Why are people "put off by rationality"?

Biff Wiff

I was reading reviews of HPMOR on Goodreads and I noticed that the people who didn't like the book were essentially "put off by the rationality". They thought Harry was arrogant and condescending.

Then I was thinking, a lot of people are "put off by rationality" for similar reasons. What a shame. There's a lot of value in spreading rationality, and this seems to be a big obstacle in doing so.

Any thoughts on how to make people less "put off by rationality"? I think the core issues are:

In some cases, people think it's rude to suggest to someone that they're wrong. (I have a vague idea of when, but am having trouble articulating it. Can anyone articulate this well?). Edit: EY has articulated (part?) of what I'm getting at. He calls it the status slapdown emotion.
People pattern-match the tone to "smart aleck"?

I was reading reviews of HPMOR on Goodreads and I noticed that the people who didn't like the book were essentially "put off by the rationality". They thought Harry was arrogant and condescending.

Then I was thinking, a lot of people are "put off by rationality" for similar reasons. What a shame. There's a lot of value in spreading rationality, and this seems to be a big obstacle in doing so.

Any thoughts on how to make people less "put off by rationality"? I think the core issues are:

In some cases, people think it's rude to suggest to someone that they're wrong. (I have a vague idea of when, but am having trouble articulating it. Can anyone articulate this well?). Edit: EY has articulated (part?) of what I'm getting at. He calls it the status slapdown emotion.
People pattern-match the tone to "smart aleck"?

They thought Harry was arrogant and condescending.

He certainly comes across this way, causing what Eliezer calls the status slapdown emotion, where the reader feels that Harry (and, by extention, the author) is a show-off and should show some respect.

Then I was thinking, a lot of people are "put off by rationality" for similar reasons.

Regardless of the topic, if the speaker comes across as "arrogant and condescending", her odds of convincing people instead of alienating them are not good.

What a shame. There's a lot of value in spreading rationality, and this seems to be a big obstacle in doing so.

Indeed. Pontificating in a condescending manner is a known hazard, and it is unreasonable to blame the audience for not liking it.

Any thoughts on how to make make people less "put off by rationality"?

A better question is "how to make make people less put off when teaching/explaining in general, regardless of the topic". One hint is to not behave like you are higher-status than they believe you to be.

One hint is to not behave like you are higher-status than they believe you to be.

I am not sure about that. Status is a function of perception and, to some degree, negotiation (usually not explicit). Just because someone wants to assign low status to you (e.g. because it would raise their own) does not mean you have to accept it and bend to their expectations.

It's a complex issue but I'd like to make two points.

First, showing high(er) status and being an asshole are very different things. People dislike the latter much more than the former.

Second, keep i... (read more)

4Viliam_Bur12y

This is a very good idea I wish I were able to follow more often. And since I am not good at learning social skills by copying, an explicit training could be useful. To be precise, "not behaving higher-status" is relatively easy. The difficult part is to explain an idea contradicting some high-status belief while behaving so. I know it can be done, because I have seen people doing it, but it is so high above my current skill level.

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