The psychology of the powerful. (2012)

“Human intelligence is made up of four different mental systems. None is infallible. You need a “jazz quartet of them” or the decision-making process can become unreliable and potentially dangerous.

As reported by Philippa Roxby, Health Reporter, BBC News,
06 October 2012.

World leaders are often accused of hubris, of wielding power in arrogant and self-serving ways. So are leaders losing touch with reality when they act in a power-hungry way?

According to psychologist Guy Claxton, professor of learning sciences at the University of Winchester, their actions could be to do with “a disorder of intelligence”.

Speaking at the Royal Society of Medicine’s recent Intoxication Of Power conference, Prof Claxton says that human intelligence is made up of four different mental systems working in harmony.

“None of these systems is infallible. You need a jazz quartet of them” or the decision-making process can become unreliable and potentially dangerous.

Read the full story here: The psychology of power