Wednesday, April 1, 2015

On Being Wrong, Chapter 9: Being Wrong

[Being Wrong]

Chapter 9 of Kathryn Schulz's book Being Wrong "is about what happens during wrongness--about the moment when the feeling of being right seroconverts to the feeling of being wrong. Psycholoically as well as structurally, this moment forms the central experience of error" (183-184).

Schulz covers several aspects of that "during" phase. For you though, what's one idea or observation that she made in the chapter that caught your attention? For a couple of us who were talking, the following line from Schulz was striking: "We are quasi-rational actors, in whom reason is forever sharing the stage with ego and hope and stubbornness and loathing and loyalty” (195). Her eloquent assessment of why human s have a hard time making rational decisions was usefully explanatory. 

What's one line, phrase, or idea that captured your interest? Provide the page number as well. Then, explain your reasoning.

14 comments:

Courtney said...

"We are quasi-rational actors, in whom reason is forever sharing the stage with ego and hope and stubbornness and loathing and loyalty” (195) I can identify with this because for instance when it comes to a guy who you know is no good, reason is telling you to leave him alone but hope is telling you that there is a chance it will all work out with him. I concur that our decisions aren't based on solely rationality but logic and emotion. Our emotions definitely influence our judgement.

Lindsey McCall said...

"Consider slow belief change first. Many of our beliefs simply erode over time, eventually vanishing altogether or reconfiguring beyond recognition...A broad range range of beliefs can succumb to this kind of tectonic drift, from trivial (beliefs that you look great in bellbottoms) to momentous (belief in God)." Pg 184. This quote stood out to me because its true. Growing up in church you're completely dedicated to your belief until you become a teenager and you start to better understand the ways of the world and then you begin to question a lot of things. I've experienced this first hand especially being a college student and I've learned that I am going to stick with my faith and I have to accept the fact that people may think that I'm wrong and may not agree with it.

Peyton D. said...

"Fortunately we don't get stuck in this place of pure wrongness very often. And we don't get stuck there via the collapse of small or medium-size beliefs. We get stuck there when we are really wrong about really big things- beliefs so important and far-reaching that we can neither easily replace nor easily live without them."(pg 187) An example that Schulz gave to further explain this is being in love and believing that you two will be together forever. This stood out to me because the wrongness of our beliefs can be devastating or life changing. In the back of my mind, I guess I already knew that but I never thought about it from this perspective. The lesson I am learning from this is to make sure I really believe what I believe because the outfall of wrongness could be severe.

Deborrah Blackburn said...

"If gradual belief change protects us from the experience of error by attenuating it virtually out of existence, sudden belief change does the opposite: it condenses that experience almost to the vanishing point." This quote stood out to me because of the truth in it. I'm sure there have been many times where I or someone I know has changed their beliefs very quickly and we ended up being very wrong. Slow change is usually the best because you can figure out what's true and what isn't so that you can make an informed decision.
Deborrah B.

Kellsey H said...

On page 184 Schulz states "Consider slow belief change first. Many of our beliefs simply erode over time, eventually vanishing altogether or reconfiguring beyond recognition without ever passing through an obvious crisis." I found this statement to be exceptionally interesting. I had never thought so profoundly about the notion of beliefs. Schulz truly opened my eyes to the ever changing nature of beliefs.

Breanna B. said...

Lindsey's quote was also what captured my attention. We do find ourselves moving in the ocean that is belief. Over time the tides seem to roll a different way, and suddenly you drift in a different direction. I love this, because I find myself to be a drifter in the way that I am open to the beliefs of others and the effect they have on those of mine.

Aliyah B. said...

I like the lines that follow the original quote posted. "The upshot is that we are woefully bad at cutting out losses-- and not just when it comes to money" (Schulz 195). This quote interested me, because I find it to be very true. So often people cling to a goal (when they know that they shouldn't) because of their ego. They simply cannot let go and it ends up hurting them in the end. Their pride becomes their downfall.

Adryan B. said...

"The condition of having been wrong about something might irk us or confuse us or deflate our ego. But the condition of being wrong-of being stuck in real-time wrongness with no obvious way out-absolutely levels us." (187). This is such a strong quote because we see or deal with people everyday that can admit they were wrong about something they did years ago because they are not in the present state of being wrong, but if someone recently does something wrong and they are confronted about it..they will fight you on the issue until they come to the realization that they messed up.

Tameah F. said...

"We get stuck there when we are really wrong about really big things - beliefs so important and far-reaching that we can neither easily replace them nor easily live without them." (187). This idea captured my attention because this is often associated with peoples' beliefs in God and Greek myths. There are many people in the world, myself included, who use the Bible as a guide on living, without it or if it was denounced as a faulty story, people would be lost and unable to cope with that reality.

Fiona H. said...

"Occasionally, though we stumble. There we aww, trying to leapfrog from before to after, from the solid ground of Right A to the solid ground of Right B, and instead we fall into the chasm between the," (187). This stood out to me because I feel as though everyone, myself included, has been at this point before when we were just stuck. I like how she further explained how this isn't a place we should dwell in and that this isn't a place we visit very often.

Monet E said...

"Consider slow belief change first. Many of our beliefs simply erode over time, eventually vanishing altogether or reconfiguring beyond recognition...A broad range range of beliefs can succumb to this kind of tectonic drift, from trivial (beliefs that you look great in bellbottoms) to momentous (belief in God)." Pg 184 This quote stands out to me because life is made up completely of fads. At some point in time you can love dressing a certain way but then when a new style emerges you conform to that style.
-Monet E

Alexandra D. said...

"Many of our beliefs simply erode over time, eventually vanishing altogether or reconfiguring beyond recognition without ever passing through an obvious crisis (Schulz, 184). This quote was interesting to me because I never paid attention to how our beliefs change without us even giving it a second thought. It's so amazing how oblivious we are when it comes to things that supposedly matter so much to us.

DuAuna C. said...

"If our ability to accept error is mercurial and mysterious, we do know the is much: it is mutable. Like all abilities, it comes from inside us, and as such it is ours to cultivate or neglect. For the most part, we opt for neglect, which is why the typical relationship to error is characterized by distance and defensiveness" (Schulz 200). Even though the errors we make and how we accept them are inconsitant, it is still changeable. Being wrong can be confusing which is why we'd usually neglect it, forget/deny that we were ever wrong, but the best thing to do is just accept it with a positive outlook and move on.

Jacquesia H. said...

Schulz talks about people being in the "condition" of wrong, or "realtime wrongness" and that caught my attention. On page 187 she writes "The condition of having been wrong about something might irk us or confuse us or deflate our ego". On the same page she says "being stuck in realtime wrongness with no way out absolutely levels us". I loved this quote and it was one that I read multiple times to get a true understanding of. It's something that we all have been faced with. When you get caught up in the moment where you are wrong, you really have no choice but to face it. Most people argue until they are proven wrong or admit it right then and there but we deal with these situations all the time whether it be our selves who are in the wrong or someone else.