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It has been argued that the effect results, in part, from a tendency for Nobel winners to feel empowered by the award to speak on topics outside their specific

It has been argued that the effect results, in part, from a tendency for Nobel winners to feel empowered by the award to speak on topics outside their specific area of expertise, although it is unknown whether Nobel Prize winners are more prone to this tendency than other individuals. I moderated a list for parents of gifted kids at one time. Bright kids tend to have bright parents, so most of these people were used to being the smartest person in the room and most of them defaulted to assuming that if you disagreed with them, you were basically "just stupid." It was really challenging at first to get people to assume the other person was also smart and likely had good reasons for having drawn different conclusions.

dev_tty01 3y ago
>although it is unknown whether Nobel Prize winners are more prone to this tendency than other individuals. I think we can at least confidently say that other people are more willing to listen to an NP winner. That could completely explain the phenomenon.
- DoreenMichele 3y ago
  That was exactly my thought: The real problem is not the Nobel Prize winner going off on a wild hair. The real problem is people persisting in believing it just might make sense, never mind all evidence to the contrary, because "They won a Nobel Prize, so maybe it's just more brilliant insight beyond my understanding!"