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BenAlbahari comments on The many faces of status - Less Wrong
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Being dismissive of things you're not good at is beneficial to your status.
If status was always about one particular skill or trait (for example, the ability to beat people up), this strategy wouldn't work.
Status is relative to a group, and each group values different skills and traits. We gravitate towards groups where we have value.
But calling attention to things you're not good at is bad for your status.
Yes. But if the topic of something you're not good at comes up, what are you going to do? Various strategies:
a) Downplay the importance of the thing that you're not good at.
b) Change the subject.
c) Make a joke about totally sucking at that thing (while keeping the literal subject the same, it changes the implicit subject to the social ability of making other people laugh).
d) Mention a close relative, friend, or partner who's really good at that thing (increasing status by affiliation).
I think I may even do e) which is to show enthusiastic appreciation for the thing I'm not good at, possibly sprinkled with demonstrating surprising knowledge of the thing I'm expected to not know about.
UPDATE: f) Riffing on 'c', liken yourself to a low status group. HT Barack Obama
Are you serious? You missed
g) Make an honest attempt at grasping the subject matter.
I'm not sure if this is what you intended e) to cover, but if I meet a topic I'm completely unfamiliar with, my first instinct isn't to destroy the conversation.