It's probably better to assume you might be wrong than to assume your abilities/understanding are below average in some area. To assume you're below average in

It's probably better to assume you might be wrong than to assume your abilities/understanding are below average in some area. To assume you're below average in some aspect when you're not also causes problems in interacting with others. ("This is easy because I find it easy and I'm below average. Anyone with a high school education probably has a functioning knowledge of linear algebra and differential equations.") It's absolutely true that you might be wrong, and your decision making and behavior should take that into account, regardless of your abilities relative to others. My general rule is to assume I'm missing something or could be wrong. For instance, I was skiing with my dad this February. He said he didn't have his milt-resort pass with him, but it sure looked to me like it was attached to his arm. So, I asked him if the thing on his arm could get him what he needed, instead of flat-out telling him he was wrong. For all I knew, it was some expired single-day pass from the previous season, but it could have been some kind of membership ID that was still useful in our situation. It turned out he had forgotten that his multi-resort pass was on his arm, but my response was less confrontational and more focused on cooperatively reaching the goal.