Why do we hate talking to idiots? (A non-elitist thread)

[CharonY]

I think we can summarize that most agree on willful ignorance rather than mere ignorance, lack of education or intelligence are annoying. I would be careful to try to assign any kind of evolutionary reason to it, as this attitude is far from universal and easily changes over time and on the situation you are in.

For instance, one may realize that willful ignorance in some cases is simply based on lack of interest on a certain topic ("how dare you confuse Star Wars with Star Trek"- yeah it's borderline, I know). In many cases one does learn simply to walk away unaffected (maybe with a hint of sadness in certain cases).

[cladking]

I suspect much of the reason we tend to dislike talking to very slow people is that it reminds us of our own shortcomings. When you can see the wheels turning you can be sure they aren't going very far. I believe ancient people didn't have this problem since they knew they weren't going too far anyway;

(43) "Don't let your heart get big because of your knowledge.
(44) Take counsel with the ignorant as well as with the scholar.
(45) (For) the limits of art are not brought,
(46) (and) no artisan is equipped with perfection.⁽¹²⁾
(47) Good discourse is more hidden than green stone,⁽¹³⁾
(48) yet may be found among the maids at the grindstones.⁽¹⁴⁾

 

 

Wow, been on both ends of this my whole life. I could make my teachers pull their hair out and scream. (on the inside, I could see it in their faces) I know now I have aspergers, and it has made communication with others difficult at the very least. At a very young age I understood that everything can be improved through better understanding, so my attempts to search out more information lead to the disruption of the instructors plans and frustration of others. It is a trait (or defect) that I did not know I possessed.

 

When I was young I believed everyone else could read minds so I taught myself to do it. Much later I learned most people get their cues from facial expressions.

Edited August 6, 2013 by cladking

[Gees]

Big Tom;

 

Good question. Because it makes us feel dumb? That is what I think. Talking is supposed to be communicating, but if one can not communicate properly, then that means that someone is an idiot--and we all know that it could not possibly be us because we understand ourselves--so it must be them.

 

I am not sure how much of a role intelligence plays in miscommunication as there is so much more to consider. Common education, goals, experiences, and perspectives also play a large role in communication, so it can be difficult when in a forum where there are so many different backgrounds. Often we don't take, or have, the opportunity to know a person well enough to establish common ground, so we often mistake their interest or goals or perspective.

 

In my college days, we had a special instructor come into class for one day to talk about communication, and she brought up the way people learn and understand. She stated that although people learn through visual, audio, and kinesthetic, one of those types of learning often dominate their understanding. So she explained that a person who is a visual learner will sprinking words like, "see", "clear", and "picture" in their speech. An audio learner will use words like, "hear", "sounds like", and "rings true" in their speech. A kinesthetic learner will use words like, "feel", "absorb", and "works like" in their speech. So sometimes, bearing these ideas in mind, I have been able to repair a misunderstanding and make my ideas clearer to another person. "Clearer", yes I am a visual learner.

 

Then there is the way people think. I found this site very enlightening, so check it out. http://anidea.com/etc/ten-types-of-thinking-youll-find-in-a-digital-agency/

 

But even if we can get past all of this difference, there are the stopping points. No one can get the answers to all of the questions in one lifetime, so at some point we stop. We decide that we have learned enough about a specific thing. We draw our line in the sand, and then we start to defend that line as being the answer. It is inevitable.

 

On the other hand, it would be nice if people remembered that their stopping point may not be mine.

 

G

[cladking]

 

 

On the other hand, it would be nice if people remembered that their stopping point may not be mine.

 

 

 

At the risk of causing the topic to drift there is also the difference in handedness;

 

http://www.wherecreativitygoestoschool.com/vancouver/left_right/rb_test.htm

[arc]

Arc,

 

I am not saddled with your problem of being the most intelligent person on the planet. I had the luxury of being endowed with two highly intelligent parents and a sister of the same sort. I WAS the idiot, growing up, and lived with a very intelligent Aunt, Uncle and cousins for a few years in my late teens, and while in college had some professors that were also friends of my father (also a professor) and I would nominate two of them, at least, to have run for the "most intelligent person on the planet" post.

 

So I have a soft spot for idiots, and rather give them the benefit of the doubt.

 

I spend some time laughing at the goofy stuff I notice in the "initiatives" the cadre of my company come up with, but have realized that if I was so smart, I would BE in the cadre of my company, and I am not. So now, I have realized that when the president of my company has an initiative, its now MY initiative, and its my job, to help make it work, regardless of its percieved inappropriate nature. Best I can do is try to influence it, in the direction of appropropriateness. Which very well might be an action on my part, assumed by the president, in the first place.

 

Which leads me to believe, that in general, we are probably all being idiodic, about something, at some point, in somebody elses eyes. And perhaps even there are many times that anybody can catch themselves in the act.

 

Regards, TAR2

Hi TAR2, sorry I sound obnoxious and pretentious. I am quite flawed I assure you. My job is dangerous, physically demanding and the only thing I have ever done for a living. I have a high expectation for my performance and all those working with me. I have been very close to being killed 6 or 7 times. Several electrocutions, many falls and being struck by falling objects and swinging loads. Most of these you would have no warning. I have trained many workers over the years, some are like sons to me, others now seasoned friends, and they are some of my proudest accomplishments. They are trained well and credit me for it. I also know what it is like to be 5 stories high and yelling at a seasoned idiot (40+ years old and trained by other) to stop doing something that was going to kill us.

 

He was incapable of understanding what his actions were going to lead to. After yelling STOP maybe ten times this guy manage to do what I tried to prevent. He unstuck from our swing stage a large metal panel being held by 140 ft crane. The wind had started blowing stronger and I was willing to sit tight and wait it out. But now the panel was loose and the rope that had been holding it had wrapped itself around the idiots leg several times. The panel became a large sail in a 40 mph wind, the rope pulling the idiot against the railing and leaving him unable to reach the controls on his side of the stage. The sail pulled us out away from the building where it could spin us or swing us around the corner of the building and into the side. This was unacceptable results. Our lives, maybe others on the ground or in the building were at risk because of this guys penchant to argue and resist authority of a supervisor. And this type of event has happened many times in my career. You can read these guys early by the way they will argue against your authority. Even change the laws of physics to salvage their losing point of contention. I will say again; I can only take so much of this.

[Humblemun]

I mean this in the politest way possible. It is a fact of the world that, while people excel in their perspective areas, whether that be a science, a humanity, an understanding of street drug prices, fighting technique, fishing, tax avoidance - whatever, the underlying mechanism to allow for learning is critical thinking. Having said that, some people are more critical than others, from the sharpest man to the dullest bottom.

 

Many people, no matter where their own PERSONAL level of intelligence stands on the 'national average', find people with inferior intelligence frustrating to talk to. Their lack of mental ability seems to arouse an innate irritation in most people. It is this irritation that fuels the correction of grammer, the sneering of specialists, the frustration of trying to explain evolution to a creationist that simply will-not-listen!

 

I would like to question what people think this is due to, from an evolutionary prospective (or a broader psychological/biological prospective, if someone has one).

 

I'll start the ball rolling with a little A-level psychology:

The frustration-aggression hypothesis argues that aggression is fueled by a frustration. This can be extended to account for the aggression in the illiterate who cannot explain themselves with words, or the aggression of someone who tries and fails a task a thousand times. I would speculate that perhaps the negativity that someone feels towards somebody they deem to be intellectually inferior is due to a similar frustration - not due to the inability to express oneself, but from the listeners inability to comprehend (lending the same effect).

 

Take it away!

 

Disclaimer: This thread in no way emplies an elitism. A turnip that can turn left is annoyed when its turnip companions refuse to follow it. But it is, to all intents and purposes, still a turnip. This question applies anywhere on the varying levels of intelligence present in the human species.

 

Edited: I changed 'some people are better than others' to 'some people are more critical'. The original implication was that 'better' related to the previous sentence on critical thinking, but that was unclear, and sounded horrible.

Excellent thread. I particularly liked the phrase "A turnip that can turn left is annoyed when its turnip companions refuse to follow it", which I've never heard before. It reminded me of my qualitative prediction for Juno's flby anomaly on Oct 9th 2013: a lateral deviation to the left.

 

Thanks for sharing.

[imatfaal]

!

Moderator Note

 

Humblemunn - stop using other threads to advertise your speculative theory. That behaviour is considered hijacking and future instances may just be hidden - please do not continue.

 

[Ophiolite]

An example of the frustration I speak of is the way I feel right now - I have been challenged based on a blatant misunderstanding of a clearly worded topic I had hoped to debate, that is in no way suggesting of a 'higher order of intelligence' on any part.

 

So, why do we feel this way?

In this instance - since your OP was not clearly worded - I suggest that the frustration is a fear response arising from feelings of inadequacy.