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The "entity theorist" street goes both ways: they're unwilling to learn skills outside of their expertise, and they are unwilling to share their expertise with

The "entity theorist" street goes both ways: they're unwilling to learn skills outside of their expertise, and they are unwilling to share their expertise with others. The entity theorists I know all act like tasks require magic, and you have it or you don't. My family has lost an excellent bread recipe as a result! Growing up, my mother always helped my grandmother in the kitchen. My grandmother was a fair cook, but she could (according to legend) make the best bread. She never permitted her children to make the bread - they just didn't "have the knack." Their loaves weren't as good as hers. So when she passed, so too did the recipe. But that's garbage! They weren't missing some magic knack, they were children who had never made bread before. There is no magic. It's hard work all the way down. I'd like to see research done on the teaching methods of entity theorists versus incremental theorists. I bet Incrementalists are more willing teachers!

10ren 16y ago
I think this is related to pecking order, in that once someone is elevated to a dominant role in some sense, the tendency is to not question them, day-to-day. A challenge is a dramatic and unusual event. This tendency makes for a more stable society (or troop of chimps/flock of sheep). There's a jurisprudential idea that people don't obey the law only out of the goodness of their heart, nor out of an economically assessed fear of sanctions, but of a "habit of obedience". This (to me) seems related to the pecking order instinct. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisprudence#Bentham_and_Austin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisprudence#Bentham_and_Austi... Fairy tales (for young and therefore impressionable children) have a strong theme of people being born to a certain role. And the idea appeals to children. The belief that you can improve is a revolutionary, subversive and dangerous idea.

10ren 16y ago

I think this is related to pecking order, in that once someone is elevated to a dominant role in some sense, the tendency is to not question them, day-to-day. A challenge is a dramatic and unusual event. This tendency makes for a more stable society (or troop of chimps/flock of sheep). There's a jurisprudential idea that people don't obey the law only out of the goodness of their heart, nor out of an economically assessed fear of sanctions, but of a "habit of obedience". This (to me) seems related to the pecking order instinct. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisprudence#Bentham_and_Austin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisprudence#Bentham_and_Austi... Fairy tales (for young and therefore impressionable children) have a strong theme of people being born to a certain role. And the idea appeals to children. The belief that you can improve is a revolutionary, subversive and dangerous idea.