Do you know someone who will argue even if they don't know nearly as much as you on a subject?

[Heather Shay]

Do you know someone who will argue even if they don't know nearly as much as you on a subject?

[Jani]

I believe we've all come across this kind of person.  Way back in school I recall a social science class where it was posited that people with a narrower scope of understanding will typically argue/defend more fervently than people with a deep understanding.  If I recall it was more related to ego than knowledge.   The bottom line, with people you never can tell!

[VickySGV]

Beginning heavily back in the 2010 era I have been encountering what is described as the Dunning / Kruger Effect which is when people who know very little will insist that they know the subject very well, in fact BETTER than even a credentialed expert in a particular field.  I have saved a couple of lives or more because I had turned off circuit breakers before the people actually touched the live electrical wires.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect

 

Quote

He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not is a fool.
He who knows not, and knows that he knows not is wise!!

 

[Jani]

[MaeBe]

I sit back and think, am I this person? I definitely argue, but with the willingness to alter my opinion if I find that my information is lacking. So, no? I also don't go pointing fingers in faces like a crazed person, usually I am the one to argue with that kind of person; typically because they can't see past emotion and have little concern for actual facts. Sometimes it's sport that I do this (ENTP, baby!), but usually it comes from a place of trying to inform and shift opinion--or at least get them to actually obtain facts or get their facts from objective sources.

[Mirrabooka]

One thing I took on board from a former boss who was an absolute gentleman and fluent conversationalist but a hopeless leader because he was the classic yes man to his superiors, was to take the emotion out of the equation when arguing. Don't use hyperbole. Don't exaggerate. Stick to what you know and defeat your adversary with logic. Of course, your adversary will double down and make an even bigger fool of themselves, and not even realize that they have lost the argument, nor will they realize that people are laughing at them and not with them. It also helps if you can separate them from their minions.

 

A conservative elderly uncle, who left school at the age of 12, swears black and blue that taking Ivermectin (sheep dip) prevents Covid because he knew someone who knew someone else who took it and despite that person being momentarily in close contact with people who had Covid, didn't come down with it. "Well, you're the one with the science degree!" I said.

 

A lot of people argue out of ignorance. They base their points on populism and rumor. I rarely argue, but when I do, it is in an attempt to push back. Another favorite saying that I use is "Rumors are started by haters, spread by fools and believed by idiots." I then ask, "Which two are you?" 😉

[Jani]

58 minutes ago, Mirrabooka said:

A lot of people argue out of ignorance. They base their points on populism and rumor.

Classic "Confirmation Bias".