Right vs Wrong, a thinky post

[mizarchivist]

So, a link found today--- probably via Facebook from one of my excellent friends: Kathryn Schulz's TED talk - On Being Wrong. It's a 17 min. video and covers Schulz's studies on the phenomena of being wrong, and what we in this culture strive to be: right (as much as possible).   You really ought to go listen to it and then read this bit because I don't want to regurgitate it at the moment.

Now, I am a person who has striven to Be Right (or at least not wrong) as much as possible for as long as I can remember. I loathe being a beginner and dealing with the learning curve, of making mistakes, of being awkward. As a child, this translated into hating to be told what to do and taking lessons, sticking with something even though it's hard. I gave up on ballet and gymnastics because I really didn't like the structure enforced on me. I hated being wrong or feeling stupid, so I hedged my bets in junior high and took the easier classes to avoid potential failure. I will still be a sometimes ungraceful n00b when tackling something for the first time because of these hard wired reactions.

But there are other occasions in which I have to deal with others (usually interns/volunteers) who are also dealing with similar defaults and therefore maybe not asking questions when they should... or the other extreme of this past semester: will never STOP asking questions for fear of doing something wrong. I am really OK with those I'm supervising making mistakes. It really is how we learn. But they also have to realize that they will make the mistakes, they can't avoid it. They need to plan to not always be right and have the contingency of checking in and asking important questions in order to determine if we're still in the right direction- then trusting the learning process and doing it.

Then there's The World, (as Schulz points out) that collectively fears being wrong so much, or assumes they are so Right they can't be wrong they don't stop and ask for directions, if you will. How I would love to have this concept get shared more so that people can stop and think about the whole concept and maybe just maybe review before blithely assuming further right-ness.

I also want to do a better job of applying the theory to myself, to check in with my assumptions and maybe admit sooner that whatever I'm doing is not the best plan.

Comments

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

I *just* watched that yesterday, oddly enough. ;-) I think I got it from wispfox...

::hugsyougently::

[mizarchivist]

I rather like getting these new ideas delivered to me out of the blue. I'm very much hoping to assimilate a bit of it as I carry on.
:)

I wish I had the focus to discuss this more

[drwex]

Maybe tonight.

[cos]

Huh. I like the talk, but a lot of the first portion of it I don't identify with. Most of my opinions and beliefs have a confidence level attached, that I'm generally aware of. That "realization" of being wrong that she talked about, for me, is very dependent on my perceived confidence level. Realizing that I was wrong about something I had very low confidence about doesn't feel bad at all, it actually feels good and satisfying to have learned something new about it that will let me both change my idea of that thing and also notch up confidence level up a bit. And the whole wrong/right dichotomy doesn't even apply so universally, because confidence makes it feel like a continuum.