Agree it’s about status, disagree it’s only about status, or there’d be no reason for the way to be that specific.
Agree about egalitarian pressure.
It was Distracting wolves and real estate agents
. Do you mean that the correct response isn’t admitting the other person is right (what my mother advises), which loses the fight, but rather to drop the topic, making it unclear who won?
The first, second, and fourth of those are well served by noting the difference between being right and being known to be right, and not worrying about the latter in situations where the other person doesn’t value objective rightness. That basically describes my personal policy, anyway—I have a strong habit of going “oh, ok” and dropping the subject at the first sign of annoyance on the other person’s part in such cases, unless there’s something at stake beyond just their knowledge, and that seems to work well enough.
Agree it’s about status, disagree it’s only about status, or there’d be no reason for the way to be that specific.
Agree about egalitarian pressure.
It was Distracting wolves and real estate agents . Do you mean that the correct response isn’t admitting the other person is right (what my mother advises), which loses the fight, but rather to drop the topic, making it unclear who won?
Actually I was thinking of something else (I ETA’d my last post with links), but that’s an interestingly similar example.
As to what’s ‘correct’, it depends on one’s goals and preferences.
What do you mean, then?
It’s rather safe to assume that anyone interested in the questions has the following preferences:
Not being thought of as a jerk who always wants to be right;
Being as right as possible;
Helping others be as right as possible;
Enjoying socialization (of which the first item is a subgoal).
The first, second, and fourth of those are well served by noting the difference between being right and being known to be right, and not worrying about the latter in situations where the other person doesn’t value objective rightness. That basically describes my personal policy, anyway—I have a strong habit of going “oh, ok” and dropping the subject at the first sign of annoyance on the other person’s part in such cases, unless there’s something at stake beyond just their knowledge, and that seems to work well enough.