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The "myself and others" bit is a bit ambiguous to me. I read it as overvaluing reasoning itself, but it seems like you read it as over-estimating the reasoning
by jeffdavis 8y ago
The "myself and others" bit is a bit ambiguous to me. I read it as overvaluing reasoning itself, but it seems like you read it as over-estimating the reasoning ability of an individual.
The former interpretation still comes across as quite condescending to me, especially after comparing to economists studying irrational behaviors.
The latter interpretation doesn't seem to match the text quite as well, but perhaps that was her intended meaning.
- Firadeoclus 8y agoI think the intended meaning becomes much clearer in the context of the preceding sentence: > I realized that I’ve overestimated my ability to quickly understand what drives people to do what they do. I have overvalued reasoning in myself and others and undervalued pride, fear and the need to belong. The context is "what drives people to do what they do", and she used to work on the assumption that what drives most people is mainly reasoning rather than emotions. But she discovered that this isn't true, including for herself.