Table of Contents

PREFACE
PREFACE UPDATED

  • INTRODUCTION
  • DEFINING STUPIDITY
    The Literature—Stupidity as Normal—Intelligence—
    Judgments—Coping?—Contributing Factors—Animal
    Stupidity—The Evolution of Human Stupidity—
    The Ontogeny of Human Stupidity

  • THE SCHEMA AS ADAPTIVE
    Language—Norms—Groups—Roles

  • THE SCHEMA AS MALADAPTIVE
    Perception—Ego—Anxiety—Mental Illness—
    Genius— Learning

  • THE CULTURAL BASIS OF STUPIDITY
    Religion—Ideology—Communication—Politics—Economics
    —Society—Technology—Art

  • A HISTORY OF WESTERN STUPIDITY
    115 Greece—Rome—The Crusades—The Renaissance—
    The Reformation—The American Revolution—France and Napoleon
    —The Germ Theory in Medicine—Communism—World Wars
    —The Bay of Pigs—Vietnam—Watergate

  • MODERN AMERICAN STUPIDITY
    Pluralism—Image—Language—The Media—Government—
    The Economy—Society—Foreign Policy—The Environment—Art—
    Education—Identity

  • THE FUTURE OF STUPIDITY AND
    VICE VERSA
    Failure—Limitations—Reformers—Crises—Science—Myths—
    "Freedom"—Morality—Humanity

    EPILOGUE

    BIBLIOGRAPHY

    ADDENDUM

    		•



    Understanding Stupidity

    by James F Welles, Ph.D.
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