paris: Editions Allia, 1937).
20. Justin Tosi and Brandon Warmke, “Moral Grandstanding,” Philosophy and Public Affairs 44 (2016): 197–217; M. J. Crockett, “Moral Outrage in the Digital Age,” Nature Human Behaviour 1 (2017): 769–71.
THE METAMORPHOSES OF NATIONALIST FOLLY
1. Ernst Cassirer, The Myth of the State (New Haven: CT: Yale University Press, 1966), 3.
2. Jean-Pierre Vernant, Mythe & Société en Grèce Ancienne [Myth and Society in Ancient Greece] (Paris: La Découverte, 1974), 201.
3. Pierre de Senarclens, “Nations et Nationalisme,” Sciences Humaines, 2018.
4. Georges Devereux, “La Psychanalyse Appliquée a l’Histoire de Sparte” [Psychoanalysis Applied to the History of Sparta], in Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales [Annals. History, Social Sciences], 20th Century Year, no. 1 (January–February 1965): 31–32.
5. François Hourmant, Le Désenchantement des Clercs [The Disenchantment of the Bureaucrats] (Rennes, France: Presse Universitaire du Rennes, 1997); Thierry Wolton, Histoire Mondiale du Communisme [The Global History of Communism], vol. 3: Les Complices [The Accomplices] (Paris: Grasset, 2017).
HOW CAN WE FIGHT COLLECTIVE ERROR?
1. Christian Morel, Les Décisions Absurdes [Absurd Decisions] (Paris: Gallimard, 2002), 202; Les Décisions Absurdes II: Comment Les Éviter [Absurd Decisions II: How to Avoid Them] (Paris: Gallimard, 2012); and Les Décisions Absurdes III: L’Enfer des Règles, les Pièges Relationnels [Absurd Decisions III: The Hell of Rules, and Relational Traps] (Paris: Gallimard, 2018).
THE HUMAN: THE ANIMAL THAT DARES ALL
1. Audrey Jougla, Profession: Animal de Laboratoire [Job: Lab Animal] (Paris: Autrement, 2015).
2. Thomas Lepeltier, L’Imposture Intellectuelle des Carnivores [The Intellectual Imposture of Carnivores] (Paris: Max Milo Éditions, 2017).
3. A.-J. Bouglione, Contre L’Exploitation Animale [Against Animal Exploitation] (Paris: Tchou, 2018).
4. Marc Bekoff, Les Émotions des Animaux [The Emotions of Animals] (Paris: Payot, 2009).
5. Yves Christen, L’Animal Est-Il Une Personne? [Are Animals People?] (Paris: Flammarion, 2009).
6. Florence Burgat, L’Animal dans les Pratiques de Consommation [Animals and the Habits of Consumption] (Paris: Presse Universitaires de France, 1998).
7. Martin Gibert, Voir Son Steak Comme un Animal Mort [Seeing Your Steak as a Dead Animal] (Montreal: Lux Éditeur, 2015).
8. Renan Larue, Le Végétarisme et Ses Ennemis: Vingt-Cinq Siècles de Débats [Vegetarianism and Its Foes: Twenty-Five Centuries of Debate] (Paris: Presse Universitaires de France, 2015).
WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT ASSHOLES?
1. In the context of this article, the word “asshole,” used generically, enfolds the female counterpart.
2. The inclination to mock his subject will lead him again and again to disavow his role, saying, “He’s just being a wimp,” or “Quit playing the victim,” or in a still more cunning spin, “Victimization is a serious charge.”
MAKING PEACE WITH YOUR STUPIDITY
1. Albert Ellis, Reason and Emotion in Psychotherapy (New York: Citadel, 1994).
2. Albert Ellis and Robert A. Harper, A Guide to Rational Living (Chatsworth, CA: Wilshire Book Company, 1975).
3. Christopher K. Germer, L’Autocompassion [Self-Compassion] (Paris: Odile Jacob, 2013).
4. Kristin Neff, Loving Yourself (New York: HarperCollins, 2011).
5. Harriet G. Lerner, Why Won’t You Apologize?: Healing Betrayals and Everyday Hurts (New York: Touchstone, 2017).
SHAMELESS
1. Brené Brown, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead (New York: Avery), 2012.
UNCONDITIONAL SELF-ACCEPTANCE
1. H. Chabrol, A. Rousseau, and S. Callahan, “Preliminary Results of a Scale Assessing Instability of Self-Esteem,” Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science/Revue Canadienne des Sciences du Comportement 38, no. 2 (2006): 136–41.