The Quest for being right

You really have no idea how desperate most people are to be right all the time. It’s quite amazing!, they’ll go as far as denying reality itself if that means they can be right in the end. This yearning for validation can shape a person’s judgment and fundamentally influence their overall worldview. Deep down, the need to be right comes from a drive for certainty and self-assurance. Being right is comforting, reassuring, and provides an internal balance. Humans always seek for validation from other humans, this builds up their assurance, ego and happiness, it makes up for the flaws they might have while satisfying their biases.

It’s a psychological thing to which some people get addicted; in the same way you get pleasure from eating a good meal or drinking a cold drink in a hot climate. Being right is gratifying to everyone, except that some people take it too far. It becomes addictive to them, they are no longer interested in learning, all that matters is for them to get a dopamine release from the validation of others.

Its effects on our judgment

When a person is overly focused on being right all the time, they fall prey to several detrimental effects, which end up having a negative effect on their judgment ;

— Selective perception, where you interpret information only in a way which aligns with your beliefs. This can give you a narrow understanding of a complex issue and reluctance to consider alternative viewpoints.

— Overconfidence where you end up overestimating your own knowledge and capabilities, which leads you to taking risky decisions and ignoring valuable feedback

— Resistance to change, once a belief is held firmly in your mind, changing from it becomes an uphill battle. You only want to hear information which aligns with those beliefs, and you are dismissive of everything else.

— Confirmation bias, which leads you to only wanting information which validates what you know already, and you are dismissive of everything else.

How it impacts our world view

If this had an impact just on an individual and how they act, this wouldn’t have been much of a problem. The issue becomes concerning due to the fact that it leads to a wider scale of influence. A biased view of the world by people who desperately seek for validation all the time and yet are responsible for making rational decisions which affect the lives of millions of persons can’t produce any good results. Here are some ways it influences our view of the world:

Polarization when individuals become entrenched into opposing viewpoints, leading to increased division and conflict.

Echo chambers when people only listen to information to confirm their beliefs

Reduced Empathy, When individuals prioritize their correctness they struggle to relate to different perspectives

Decision-making biases, when leaders make decisions just to prove they are correct and not what would be the right thing to do.

Conclusion

The desire to be right can be addictive, it influences our judgment and can disrupt our world view, that's why it’s important to have an open mind, willingness to learn and have an evidence based thinking based on informed perspectives.

Yes, you might be right most of the time, but you are not right all the time, and being right previously isn’t a guarantee of being right next time. One particular instance is when people think because they are right about a subject, that implies they are right about every subject. I think we shouldn’t focus on being right all the time, but rather to learn all the time.

Thanks for reading ☺️