Why so many Republicans think they are smarter than everyone else.

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  Sep 23, 2008 1:29 PM GMT

  Salon published a essay yesterday by a neurologist, documenting the way people rely on their "gut" to make decisions and then remain attached to the decision no matter how abundant contrary evidence is.
  
  One interesting observation is that the more incompetent a person is, the more he assumes he's smarter than everyone else. Smart people, on the other hand, tend to think of everyone else as smarter than they actually are. (Can you feel George Bush in this?)
  
  The article also proposes some ways to deal with this fact of life:
  
  http://www.salon.com/env/mind_reader/2008/09/22/voter_choice/index.html
  
  

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  Sep 23, 2008 2:10 PM GMT

  This logic cuts both ways.
  

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  Sep 23, 2008 2:30 PM GMT

  Thanks, interesting article. Reminds me of a quote by the fictional character Sherlock Holmes to Dr. Watson: "Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes true genius."
  
  (I may be paraphrasing, been about 25 years since I read it, but the sense is accurate)

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  Sep 23, 2008 3:01 PM GMT

  John43620 saidThis logic cuts both ways.
  

  
  Of course it does, and the article says so. I'm just creating a controversial headline.

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  Sep 23, 2008 3:14 PM GMT

  obscenewish said

  John43620 saidThis logic cuts both ways.
  

  
  Of course it does, and the article says so. I'm just creating a controversial headline.

  
  
  And I always love you for it!

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• HndsmKansan
  
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  Sep 23, 2008 4:12 PM GMT

  So not to offend my republican friends on this site, I think that those on both sides can come across as being "smarter than anyone else"...

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• Koaa2
  
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  Sep 23, 2008 4:30 PM GMT

  My favorite part:
  
  
  Many of the failures of post-9/11 American policy were caused by or aggravated by the inability of our president to recognize his intellectual limitations (including his choice of advisors), keep an open mind, evaluate evidence such as the presence or absence of weapons of mass destruction, and listen to all sides of a complex issue. Perhaps this could have been avoided if Bush had been forced to publicly answer serious multifaceted questions prior to the election. Let's not make the same mistake again.
  
  The next six weeks are our only chance to elect the most qualified candidate. This is not a time for interviewer politeness and gentle repartee that sidesteps controversial or delicate issues. It is not enough to hear each candidate regurgitate memorized and rehearsed policy statements; we must know what they will do and how they will act in situations for which they have not been adequately prepared. Leadership is measured by the best decisions during the worst times.

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  Sep 23, 2008 4:55 PM GMT

  While not limited to Republicans, this phenomenon is exemplary of the social-psychological Fundamental Attribution Error.
  
  http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/fundamental_attribution_error.htm
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_attribution_error
  
  "Example
  I assume you have not done much today because you are lazy, rather than perhaps tired or lack the right resources."
  
  Here is another example, loosely paraphrased from my Social Psych professor's lecture:
  
  Imagine that you're driving down a local highway. Along the way, a driver weaves in and out of traffic, speeds up and slows down erraticly, and while making an illegal lane change, sideswipes you. Your reaction is to judge the person as a horrible driver and as an idiot, in general. When the driver approaches you, he apologizes and says, "I'm so sorry. My child is in diabetic shock and I desperately need to get her to the hospital."
  
  Suddenly, the dispositional attribution (i.e., this person must be a jerk) is supplanted by a situational attribution (i.e., this person is in a state of panic due to his child's illness).
  
  We all make fundamental attribution errors all of the time. By recognizing the phenomenon, we can all begin to broaden our perspectives and give people a greater benefit of the doubt.

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  Sep 23, 2008 5:12 PM GMT

  I think this is a dynamic of either party.
  
  My problem is that the republican party has a huge faction that knows they aren't very smart, are proud of that fact, and want leaders who aren't any smarter. Intelligence is a political liability to modern day GOPers. Too many GOPers want someone in office who thinks just like them and is at their level of intelligence (McCain was in the bottom 2% of his class). Anyone else is threatening to them and considered an "elitist".
  
  This is the whole "down to earth", "I feel like I can drink a beer with them" crap that is so dangerous.

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  Sep 23, 2008 5:17 PM GMT

  Sure, both sides.
  
  Actually, this reminds me of the Dunning-Kruger effect.

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  Sep 23, 2008 5:29 PM GMT

  obscenewish said

  John43620 saidThis logic cuts both ways.
  

  
  Of course it does, and the article says so. I'm just creating a controversial headline.

  
  
  You big troublemaker.

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  Sep 23, 2008 5:30 PM GMT

  mickeytopogigio said...Dunning-Kruger effect.

  Shit, just saw that this was article was about...my bad, should have read first.

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  Sep 23, 2008 5:34 PM GMT

  mickeytopogigio said

  mickeytopogigio said...Dunning-Kruger effect.

  Shit, just saw that this was article was about...my bad, should have read first.

  
  
  Damn right it's your bad! Now drop and give me 40 then get your ass in the kitchen and make me some blueberry waffles.

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  Sep 23, 2008 5:48 PM GMT

  Hmm... Growing up in religious schools I never really meet anyone who thought they were more intelligent than more liberal minded folk....
  
  I'd rather call them "more convinced they were right" as in putting the weight of decision in doing what the bible says and thats the end of any debate. Compared to an extreme left liberal, an extreme right conservative is more likely to rely on the gut or literal word as imposed by his/her value system. A system most often determined by whatever religious denomination the person follows. The liberal has to at least justify a position, mostly using real world reasoning skills. While I'd call both people extreme, real world logic > fantasy word of the bible.
  
  A very dangerous thing, to throw away your own judgement and just follow a book and its so called earthly leaders. The right has more in common with Islamic extremist than it would probably dare to admit.

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  Sep 23, 2008 6:02 PM GMT

  mickeytopogigio said

  mickeytopogigio said...Dunning-Kruger effect.

  Shit, just saw that this was article was about...my bad, should have read first.

  
  
  So many overlapping theories, here. We could also refer to this phenomenon as unconscious incompetence:
  
  http://changingminds.org/explanations/learning/consciousness_competence.htm
  
  "Unconscious incompetence
  As an unconscious incompetent, you do not know what you do not know. You are lack[ing] knowledge and skills in the area in question and are unaware of this lack.
  
  In this state, where you can exist for a very long time, you are not as competent as one or more of:
  
  You think you are
  You actually could be
  Other, more competent people
  
  In this state, you may be in one of two positions. Ignorance is bliss, as they say, and you may well be happily naive, not realizing that you are not competent.
  
  You also may be in a faking state, where you believe you are competent, and either do not realize that you are in this state or are covering up your incompetence (in which state you may be in the next stage)."
  
  (emphasis mine)
  

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  Sep 23, 2008 6:25 PM GMT

  Those who think they know everything are annoying to those of us who do!

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• GQjock
  
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  Sep 23, 2008 7:15 PM GMT

  John Dean wrote an excellent book on this very subject
  
  Conservatives Without Conscience
  
  In it Mr Dean goes into the different types of political thinking
  and finds that the "Authoritarian brain" which most conservatives possess
  gives up authority to one group one person.... some central figure and
  tends to believe and go along with anything they say
  
  Which expalins the 25-30% of Americans who still think Bush and Cheney are doing a good job
  
  
  
  
  

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  Sep 23, 2008 7:41 PM GMT

  Well, anyone that could think Hillary is a "good person" is lacking in mental faculties.

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  Sep 23, 2008 8:22 PM GMT

  Damn you smart people. If you could just read a @#$@#% map.

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  Sep 23, 2008 8:46 PM GMT

  How to know if your Army Drill Sergeant is gay:
  
  "Now drop and give me 40 then get your ass in the kitchen and make me some blueberry waffles."
  
  (Quoted from Buckwheet comment above)

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  Sep 23, 2008 9:48 PM GMT

  Alpha13 saidWell, anyone that could think Hillary is a "good person" is lacking in mental faculties.

  
  Some might say your statement is exemplary of the very point the article is making.

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  Sep 23, 2008 9:52 PM GMT

  XruggeratxThis is the whole "down to earth", "I feel like I can drink a beer with them" crap that is so dangerous.

  
  Hmmm. That also sounds like profiles you encounter on websites like RJ.

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  Sep 23, 2008 10:03 PM GMT

  I may write in OWs name (his real name) for my presidential vote. Well, no, probably not, but, I would like to have a beer with him.

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• SkyMiles
  
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  Sep 23, 2008 10:25 PM GMT

  I know people who've been listening to Rush Lim-bag and watching Fox news for YEARS now. The ideology is as infectious and transformative as a virus. Being exposed that long to right-wing media makes in impossible for anything similar to common sense to penetrate.

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  Sep 23, 2008 10:41 PM GMT

  Colbert_Nation saidI know people who've been listening to Rush Lim-bag and watching Fox news for YEARS now. The ideology is as infectious and transformative as a virus. Being exposed that long to right-wing media makes in impossible for anything similar to common sense to penetrate.

  
  
  Well, the Hillbilly Heroin helps keep the common sense away too.
  
  

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