Psychologists reveal the three types of foolish behaviour

Scientists have discovered there are three types of stupidity – and one is much worse than the others.

To work out the different categories, scientists gathered a sample of 180 stories from blogs and forums, and interviewed 150 people about which ones were stupid.

The first, and by far the worst type of stupidity, according to the study is something known as 'confident arrogance.'

This is when what someone things is their ability to do something outweighs their actual ability to do it.

The second type of stupidity was 'lack of control', when someone just can't help themselves.

They feel, on some level, that they have to do something, or they have lost the ability to do otherwise.

For instance, this can describe someone who cancels plans to go out with friends to keep playing video games at home.

The final type of stupidity is 'absentmindedness' which can also mean 'lack of practicality', perhaps because they weren't paying attention or weren't aware of something.

Professor Balazs Aczel from the University of Budapest said, 'The stupidest thing someone can do is overestimate themselves.

'What that tells us is that you don't have to have a low IQ, in people's eyes, to act stupidly. You just have to misperceive your abilities.

The other two types of stupidity weren't ranked nearly as harshly.

This suggests that if you want to avoid appearing stupid

In other words, the research reveals that if you want to avoid appearing stupid, in other words, don't be overconfident.

'If you don't want to do something stupid, you probably don't want to have higher expectations of your abilities than you should,' said Aczel.

'The worst thing someone can do is act confidently, and seriously, and still not act rationally. That's as stupid as it gets.'

Follow NEWS.am Medicine on Facebook and Twitter