Why Is It So Hard For Most People To Admit That They Are Wrong?

Discussion in 'Human Science' started by s0meguy, Sep 28, 2007.

  1. lucifers angel same shit, differant day!! Registered Senior Member

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    because there are two sides to an arguement, disscusion, and you both cant be right so no one wnats to back down and admit perhaps they are wrong, me i never back down, when i knwo i am right i will fight for being right
     
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  3. mikenostic Stop pretending you're smart! Registered Senior Member

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    Yes, but can you honestly say that if you get proven wrong, will you own up to it or do you try to sidestep it or change the subject like some members on this website?
     
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  5. lucifers angel same shit, differant day!! Registered Senior Member

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    i'll put my hands up and say "ok i was wrong" like i have done on a few occasions. I will however go of and find out the truth and then argue my point from there
     
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  7. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    Everyone is entitled to their opinions about things that happen. But when facts are involved then a discussion should be able to use ways to prove your points or theirs. So I will suggest that during any discussion about factual matters that you stop for a moment and research just what the real facts are and just who is talking shit and who isn't.
     
  8. iceaura Valued Senior Member

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    People who make a big deal out of whether somebody is willing to admit they are wrong or not in an actual argument, are usually wrong at the time in the argument itself. It's like the guy on the horn in a traffic tangle - usually the one who screwed up.

    It seems to be a technique for "winning", kind of like shouting louder, when there is no other at hand, and "winning" is the main goal.

    Since I noticed that, I've tried to avoid the issue itself - I don't want to look like I'm wrong.

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  9. mikenostic Stop pretending you're smart! Registered Senior Member

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    Jesus H. Christ. Why do you women adamantly refuse to admit you are wrong when you are wrong? :shrug:
    It's mentalities like that that cause me to get up and walk out of the room when a g/f and I start arguing.
    And how, pray tell, do you go off and find the truth when you are wrong?
    Let's say you and hubby are car shopping, you find a car you like but your hubby says they have a rep for being extremely unreliable. You, being a woman that refuses to admit that the guy is right in this case, tell him that he's wrong and buy the car anyway. Two months down the road you start having one mechanical problem after another. What do you tell your husband then? What excuse will you make up to tell him to make yourself look not wrong?
     
  10. shichimenshyo Caught in the machine Registered Senior Member

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    everyone here is wrong
     
  11. Oli Heute der Enteteich... Registered Senior Member

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    Including you.
     
  12. Nickelodeon Banned Banned

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    I am always wrong. Nothing I ever say is true. Not even this post.
     
  13. Oli Heute der Enteteich... Registered Senior Member

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    Liar!
     
  14. madanthonywayne Morning in America Registered Senior Member

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    Yes, he's wrong. But for some reason, he won't admit it!
     
  15. Nickelodeon Banned Banned

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    You're right, though I loathe to admit it.
     
  16. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    Do you really mean "most people" or just "most men"? In America, at least, our women are famous for letting us win arguments even when we're wrong, just because being wrong about anything makes us feel like idiots, and when we feel like idiots we figure we might as well go out and act like idiots. It's not a pretty sight.

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    I remember when I was eight and we were driving from Illinois to Arizona, my mother said to my father, "Didn't you take the wrong turn back in Joplin?"

    "No dear, I'm going the right way."

    "Shouldn't we be going west then?"

    "Yes dear, the car is pointed west."

    "Then wouldn't that put the sun more or less behind us, since it's just past dawn? Why do I see the sun over here on our right?"

    "You've never been this far south before. It changes the angle of the sun. In Missouri, it makes it look like the sun rises in the north."

    She just let it drop. He managed to find his way into Kansas without backtracking and without crossing into Iowa, which would have given it away. It took us about 100 miles out of our way. She didn't say anything.
    A pretty unusual marriage. My wife bought a Mercedes-Benz diesel because it was practical and I bought myself a Trans-Am because it was cool. We still have the Benz after 29 years and 200,000 miles. I sold the Pontiac for junk after six years, 80,000 miles, two transmissions, a computer, new suspension, and various other failures.
     
  17. shichimenshyo Caught in the machine Registered Senior Member

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    Your wrong for loathing..
     
  18. Zephyr Humans are ONE Registered Senior Member

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    The big ape chief who says he's wrong, will not remain big ape chief long.
     
  19. Orleander OH JOY!!!! Valued Senior Member

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    do you think men or women have a harder time admitting they're wrong?
     
  20. DeepThought Banned Banned

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    someguy,

    Simply because admitting your wrong is admitting you're fallible (weak).
     
    Last edited: Oct 2, 2007
  21. Why? Registered Senior Member

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    It's caused by our educational system, which rewards correct answers and punishes mistakes. We are trained to want the right answer like Pavlovian dogs. Contrary to popular opinion, being wrong or making mistakes is far more valuable, as every corrected mistake leads to wisdom. Being right just maintains the status quo and does not lead to further insight.
     
  22. iceaura Valued Senior Member

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    There is refusing to admit one is wrong when faced with inanimate or physical feedback - refusal to accept the significance of a trend of evidence.

    This is linked to virtue - in other context, we admire persistance in the face of setback or confusion. The world is complicated, and even an optimal strategy based on correct apprehension will fail a certain percentage of the time.

    It is also linked to inability - simple inability to comprehend what is happening, or account for the events. Delusion, stupidity, lack of appropriate preparation, habits of thought and perception (such as paranoia) etc, all play in.

    But the issue of admitting error or misapprehension when such admission is demanded by someone else is different. On this forum, for example, the person demanding admission of error is themselves in the wrong more than half the time, the admission demanded is normally to a error different from any made, and so forth.

    If that carries over into unpixelated life, one can sympathisize with the frustration of the person not obtaining admission of error (they are representing virtue in their attempts at dominance), but actually demanding admission of error oneself should give one pause.
     
  23. Pandaemoni Valued Senior Member

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    3,634
    The main problem with that which I have seen is that almost all facts can be "spun" insofar as they related significantly complex issues. In fact, in a complicated debate almost all facts require interpretation, and that's all that "spin" is. While you can often find instances where the spin placed on particular facts is unreasonable or misleading, whether something is "unreasonable" or "misleading" are usually subjective assessments in these contexts.

    Patrick Moynahan once said everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts...but all people are entitled to their opinion over what those facts mean too.

    As for why people refuse to admit it when you know that they know their arguments have been defeated, I suspect there are multiple answers depending on the circumstances: (i) some people irrationally hold onto beliefs, notwithstanding the evidence, (ii) some people reflexively assume that countervailing facts are invented lies made by partisans to discredit the other side, (iii) some people "feel" like there must be facts that refute the counterargument, even if they don't know what those facts are (i.e., their position may be shot down in the course of debate, but it still has a certain "truthiness" to them and they trust that a more learned advocate would still handily demolish the other side), (iv) some people are jerks who refuse to admit defeat, (v) etc.
     

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