File:Vince Ebert on William von Hippel.png

Summary

post from 3. August um 00:14 (2022)

The evolutionary psychologist William von Hippel found out that humans use a large part of their thinking power to find their way in their complicated social world. Why is my boss looking so funny today? What does my neighbor's innuendo about my new car mean? Is the waitress flirting with me or just being friendly? Our "social" brain does check facts from time to time. But much more important to it is the question: what are the social consequences if I do or say this or that? So we have a mechanism in our heads that, in case of doubt, even prevents us from thinking what is right if, in return, it endangers our social status. Therefore, the higher the social and economic status of a person, the more this phenomenon occurs. Educated and/or wealthy people are more concerned about what others might think of their opinions. Because they have an academic reputation or a good professional position to lose. What's more, the more educated and smarter a person is, the more adept his brain is at selling him the biggest nonsense as a reasonable idea, as long as it elevates his social status. As a result, the upper educated middle class tends to be more inclined than ordinary people to chase after some intellectual boondoggle. American data analyst David Shor found in extensive studies that educated people hold more ideologically coherent and extreme views than working-class people. Cab drivers, cleaners, tradesmen or warehouse workers often have much more grip on reality and common sense than professors, teachers and senior civil servants. The ideological fellow traveler therefore sits less at the regulars' table and more in the lecture hall.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)