What does the CRT measure? Poor performance may arise from rational processes

The Cognitive Reflection Test is a widely used measure of the degree to which individuals override an intuitive response and engage in reflection. For both theoretical and practical reasons, it is widely taken to assess an important component of rational thought. In this paper, I will argue that whi...

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Main Author: Levy, N
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: Taylor and Francis 2022
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author Levy, N
author_facet Levy, N
author_sort Levy, N
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description The Cognitive Reflection Test is a widely used measure of the degree to which individuals override an intuitive response and engage in reflection. For both theoretical and practical reasons, it is widely taken to assess an important component of rational thought. In this paper, I will argue that while doing well on the CRT requires valuable cognitive capacities and dispositions, doing badly does not always indicate a lack of such capacities and dispositions. The CRT, I argue, offers respondents implicit (but misleading) testimony: some of those who do badly do so due to a stronger disposition to defer to testimony. Since deference is not irrational, those who do badly need not be irrational, not even in part.
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spelling oxford-uuid:ffdb180c-394b-482c-9e91-bb9aa3d29d012023-05-10T06:54:26ZWhat does the CRT measure? Poor performance may arise from rational processesJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:ffdb180c-394b-482c-9e91-bb9aa3d29d01EnglishSymplectic ElementsTaylor and Francis2022Levy, NThe Cognitive Reflection Test is a widely used measure of the degree to which individuals override an intuitive response and engage in reflection. For both theoretical and practical reasons, it is widely taken to assess an important component of rational thought. In this paper, I will argue that while doing well on the CRT requires valuable cognitive capacities and dispositions, doing badly does not always indicate a lack of such capacities and dispositions. The CRT, I argue, offers respondents implicit (but misleading) testimony: some of those who do badly do so due to a stronger disposition to defer to testimony. Since deference is not irrational, those who do badly need not be irrational, not even in part.
spellingShingle Levy, N
What does the CRT measure? Poor performance may arise from rational processes
title What does the CRT measure? Poor performance may arise from rational processes
title_full What does the CRT measure? Poor performance may arise from rational processes
title_fullStr What does the CRT measure? Poor performance may arise from rational processes
title_full_unstemmed What does the CRT measure? Poor performance may arise from rational processes
title_short What does the CRT measure? Poor performance may arise from rational processes
title_sort what does the crt measure poor performance may arise from rational processes
work_keys_str_mv AT levyn whatdoesthecrtmeasurepoorperformancemayarisefromrationalprocesses