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orthonormal comments on High Status and Stupidity: Why? - Less Wrong
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One reason I've had such fun reading the customer-service-horror-story blog Not Always Right is that it provides scads of anecdotal evidence that otherwise bright and competent people, when put in a situation where they feel they have high status (e.g. as a paying customer dealing with an employee), are suddenly quite apt to fail noticing the obvious, refuse to process information given them repeatedly, or read an entire situation confidently wrong.
I see no evidence that the customers featured in Not Always Right are otherwise bright and competent.
Mere stupidity doesn't explain it, as it would cause people to assume themselves mistaken as often as they assume the employee is. As clearly demonstrated, there's a gigantic bias blind spot regarding who's at fault (one capable of instantly switching around memories), which I expect isn't there (as much) when these people are dealing with peers or superiors.
Or to take another example, I can't find the reference: a famous (former?) con man said that one key to keeping the mark from thinking clearly is getting them to think they're getting the advantage of someone dumber or otherwise lower status.
Obviously, all anecdotal, but strong enough, and not paired with corresponding evidence in the other direction.
None of the bright and competent people I know would ever do something as ridiculous as the stories on Not Always Right. Some of the dumber people I know would, though.
True. But maybe their delusion of status caused them to act even dumber than they would have in a situation where they felt the status gradient leaning in the other direction. We'd need studies to be carried out to be sure. Anyone know of any?
Wouldn't the blog be a very poor source of evidence given it's highly selective sample? At best it would illustrate what sort of events happen in the most annoying cases (for employees).