How come people hate to be wrong?

Question

Even when the truth is obvious, once it has been laid before them they regurgitate like it was painful medicine that they never thought they needed.

Answer 1

Well! They can't hate being right, and they have to hate something. It is called EGO. Leo's are like that a lot.

Reminds me of the old saying:
It is better to remain silent and appear to be ignorant, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.

Like that one?

Answer 2

Obviously you would do better on your question if you framed it with the question in side the generality of that needed answer. more precisly
Are you dealing with a sycopathic person?. see the more you avoid being right the fewer times thoses who have been judged by you offend the acute angle by which you are comfortable with. all of us who at one point or another find that(the new kids on the block today do not believe there are absolute truths, most have been dispelled) too much information or too little can spell out things that are either time laidened with all sorts of wet blanket effects from the variables on locking an view and stigmatizing others with the uncanny ability to some times do more damage with being right than ignoring the obvious and waiting to see if their reasons are more or less subliminal and not the obivious. What may look to be a one sided=(truth)=IT DOES ALWAYS SET YOU FREE, IT MAY OPEN UP A PANDORAS BOX OF CHALLEGES THAT MAY HAVE BEEN THE UNLAYING MOTIVE, Your opinion can be held accountable under derese of challenges that can be proven to be false had the situation resolved its self and the tampering that sometimes looks like a second foul in a basketball game where as the first person actually is the sycopathic with no consciousness other than the coincidences of mimicing to confuse others, All that is real will at one point look to the seer as a object dropped in to a pond of water=instantly it makes and contunously produces rings and more rings until another object is dropped and soon its rings overlap the previous rings and soon it is raining on the pond and it takes a computer to see and tranlate what seems very simple=but has complexities in its out come=many things in life are just satisfaction.look beyond your greed to be right and turn the other cheek, will bring more information as to why they see things differently if you do not recognize that instant, it will only have the information and not the proof. so always wait and see what they do rather than what they say, many people are an accomulation of things that unless questioned are not of their own chooseing but were often learned and sometimes need to be unlearned.(back to the pond)= most people are the rain stage of life and have so much to see raining down that any one in the world at any given moment YOU=will see them better than they see them+selves.THIS USE TO BE THE CORRECT AND OBIVIOUS ANSWER BUT IN MANY CASE THE ONE WHO OBSERVES HAS TOO MUCH INSIDE INFORMATION,ALSO=to just stand back and give it the comedy channel thing like Ron White says you can't fix stupid ~(^_^)~ true talent is like a great basketball game=the game was so good that no one remembered the referees, and they only remember the game.So to see that a mistake has happened likely or not how you were raised in life will ultimately provide friends to assist

Answer 3

Simply put, it comes down to EGO. One would do anything to protect the ego. That is why people do not do things they know would be better for them. because if they failed(a form of being wrong)they would feel that they were not smart. That they were foolish or that someone made a fool of them. And if that happened, they must be ignorant or stupid. And should that happen, their ego would be bruised. And when the ego is bruised self-esteem suffers. Fear is like the baring that holds the wheel of self-esteem to the axle of Ego. No matter what, at all cost. The ego and the wheel can not be damaged. Fear makes that a certain. Many never reach dreams or expectations because they fear being wrong, in choosing a mate, a career, in going to college instead of this killer job in a rising company. If they are wrong, made the bad choice. Fail. They do not want someone to say "told you so", or "what a fool you were" because then their ego would suffer. And we can never have that.

Answer 4

Not me that's how I learn is from being wrong makes me better at what I do , people that are never wrong have to much ego and just cant handle the truth, everything I mastered it's because I was wrong or made a mistake , but I know where your coming from, people just are so arrogant and they drive the same Way they are too proud and the grave yard is full of the arrogance, grate question no good answer

Answer 5

Well, no one likes being proved wrong, but most of us learn to have good manners about it. Or should I say I hope it's most of us.

But for some people, a lot of emotional content has gotten attached to their earlier beliefs, and it can be terribly painful. The clear example is someone who believed something about the surface of the moon or mars which telescopic and radio-graphic evidence has proved wrong. They naturally go through thinking up ways this could turn out to be faked evidence as an alternative to giving up what they held dear. Perhaps it is as simple as "What my old man said; you telling me my old man was stupid?" Perhaps it is more complicated.

This is even more the case where there is emotional content to every aspect of the debate, as in the case of evolution vs. creationism. I don't have a problem with it, because my own belief says Mother Nature created us, and evolution is part of her method.

But for someone who has a more formalized religion with certain symbols he's been expected to take literally, when they were never meant as more than symbols, the emotional content really can outweigh the intellectual faculties. Look at the creative energy that has gone into interpreting things in order to come out with "as long as we call it a theory rather than a fact, we don't have to admit it is true." There have been some noble intellectual efforts made there. Failed efforts, of course, but they really do try.

Answer 6

Not the ones that want to stretch. Nobody likes censure, nobody likes unforseen consequence. Somebody once said the bravest men, are usually men of peace. I'll go along with that. If you're for real, you generally tend to chuck the consequences if you have even an inkling you're doing the right thing. If you're wrong, it comes with the territory. Being wrongfully attacked, accused, etc. this is something else. Pride and egotism are the main contributors to what you point out. Thing of it is, in our society, pride is encouraged as a positive attribute. Need we say more?

Answer 7

Besides ego and pride, there are a few other things that may contribute:

From an early age, we're told to trust our instincts, to believe in ourselves. When you have a strong trust in your instincts, and belief in yourself, then it can be hard to realize that you're wrong - even if evidence is apparent.

Additionally, there's always an element of competition. All beings are competitive by nature - competition for resources, mates, etc. Being right, in a way, is yet another venue for competition - and so being competitive, people often place more value on being right, than actually seeking truth. A good example is politics: what's more important to most politicians - telling people what they want to hear to increase chances of getting elected, or doing what's right? Which behavior is rewarded?

Answer 8

Pride. Everyone hates to have their pride knocked down... It doesn't matter how big or small the drop is/was, it still hurts.

The truth hurts, but later they'll be thankful to have gotten the truth than a lie.

I am guilty, I hate being wrong... I do work on it every day... But it takes MUCH effort.

It doesn't matter if it happens in front of a group of people or just with the other person who states the truth... They still take it as a sharp cut.

Answer 9

Carpe Diem I have to congratulate you on the question.

Human nature is still a bizarre subject. If you can just trace human nature to animal nature or a minute then some problems of it can be traced.

Being the alpha male and female is the status most animals want and would die trying to get it.

In human nature this is passed through status in the social society respect from others and what others think of us.

How much moolah we have in the bank where we live and what we drive is a signal to where we stand in the above mentioned ranks.

Being correct in all aspects of life is an animal instinct that we inherited.

So the conclusion is that if you are wrong about something and take it to your head rather than accepting that you are not Einstein in all aspects of life you are not better than a baboon trying to steal another baboons' mate.

Answer 10

Because they have insecurity issues. people are in such a race to be right all the time. I'm sure those that hate to be wrong are usually quite young and naive or just being plain arrogant. I probably was a painful truth the need to learn, and are unwilling to accept.
I know sometimes I hate to be right, because I know my answer or premonition is on the mark or very close to what will or has already happen... and can be tragic or painful to know.. . life experience..possibly...ESP...Not sure, But I know I have been right with some things and have seen horrible things happen.

Answer 11

We live in a society with a school system that teaches children at a very young age that it's "bad" to make a mistake. You make a mistake, you fail or you get a lesser rating for your mistake. Some children cruise through school without this bothering them much. Kids like I was, however, grow up with this need to prove that we're good enough. Maybe it was my pride? I don't know.

Anyway, it has taken me years to adjust my way of thinking: that making mistakes is a GOOD thing because I learn from my mistakes.

I think that if it were emphasized more in schools that it's about bouncing back from your mistakes and moving on... we'd have fewer adults with the problem you've pointed out.