DoubleReed comments on Modularity, signaling, and belief in belief - Less Wrong

19 Post author: Kaj_Sotala 13 November 2011 11:54AM

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Comment author: EphemeralNight 14 November 2011 02:43:18AM 5 points [-]

living alone and a lack of social interaction are correlated with poor health and unhappiness, and the pain levels reported by people reliving socially painful events, especially ostracism, are "comparable to pain levels reported ... for chronic back pain and even childbirth".

And yet, when a person finds themselves in this sort of situation, they're near-universally treated as though they're living that way by choice, and can expect only empty platitudes or outright disdain in response to pleas for help getting out of said situation.

Comment author: Swimmer963 14 November 2011 03:40:49PM 3 points [-]

Do you consider yourself an example of this? If not (and even if so), what are some other examples?

Note: it might have something to do with the apparently innate human tendency to want to "save face." One way to save face in socially painful situations is to try to appear as though you are doing it all on purpose, to present yourself, for example, as a 'free spirit' rather than a 'loser.' I know for sure that I did this a lot as a child, and even now I have a tendency to emphasize the 'weird' things that I do, to look like I do them confidently and deliberately.

Comment author: DoubleReed 16 November 2011 07:30:41PM *  0 points [-]

One way to save face in socially painful situations is to try to appear as though you are doing it all on purpose, to present yourself, for example, as a 'free spirit' rather than a 'loser.' I know for sure that I did this a lot as a child, and even now I have a tendency to emphasize the 'weird' things that I do, to look like I do them confidently and deliberately.

I always associated this behavior more with machismo. The idea that "acting like you know what you're doing" is more important than "knowing what you're doing." Certainly in social situations, but especially in sexual situations, I never want to signal doubt in my actions, even if my actions turn out to be silly or stupid (which is hilariously often).

Comment author: taryneast 19 November 2011 12:37:54PM 1 point [-]

machismo is, itself, just an aspect of "face" - though perhaps more aligned with the "look how cool I am" aspect rather than the "I meant to do that" face-saving aspect.