Friday, November 24, 2017

Illusion of Asymmetric Insight





We commonly believe that we understand others better than they understand us.

The reasoning for this stems from our external, objective viewpoint and the assumption that the other person has a significant blind-self, and our own blind-self is small.

There is also asymmetry in the reverse situation -- we believe we understand ourselves better than others understand us and may feel insulted if they try to show they understand us more than we do.

The same effect happens for groups, where the in-group believes they understand out-groups better than out-groups understand them.

Overall, this is a position where we generally assume we know more than others, perhaps because we know more about what we know.

Example:
In an argument with another person you tell them what they are like in detail because clearly, they have very little self-knowledge. They argue back telling you things about yourself that are clearly wrong or that you knew anyway. How can people be so stupid?

Be cautious about judging others and assumptions that they do not know themselves.

When others try to read your mind, forgive them their foolishness. Do not be drawn into verbal sparring.

TJ

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