This bizarre Trump tweet caught my eye:
Psychiatrists and Psychologists have a measure of a persons ability to perceive and allow for subtle differences and complex relationships in their reasoning. They refer to this as "cognitive complexity." A person with high cognitive complexity could be said to have a complex cognitive structure; a person with a less complex cognitive structure for a particular task could be said to have a lower cognitive complexity. It is common for a person with a cognitive complexity deficit to oversimplify relationships, or fail to recognize them at all. As a consequence they may utter illogical or self-contradictory statements and too easily arrive at overly simple or illogical conclusions.
Trump, I am sorry to say, has repeatedly exhibited what is almost certainly a relatively low cognitive complexity. This characteristic in a person with great authority is extremely dangerous.
In the example Trump Tweet above, Trump has confused two related but mutually exclusive concepts: that of "illegal immigrant" and that of "legal immigrant". Even though Trump would understand the difference, he is unable to use these concepts correctly in reasoning out a complex relationship involving differences in the Australian and U.S. immigrant, vetting processes.
If you want to test your own cognitive complexity, stop reading here. Read the Trump tweet carefully and determine, using your own reasoning, whether Trumps tweet and conclusion is logical. Then read the paragraph below.
A person with moderately high cognitive complexity for this particular kind of task will fairly quickly recognize that if either Australia or the U.S. accepts immigrants, after vetting them according to their own standards, those immigrants, by definition, can not be "illegal immigrants". Nor will potential immigrants to Australia or the U.S. that fail to satisfy Australia's or the U.S. vetting requirements, or both, be illegal immigrants. The Trump tweet, "The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia...," is illogical if it refers to the refugee agreement between the U.S. and Australia. Otherwise it is a simple misstatement of fact, and at worst it could be an intentional lie.. In the latter case, Trump's tweet would not be evidence of low cognitive complexity, but much, much worse. It would be reprehensible!
Trump's promise of future action, "I will study this dumb deal!," confirms that he is indeed referring to the refugee agreement between the U.S. and Australia, but it too is illogical, or a lie. If he is going to study the "deal" further, the conclusion that the "deal" is "dumb" is premature If he has already studied the "deal", concluded that it is "dumb" and doesn't intend to study it further, then saying he does is a lie. Another possibility is that Trump has little knowledge of the "deal", has concluded without basis the deal is "dumb," and now plans to study the "deal." In this latter case, his final remark would be evidence of both deception and incompetence, although not necessarily evidence of low cognitive complexity.
Were this Trump tweet not characteristic, but rather an isolated example, it could be dismissed as not particularly important. As it is, there is now quite a convincing body of evidence that our President, and possibly some of his close advisors too, have low cognitive complexity for the kinds of tasks needed to govern a large, complex, and highly developed country. This is, in my opinion, a warning that our country rests somewhere between serious government disarray and grave danger.
Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal!
Psychiatrists and Psychologists have a measure of a persons ability to perceive and allow for subtle differences and complex relationships in their reasoning. They refer to this as "cognitive complexity." A person with high cognitive complexity could be said to have a complex cognitive structure; a person with a less complex cognitive structure for a particular task could be said to have a lower cognitive complexity. It is common for a person with a cognitive complexity deficit to oversimplify relationships, or fail to recognize them at all. As a consequence they may utter illogical or self-contradictory statements and too easily arrive at overly simple or illogical conclusions.
Trump, I am sorry to say, has repeatedly exhibited what is almost certainly a relatively low cognitive complexity. This characteristic in a person with great authority is extremely dangerous.
In the example Trump Tweet above, Trump has confused two related but mutually exclusive concepts: that of "illegal immigrant" and that of "legal immigrant". Even though Trump would understand the difference, he is unable to use these concepts correctly in reasoning out a complex relationship involving differences in the Australian and U.S. immigrant, vetting processes.
If you want to test your own cognitive complexity, stop reading here. Read the Trump tweet carefully and determine, using your own reasoning, whether Trumps tweet and conclusion is logical. Then read the paragraph below.
A person with moderately high cognitive complexity for this particular kind of task will fairly quickly recognize that if either Australia or the U.S. accepts immigrants, after vetting them according to their own standards, those immigrants, by definition, can not be "illegal immigrants". Nor will potential immigrants to Australia or the U.S. that fail to satisfy Australia's or the U.S. vetting requirements, or both, be illegal immigrants. The Trump tweet, "The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia...," is illogical if it refers to the refugee agreement between the U.S. and Australia. Otherwise it is a simple misstatement of fact, and at worst it could be an intentional lie.. In the latter case, Trump's tweet would not be evidence of low cognitive complexity, but much, much worse. It would be reprehensible!
Trump's promise of future action, "I will study this dumb deal!," confirms that he is indeed referring to the refugee agreement between the U.S. and Australia, but it too is illogical, or a lie. If he is going to study the "deal" further, the conclusion that the "deal" is "dumb" is premature If he has already studied the "deal", concluded that it is "dumb" and doesn't intend to study it further, then saying he does is a lie. Another possibility is that Trump has little knowledge of the "deal", has concluded without basis the deal is "dumb," and now plans to study the "deal." In this latter case, his final remark would be evidence of both deception and incompetence, although not necessarily evidence of low cognitive complexity.
Were this Trump tweet not characteristic, but rather an isolated example, it could be dismissed as not particularly important. As it is, there is now quite a convincing body of evidence that our President, and possibly some of his close advisors too, have low cognitive complexity for the kinds of tasks needed to govern a large, complex, and highly developed country. This is, in my opinion, a warning that our country rests somewhere between serious government disarray and grave danger.
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