Meeting Induced Dumbness

Do you feel dumb in group meetings? Do you feel like you have nothing intelligent to add to the discussion? You are not alone. 

From the Wall Street Journal - Speaking Up Is Hard to Do: Researchers Explain Why

“Have you ever clammed up at a party or found yourself tongue-tied at a meeting for fear of saying something stupid—even though you consider yourself at least as smart as anyone else in the room?

 Research from scientists at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute offers an explanation of why many people become, in effect, less intelligent in small group settings.

If we think others in a group are smarter, we may become dumber, temporarily losing both our problem-solving ability and what the researchers call our “expression of IQ.”