The Intelligence Trap: Revolutionise your Thinking and Make Wiser Decisions

by David Robson

Meditators are also more likely to make rational choices in an experimental task known as the ‘ultimatum game’ that tests how we respond to unfair treatment by others. You play it in pairs, and one partner is given some cash and offered the option to share as much of the money as they want with the other participant. The catch is that the receiver can choose to reject the offer if they think it’s unfair – and if that happens, both parties lose everything. Many people do reject small offers out of sheer spite, even though it means they are ultimately worse off – making it an irrational decision. But across multiple rounds of the game, the meditators were less likely to make this choice. For example, when the opponent offered a measly $1 out of a possible $20, only 28 per cent of the non-meditators accepted the money, compared to 54 per cent of the meditators who could set their anger aside to make the rational choice. Crucially, this tolerance correlated with the meditator’s interoceptive awareness, suggesting that their more refined emotional processing had contributed to their wiser decision making.