How come people hate to be wrong?

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  1. jabelufiroz profile image71
    jabelufirozposted 10 years ago

    How come people hate to be wrong?

  2. alancaster149 profile image74
    alancaster149posted 10 years ago

    For various reason nobody likes to be thought, or even proved wrong. It goes against the grain. Some react badly to being shown to be wrong, like a punch on the jaw. Some take it easily, 'it's not the end of the world', that sort of thing.
    They might be proved right in the end, but for now maybe their reputation as ..... (whatever) is on the line. Arguments might break out between friends or even brother and sister, mother and daughter. They don't talk for years - or even ever - because of a difference of opinion due to being thought wrong. It's even happened to me but I won't go into specifics because some of the parties are now dead, others moved away and left no forwarding address.
    Being thought or proved wrong does nothing for the ego either, [loss of face and all that, guffaws and titters in the background, '(he/she) doesn't know anything'].
    Being laughed at doesn't help, and if those proved wrong are not very well educated or insecure, then there's a long way ahead back to confidence.
    You have to be strong to withstand the ingnominy of being proved/thought wrong.

    1. tsmog profile image84
      tsmogposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Here, here said with a bow of honor. I agree Alancaster149. I agree with the "laughed at" emphatically, yet offer a glance at "laughing with" even when wrong is recognized. Experience with being incorrect is not new, of me at least, part of learning

    2. alancaster149 profile image74
      alancaster149posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      There's always 'laughing with'. That's a bonus, when there's a 'bet on' and everything ends in smiles, a friendly laugh, maybe a round of drinks paid for by the loser. Unluckily too many have no sense of humour. That's where things turn sour.

    3. rose-the planner profile image61
      rose-the plannerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Great question!  Since the beginning of time people have always felt the need to be right.  Warfare, violence and hatred have always been the result of people wanting to be right.  If you think about it, we are taught from when we are children that b

  3. profile image0
    Earl Noah Bernsbyposted 10 years ago

    Pride.  It is a particular assault on the ego to be proven wrong, and can be viewed as an act of dis-empowerment, of violation and defeat, and of great inner shame- especially as pertaining to the medium of debate.  Just as the loser in a fistfight, broken and bloodied, lays at the feet of the victor feeling humiliated and small, so does the loser in a war of words. 
        However, as Emerson said: "Every man I meet is my superior in some way. In that, I learn of him.”  Also, just as wisdom in general is said to begin with: "Scio me nescire," or "I know nothing," it is the sure mark of a fool to argue "rightness" in all things.

  4. NateB11 profile image88
    NateB11posted 10 years ago

    Ego: They believe there is somebody there that must be sustained, glorified, and never destroyed or erased. The desire for permanency, in other words.

  5. RealityTalk profile image61
    RealityTalkposted 10 years ago

    .................................................. EGO! ..........................................

  6. profile image0
    JThomp42posted 10 years ago

    It all boils down to the simplicity of "Ego." This emotion is so much more powerful than anyone thinks. It has the power to destroy.

    1. RealityTalk profile image61
      RealityTalkposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Great minds think alike.  LOL.  Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

    2. profile image0
      JThomp42posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Yes Reality, they certainly do. lol

  7. Ericdierker profile image45
    Ericdierkerposted 10 years ago

    I hate to be wrong. I work in problems resolutions. People do not come to me when things are going well. I am getting older and a patriarch type person. There are a lot of folks who come to me to be right.
    I used to have an Ego five times my body weight. But when you get to be older it shrinks because odds are good you have been wrong a bunch.
    Nowadays around my family I get challenged a lot. And when a twenty something comes to me to prove me wrong. It is just plain old rewarding.
    My live in nephew came back to me about amortizing real estate and how to show it in a business plan. I was wrong. I took him to dinner, his choice. I learned a lot.
    So I hate to be wrong, but I like learning and helping others learn more, so it works out.

    1. lupine profile image66
      lupineposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Ericdierker, nobody likes to be wrong, but admitting to it, or even learning from it sure puts you in a better place. It's all about acceptance and a peaceful life...when I see or hear a person insisting on being right, it just makes me laugh.

  8. Composant profile image61
    Composantposted 10 years ago

    A sense of pride and ego. A person does not like getting their answers be proven wrong by another. Gives the impression they were not as smart as they thought they were. Lower egos tend to receive corrections better than those with higher ones.

  9. monkeyminds profile image44
    monkeymindsposted 10 years ago

    Because they are emotionally attached to outcomes and confuse opinion with right and wrong. There are no right or wrongs, only opinions. Something can only be possible or NOT possible.

    The question one should ask themselves is this:

    Am I being rational or irrational?

    1. cherihut profile image59
      cherihutposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      No right or wrong? So to murder someone in cold blood is... only an opinion? Murder is possible, so... does that mean it's permissible? You could argue that the murderer is not "rational," but what constitutes "rational" or "irrational"?

    2. monkeyminds profile image44
      monkeymindsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Charles Manson thought he was right, and so did his followers, the courts had a different opinion. Right/wrong correct/incorrect resolves to someone's opinion.

  10. The Examiner-1 profile image59
    The Examiner-1posted 10 years ago

    Feeling smarter than others. Feeling taller than others. Smiling when others are wrong. Ego.

  11. MsDora profile image95
    MsDoraposted 10 years ago

    When we are wrong, we prove that we are just like everyone else; we have to give up the idea of being superior.  Oh, well . . .

  12. Man of Strength profile image74
    Man of Strengthposted 10 years ago

    I think for most of us, it's a matter of pride. Some people can't humble themselves to accept when they are wrong. Also, it's an ego or insecurity issue.

    1. lupine profile image66
      lupineposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      We all need to accept when we are wrong, and not feel any less of a person, but as a stronger person for not allowing insecurities or ego to get in the way. Communication would be much improved too.

  13. moneyfairy profile image60
    moneyfairyposted 10 years ago

    The number one reason is EGO!!!!
    In reality there is only right or wrong,so adults should be intelligent enough to know this and not take it personally but in the end ,it is human nature to want to be right. Good question.

  14. Seeker7 profile image81
    Seeker7posted 10 years ago

    I guess its an ego thing. When people find out they're wrong they are often embarrassed and will react in different ways. Some become aggressive or defensive, others laugh it off.

    I've known one or two people who, on finding out they were wrong, even denied giving the wrong answer in the first place and stated that others had picked them up wrong. There was no way these silly people would ever admit to being wrong but ironically it just made them look even more stupid.

    Of course there are also people who are able to just accept when they are wrong without getting into an emotional tizz about it.

  15. Lisa HW profile image63
    Lisa HWposted 10 years ago

    It's not true that "nobody" wants to be proven wrong, because I, personally, have no problem with being wrong.  I figure, I can't possibly be the only one in the world who is secure enough to be absolutely fine with discovering that I've been wrong about something.  In fact, I kind of appreciate discovering it because a. I don't want to go through life thinking I'm right when I'm not, and b. I enjoy learning and see getting to the facts as one of the most important things a well adjusted individual can make sure he does in life.

    Besides, if a person is a careful, reasoned, logical, thinker; there's a good chance he isn't wrong all that often.  Maybe people who aren't as reasoned, logical, and careful before drawing conclusions are wrong often enough that they kind of develop a "saturation point" when it comes to being sensitive about discovering or being told they're wrong.

    The thing that really bugs me is when I know that what I've said, or think, is based on proven fact and/or things I've seen for myself and been so careful about drawing conclusions on...   The someone else who IS wrong may automatically assume that I'm the one who "doesn't want to be proven wrong" out of, say, insecurity; rather than consider the possibility that sometimes people who know, for a fact, that they're right and provably right, are absolutely not going to back to down and agree that they're wrong just because it will "impress" someone else who thinks they ought to.

    1. NateB11 profile image88
      NateB11posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      If what you say is fact and someone says it's wrong, they remain false and wrong and what you said remains fact. Their need to impress is a problem. You being true is no problem. Wanting them to see truth can become a problem, and is often futile.

  16. epbooks profile image78
    epbooksposted 10 years ago

    I think it depends on how much they fought to try and prove they were right! 
    For many it can be an ego thing - they may think that being wrong is a weakness.  For me, I don't really mind being wrong.  I think of it as a lesson learned, don't make the same mistake twice and time to move forward!

  17. profile image53
    cw-morrisposted 10 years ago

    To be wrong or to fail means only that you are trying things new to you. If we never failed we would have never learned. Our idea was wrong once in the past and now we know, and can form a better idea. Hating to be wrong is a fear of looking foolish or ignorant but, to never be wrong means you are never trying to expand your knowledge base...and that's just wrong.

 
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