@jwhevans@mstdn.social
>" my inability to fit in socially as never been related to intelligence"
Welcome to the club...
@jwhevans@mstdn.social @bonifartius
I'm guessing that this is actually a serious topic of research in psychology/sociology; they may even have a name for this phenomenon.
Hypothesis:
I see a lot of TV personalities do this, pretend that they don't understand something. I think it has to do with ego-reward -- a lot people would rather feel that they are smarter than others. When someone around them expresses ignorance on a topic that they themselves understand, then they feel better about themselves. Even if they also don't understand the topic, someone else's ignorance allows them to at least feel that they are "average".
People who are better at social interactions will pick up on this right away and then pretend to be more ignorant in order to get people to like them more -- those around them will have more pleasant feelings when they are around that person.
It's seems counter intuitive, but it makes sense. Unfortunately, when this becomes the norm, it reinforces an aversion towards education and intellectualism. That sucks.
When they do it, they are often talking to the camera, to the TV audience, so it's not about interview technique. If it's irony, it's very subtle and I don't see it as irony. I'm sure people who understand what's going on (that the TV people are playing dumb), know that it is just for show, but I get the feeling that the vast majority don't see it that way.
Next time I see someone doing it I'll try to get a clip and post it here (if I remember).
@Pat
> a lot of TV personalities do this, pretend that they don't understand something
I wonder what you mean exactly. What you stated made me think of conversations you might hear on a talk show. There's a mode in which an interviewer feigns ignorance more as a conversational device to elicit the information from the interviewee for the benefit of the audience, but there's no misapprehension on the part of the interviewee that the interviewer is truly ignorant. Typically the interviewer did some research beforehand and there was a pre-interview to get at which topics might be discussed.
Irony may also be employed for a number of reasons.