
:''This is the most common meaning for stupid. For other uses of the term stupid, see Stupid (disambiguation).'' Stupidity is the quality or condition of being stupid, or lacking intelligence. This quality can be attributed to both an individual himself (''John Smith is stupid'') or his actions, words or beliefs (''John Smith's policies are stupid''). The determination of who is stupid is difficult, despite attempts to measure intelligence (and thus stupidity) such as Intelligence quotient. ==Definitions== As there are many definitions of intelligence, there are also many definitions of stupidity: * Those who suffer from a mental disability that is genetic or biological in origin. It could be argued, however, that this is unfair, since stupidity implies that one is at least able to understand that an action is stupid, and in the mentally disabled this may not be possible. In other words it could be argued that stupidity implies culpability, which may not be fairly imputed to mentally disabled people on account of actions that would rightfully be considered stupid if done by people not suffering from any mental disability. * Those lacking knowledge about certain subjects. This can be those who are lacking formal education and knowledge about the world, or those that are highly educated but lacking street smarts or common sense. Lack of knowledge is more commonly termed ignorance. * Conflicting "belief systems". When an individual regards the actions of others as "stupid", it is often because those actions are contrary to the actions that the individual thinks are rational. It has been proposed that when faced with the complexity of life, the universe, and everything, humans create belief systems that enable them to function without being overwhelmed by information. In other words humans do not naturally employ logical progression in order to arrive at every single judgement — they rely instead on preconceived notions that have been built up over the course of their lives. People who have led different lives develop different "truths" which are in turn used as starting points from which to navigate more complex reasoning. Although a belief system may be religious, ideological or political it must not necessarily be so -- it can be a combination of all or none of these. All individuals have their own belief system. According to this definition, an individual can only be stupid if they employ faulty logic on their existing beliefs. An individual cannot reliably be diagnosed as "stupid" by an observer who is not in possession of the "facts" on which the individuals reasoning is predicated. Of course the observer may feel that they are in possession of more (or a higher quality of) "facts" — but how can they be sure of this...? ==Stupidity manifested by the educated== Recently a great deal of attention has been paid to another class of stupidity: stupid actions by those that are highly educated and worldly. It is an important subject as it is increasingly evident that powerful, and generally very intelligent, people sometimes do stupid things. In recent years a number of notions such as group think or god complexes have been developed to explain this. This is a fairly new topic for researchers and there are still few academic works on the subject, though in the 19th Century Oscar Wilde wrote ''There is no sin except stupidity''. [http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Oscar_Wilde] ''The Encyclopedia of Stupidity'' ISBN 1861891598 by Matthijs van Boxsel is based on the author's contention that "stupidity is in fact the foundation of our civilization" and his idea that no one is intelligent enough to realise how stupid they are. This is not as stupid as it sounds if one includes in the definition of stupidity "unwitting self-destruction, the ability to act against one's best wishes". A saying attributed to Albert Einstein is "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." Therefore stupidity is not solely the opposite of intelligence but a very human kind of flawed or mistaken intelligence, the darkness that makes the light of true intelligence visible. ==Stupidity in comedy== For as long as comedy has existed, stupidity has been a source of immense entertainment. Generally the entertainers are merely pretending to be stupid. The buffoon of ancient plays is the progenitor of a venerable lineage that continued through Falstaff, Bottom, Harpo Marx, Goofy, Eccles (character), Norman Wisdom, Jerry Lewis and countless others, and is today epitomized by Homer Simpson and Peter Griffin.The fool/buffoon has been a central character in most comedy. Today there are a wide array of television shows that showcase stupidity, from the America's Funniest Home Videos genre to shows like Jackass (TV series). Often the greatest stupidity is deliberately generated by very smart minds such as the Oxbridge comedy of Monty Python. Many nations have a brand of pejorative humour which involves labelling the people of a neighboring nation as stupid. The English do this with Irish jokes, the French with Belgians, Belgians with Dutch, Americans with Canadians, Canadians with Americans, Canadians with Newfoundlanders, Australians with New Zealanders, and so on. ==Stupidity as a sales tactic== ''Pretending to be less intelligent than your prospect'' is a field of ''pretending to be stupid'' that is exploited by sales people. As in most fields, the most successful people really need to be quite intelligent. However, if you are selling something you need your prospect to feel that he is in control. Therefore it can help to know how to pretend to be stupid. The most successful people tend to be very intelligent about pretending to be stupid without anyone realizing, particularly when their prospect is of above average intelligence, or is himself trained in ''pretending to be stupid'' sales techniques. The TV detective Columbo used this technique to solve crimes. This mode is akin to the satirical tradition of supposedly naive observers, such as Oliver Goldsmith's supposedly Chinese letter-writer in 18th-century London, in ''The Citizen of the World'', and others, including Montesquieu's ''Persian Letters''. == Individual stupidity vs collective stupidity == Social psychology has shown that perfectly sensible people can, collectively, act quite foolishly because of blind obedience, mimetism or herding. == See also == *Cognitive bias *Emotional bias *Darwin Awards *Lowest common denominator *Genius *Irrationality ==External links== * [http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~sousa/STUPIDITY.html In praise of irrationality] * [http://www.phule.net/mirrors/unskilled-and-unaware.html "Unskilled and unaware of it: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments"] For this publication the authors were honoured in 2000 with the Ig Nobel Prize in psychology. * [http://www.gandalf.it/stupid/stupid.htm The Power of Stupidity] by Giancarlo Livraghi, the first in a series of three interesting and hilarious papers on the nature of human stupidity. Psychology
Encyclopedia of Stupidity reported on Feedback page of New Scientist Magazine 28-Feb-2004 User:Matthew Stannard 00:31, 28 Feb 2004 (UTC) Ideas taken from amazon review page for the encyclopedia. User:Matthew Stannard 13:55, 29 Feb 2004 (UTC) Is that Bush reference really necessary?User:Pookleblinky 01:00, 3 Dec 2004 (UTC) No, I removed it! --User:Numerousfalx 02:27, 8 Dec 2004 (UTC) == Paucity of Academic research == This is hardly surprising. I can't imagine any serious minded academic wanting to be Professor of Stupidity, or to be the Stupid Lecturer, or to hold the Stupidity Chair. Similarly, to have a Masters in Pure or Applied Stupidity from a Department of Stupidity Studies (DOSS) would (no matter how many Stupid Seminars one had attended) be unikely to enance one's academic status in an immediately obvious way. User:Matthew Stannard 03:06, 8 Dec 2004 (UTC) === Brain Damage? === (I've subordinated this section to the last in part as a suggestion of where the stupidity research is being done.) I can't help relating stup- to the German "Stoß", which i think means a sharp blow. (The SA "stormtroopers" were the Sturmabteilung", literally "Storm [or Storming] Detatchement"), but i'm pretty sure Remarque (in ''Three Comrades'' rather than ''...Western Front'') used the generic term "Stoßtrup" for what i took to be Weimar-era SA or SA-like stormtroopers engaged in sharp, short street attacks.) My full-sized print Amer Her Dict traces "stupid" thru Latin words connected with being "stunned" and Greek ones concerning "beat"ing to Proto-Indo-European "steu-" which includes "beating" in its constellation of meanings. So i think we usually say "stunned" metaphorically, suggesting the (temporary) effects of a blow to the head, and that the concept of stupidity fundamentally evokes the difference in an individual's behavior before and after the infliction of permanent brain damage by a blow to the head. "What are you, stupid?" to me means "Did you get your brains scrambled, and i didn't get to hear about it?" Not sure that's encyclopedic, but then, i'm not sure the article is any more so. [smile]
--User:JerzyUser talk:Jerzy 18:47, 2004 Dec 17 (UTC) == To the contributers who add the names of 'stupid' individuals to this article == Adding the names of individuals deemed 'stupid' by the contributer is neither big nor clever. Neither is it particularly original- a quick browse of the change log for this page will show many have done this before. There is no point, as the change will be reverted almost immediately. Ironically, this is a great way to demonstrate your own 'stupidity' whilst unintentionally bolstering the credibility of those you seek to slander.
See other meanings of words starting from letter:
Words begining with Stupidity:
Stupidity
Stupidity
Stupidity
:''This is the most common meaning for stupid. For other uses of the term stupid, see Stupid (disambiguation).'' Stupidity is the quality or condition of being stupid, or lacking intelligence. This quality can be attributed to both an individual himself (''John Smith is stupid'') or his actions, words or beliefs (''John Smith's policies are stupid''). The determination of who is stupid is difficult, despite attempts to measure intelligence (and thus stupidity) such as Intelligence quotient. ==Definitions== As there are many definitions of intelligence, there are also many definitions of stupidity: * Those who suffer from a mental disability that is genetic or biological in origin. It could be argued, however, that this is unfair, since stupidity implies that one is at least able to understand that an action is stupid, and in the mentally disabled this may not be possible. In other words it could be argued that stupidity implies culpability, which may not be fairly imputed to mentally disabled people on account of actions that would rightfully be considered stupid if done by people not suffering from any mental disability. * Those lacking knowledge about certain subjects. This can be those who are lacking formal education and knowledge about the world, or those that are highly educated but lacking street smarts or common sense. Lack of knowledge is more commonly termed ignorance. * Conflicting "belief systems". When an individual regards the actions of others as "stupid", it is often because those actions are contrary to the actions that the individual thinks are rational. It has been proposed that when faced with the complexity of life, the universe, and everything, humans create belief systems that enable them to function without being overwhelmed by information. In other words humans do not naturally employ logical progression in order to arrive at every single judgement — they rely instead on preconceived notions that have been built up over the course of their lives. People who have led different lives develop different "truths" which are in turn used as starting points from which to navigate more complex reasoning. Although a belief system may be religious, ideological or political it must not necessarily be so -- it can be a combination of all or none of these. All individuals have their own belief system. According to this definition, an individual can only be stupid if they employ faulty logic on their existing beliefs. An individual cannot reliably be diagnosed as "stupid" by an observer who is not in possession of the "facts" on which the individuals reasoning is predicated. Of course the observer may feel that they are in possession of more (or a higher quality of) "facts" — but how can they be sure of this...? ==Stupidity manifested by the educated== Recently a great deal of attention has been paid to another class of stupidity: stupid actions by those that are highly educated and worldly. It is an important subject as it is increasingly evident that powerful, and generally very intelligent, people sometimes do stupid things. In recent years a number of notions such as group think or god complexes have been developed to explain this. This is a fairly new topic for researchers and there are still few academic works on the subject, though in the 19th Century Oscar Wilde wrote ''There is no sin except stupidity''. [http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Oscar_Wilde] ''The Encyclopedia of Stupidity'' ISBN 1861891598 by Matthijs van Boxsel is based on the author's contention that "stupidity is in fact the foundation of our civilization" and his idea that no one is intelligent enough to realise how stupid they are. This is not as stupid as it sounds if one includes in the definition of stupidity "unwitting self-destruction, the ability to act against one's best wishes". A saying attributed to Albert Einstein is "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." Therefore stupidity is not solely the opposite of intelligence but a very human kind of flawed or mistaken intelligence, the darkness that makes the light of true intelligence visible. ==Stupidity in comedy== For as long as comedy has existed, stupidity has been a source of immense entertainment. Generally the entertainers are merely pretending to be stupid. The buffoon of ancient plays is the progenitor of a venerable lineage that continued through Falstaff, Bottom, Harpo Marx, Goofy, Eccles (character), Norman Wisdom, Jerry Lewis and countless others, and is today epitomized by Homer Simpson and Peter Griffin.The fool/buffoon has been a central character in most comedy. Today there are a wide array of television shows that showcase stupidity, from the America's Funniest Home Videos genre to shows like Jackass (TV series). Often the greatest stupidity is deliberately generated by very smart minds such as the Oxbridge comedy of Monty Python. Many nations have a brand of pejorative humour which involves labelling the people of a neighboring nation as stupid. The English do this with Irish jokes, the French with Belgians, Belgians with Dutch, Americans with Canadians, Canadians with Americans, Canadians with Newfoundlanders, Australians with New Zealanders, and so on. ==Stupidity as a sales tactic== ''Pretending to be less intelligent than your prospect'' is a field of ''pretending to be stupid'' that is exploited by sales people. As in most fields, the most successful people really need to be quite intelligent. However, if you are selling something you need your prospect to feel that he is in control. Therefore it can help to know how to pretend to be stupid. The most successful people tend to be very intelligent about pretending to be stupid without anyone realizing, particularly when their prospect is of above average intelligence, or is himself trained in ''pretending to be stupid'' sales techniques. The TV detective Columbo used this technique to solve crimes. This mode is akin to the satirical tradition of supposedly naive observers, such as Oliver Goldsmith's supposedly Chinese letter-writer in 18th-century London, in ''The Citizen of the World'', and others, including Montesquieu's ''Persian Letters''. == Individual stupidity vs collective stupidity == Social psychology has shown that perfectly sensible people can, collectively, act quite foolishly because of blind obedience, mimetism or herding. == See also == *Cognitive bias *Emotional bias *Darwin Awards *Lowest common denominator *Genius *Irrationality ==External links== * [http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~sousa/STUPIDITY.html In praise of irrationality] * [http://www.phule.net/mirrors/unskilled-and-unaware.html "Unskilled and unaware of it: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments"] For this publication the authors were honoured in 2000 with the Ig Nobel Prize in psychology. * [http://www.gandalf.it/stupid/stupid.htm The Power of Stupidity] by Giancarlo Livraghi, the first in a series of three interesting and hilarious papers on the nature of human stupidity. Psychology
Stupidity
Encyclopedia of Stupidity reported on Feedback page of New Scientist Magazine 28-Feb-2004 User:Matthew Stannard 00:31, 28 Feb 2004 (UTC) Ideas taken from amazon review page for the encyclopedia. User:Matthew Stannard 13:55, 29 Feb 2004 (UTC) Is that Bush reference really necessary?User:Pookleblinky 01:00, 3 Dec 2004 (UTC) No, I removed it! --User:Numerousfalx 02:27, 8 Dec 2004 (UTC) == Paucity of Academic research == This is hardly surprising. I can't imagine any serious minded academic wanting to be Professor of Stupidity, or to be the Stupid Lecturer, or to hold the Stupidity Chair. Similarly, to have a Masters in Pure or Applied Stupidity from a Department of Stupidity Studies (DOSS) would (no matter how many Stupid Seminars one had attended) be unikely to enance one's academic status in an immediately obvious way. User:Matthew Stannard 03:06, 8 Dec 2004 (UTC) === Brain Damage? === (I've subordinated this section to the last in part as a suggestion of where the stupidity research is being done.) I can't help relating stup- to the German "Stoß", which i think means a sharp blow. (The SA "stormtroopers" were the Sturmabteilung", literally "Storm [or Storming] Detatchement"), but i'm pretty sure Remarque (in ''Three Comrades'' rather than ''...Western Front'') used the generic term "Stoßtrup" for what i took to be Weimar-era SA or SA-like stormtroopers engaged in sharp, short street attacks.) My full-sized print Amer Her Dict traces "stupid" thru Latin words connected with being "stunned" and Greek ones concerning "beat"ing to Proto-Indo-European "steu-" which includes "beating" in its constellation of meanings. So i think we usually say "stunned" metaphorically, suggesting the (temporary) effects of a blow to the head, and that the concept of stupidity fundamentally evokes the difference in an individual's behavior before and after the infliction of permanent brain damage by a blow to the head. "What are you, stupid?" to me means "Did you get your brains scrambled, and i didn't get to hear about it?" Not sure that's encyclopedic, but then, i'm not sure the article is any more so. [smile]
--User:JerzyUser talk:Jerzy 18:47, 2004 Dec 17 (UTC) == To the contributers who add the names of 'stupid' individuals to this article == Adding the names of individuals deemed 'stupid' by the contributer is neither big nor clever. Neither is it particularly original- a quick browse of the change log for this page will show many have done this before. There is no point, as the change will be reverted almost immediately. Ironically, this is a great way to demonstrate your own 'stupidity' whilst unintentionally bolstering the credibility of those you seek to slander.
See other meanings of words starting from letter:
S
SB | SC | SD | SE | SF | SG | SH | SI | SJ | SK | SL | SM | SN | SO | SP | SR | SS | ST | SU | SW | SX | SY | SZ |Words begining with Stupidity:
Stupidity
Stupidity
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