Nisan comments on New Post version 2 (please read this ONLY if your last name beings with l–z) - Less Wrong

8 Post author: lukeprog 27 July 2011 09:57PM

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Tags: relationships instrumental_rationality self-help

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Comment author: Nisan 28 July 2011 05:06:15PM 8 points [-]

I think you can't disapprove of "acting confident when you're not" without approving of "acting confident when you are"; and believing that someone is acting confident because they are a confident person is an example of the Fundamental Attribution Error.

I want to cast doubt on the soundness of the idea that people have qualities which their behavior can either reflect or not reflect. In reality, personality and behavior are intertwined in such a way that changing one's behavior and endorsing that change is the same as changing one's personality.

Comment author: RobertLumley 28 July 2011 05:36:32PM *  -1 points [-]

I think you can't disapprove of "acting confident when you're not" without approving of "acting confident when you are"; and believing that someone is acting confident because they are a confident person is an example of the Fundamental Attribution Error.

How did you shift from approval to believing? There's no grounds to make a jump from me abstractly approving of confident people acting confident to me seeing a confident person and assuming ey is confident. That's completely non-sequitur.

Comment author: Nisan 28 July 2011 07:29:35PM 4 points [-]

I didn't express myself clearly. I'm saying that confidence does not exist as a property of a person independent of their behavior.

Comment author: Nisan 29 July 2011 11:41:50PM 3 points [-]

It occurred to me that it would be more constructive to say what things do exist instead of an essential quality of confidence:

  • A person can have a tendency to feel confident in certain contexts.
  • A person can have a tendency to feel confident in unfamiliar contexts.
  • A person can feel unconfident, but consciously decide to in a confident manner, thus mitigating their feelings to a degree.
  • A person can have incipient feelings of unconfidence, but have a habit of acting in a confident manner, thus quelling the feelings of unconfidence before they have a chance to flourish.
  • A person can have underlying insecurities that only awaken in response to specific triggers, which they can avoid, either consciously or by habit.
  • A person can have underlying insecurities that need to be recognized by the person before they can heal, and they can avoid acknowledging these insecurities, with the result that they think they have no insecurities but in fact parts of themselves are feeling isolated.
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