Stanovich

Stanovich is a surname. The best-known bearer in scholarly circles is Keith E. Stanovich, a cognitive psychologist whose work has significantly influenced the study of rational thinking and the relationship between intelligence and rationality. Stanovich has written extensively on how people think, reason, and form beliefs, and he has argued that traditional measures of intelligence do not fully predict rational thought or the avoidance of cognitive biases.

In his work on dual-process cognition, Stanovich and colleagues describe a distinction between the algorithmic mind, which handles data processing and task performance, and the reflective mind, which governs belief evaluation, bias monitoring, and the application of reasoning strategies. He is widely associated with the concept of dysrationalia, the tendency to make irrational judgments despite normal or high intelligence, highlighting a gap between cognitive ability and rational thought.

Stanovich’s research emphasizes that education, motivation, and cognitive styles shape thinking, with implications for education, public reasoning, and how rationality is assessed. His writings and empirical studies have been published across numerous journals and books, and his ideas remain influential in debates about the limits of intelligence testing and the cultivation of critical thinking.