What's the deal with close-mindedness?

N

nrhoades

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
What is the mechanism behind a person's dismissal of similar forms of the same discipline? Pool is a good example, where there are many who develop a skill set centered around one type of game, and reject others that are centered around another skill set. An obvious answer may be lack of maturity, but that seems to vague, and probably a partial miss.

This doesn't apply only to pool. A more baffling example is rock climbing, where there is even less direct competition between people. The flamers are terrible, and harshly dismantle, say, trad. climbing if they're a boulderer. They're very quick to poke fun at newer climbers, are arrogant, and feel that their talent in scaling rocks identifies them as modern day prophets. I've climbed for years and have seen much of this.

Then again, maybe it is maturity a little bit. I've also golfed for years. Every senior golfer I've played with was absolutely delightful, and very humble. But in pool, many many older people simply won't have their idea of tradition treaded upon with different objectives in the same sport.

And for god sakes, for the amount of work some of the most contributing members of our society put into their field, their return is barely a mark in all of human knowledge.

"Link: What is a PhD"


I can only think that the people who close their mind use their achievements as a measure of self-worth. If this is valid, then why are some obtuse towards acquiring humility?

Perhaps this is more of a psychological question, but what do you think?
 
nrhoades said:
I can only think that the people who close their mind use their achievements as a measure of self-worth. If this is valid, then why are some obtuse towards acquiring humility?

Perhaps this is more of a psychological question, but what do you think?
Click to expand...

The feeling of a separate "I", which is called ego-consciousness, is directly related to the strength of ignorance, greed, and hatred. The deepest meaning of ignorance is the believing in, identifying with and clinging to the ego, which is nothing but an illusive mental phenomenon. But because of this strong clinging to ego-consciousness, attachment/desire, anger/hatred arise and repeatedly gain strength. This is contrary towards humility.
 
Last edited:
JMW said:
The feeling of a separate "I", which is called ego-consciousness, is directly related to the strength of ignorance, greed, and hatred. The deepest meaning of ignorance is the believing in, identifying with and clinging to the ego, which is nothing but an illusive mental phenomenon. But because of this strong clinging to ego-consciousness, attachment/desire, anger/hatred arise and repeatedly gain strength. This is contrary towards humility.
Click to expand...

As "Black Balled" would say.."I am very smart and know many words"
 
sammylane12 said:
As "Black Balled" would say.."I am very smart and know many words"
Click to expand...
Ah... my ego inflates. LOL. I just Googled ego, did a cut and paste and added a few words. Fooled ya. I don't know that many words. :D
 
Last edited:
Nobody likes to think that after investing a large time commitment to an activity, way of life, opinion, etc., they had it all wrong. It's bad for the ego and shrinks your comfort zone, not to mention the private parts.

Best,
Mike
 
Mikjary said:
Nobody likes to think that after investing a large time commitment to an activity, way of life, opinion, etc., they had it all wrong. It's bad for the ego and shrinks your comfort zone, not to mention the private parts.

Best,
Mike
Click to expand...

There is no wrong. There shouldn't be a feeling of wrong from learning something different. I don't understand the people who get defensive.
 
Last edited:
I've seen this in about every sport or passtime I've ever been involved with.

Pool is no different. Actually, in some ways, pool players are a bit less crazy than average. While there are some, there aren't many that actually believe than a new cue is "the answer". Most also play more than one game regularly.

But it is curious what makes folks get all militant. In pool it seems that aiming systems are the biggest triggers.

bes
 
A few things come to mind. First and foremost is a lack of breadth in intellectual thinking. I live and have lived on both sides of the intellectual street. In the rarified halls of academia thinking tends to be much more open and accepting. Most academics would agree with the statement that, “A Ph.D. doesn’t mean a damn thing, unless you haven’t got one.”

Academics are acutely aware of their limitations (at least around their colleagues). Your link to the meaning of a Ph.D. is not only funny it is quite accurate and the vast majority of people in academia would appreciate it and would pass it around for the humor and the truth that it contains. However, academics can be equally as rigid.

Kuhn’s theory of a Paradigm Shift http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradigm_shift is one way to explain much of the rigidity that we see in the world. While there are several corollaries I like the idea that people grow up learning a particular way. As they mature they use this way and find it to be successful. This increases their commitment to a particular view. Later, the way is replaced with a new way that they have not learned, do not understand, and do not want to take the time to learn. To justify their commitment the new way must be devalued and the old way is better in their thinking. To have a revolution in thinking we have to wait for the old guys to die off.

Within the individual the same thing occurs. If you learn to play 8-Ball and you become reasonably good at it, then you develop a commitment to 8-Ball and it becomes the only game in town. Anything that is not 8-Ball related has to be devalued and this proves your commitment to the great game of 8-Ball. This devaluation includes, people, places, equipment, etc. The more you defend your idea the more you have to defend you own statements and defensiveness gets even stronger (see the resolution of dissonance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance).

With maturity and a modicum of intellectual ability we begin to realize what we have done to ourselves and we begin to branch out in our thinking. In my opinion this is one of the primary functions of a college education, to expand one’s ability to think and truly see the gray in the world.

Of course some people regardless of age, intellectual ability or education simply have emotional problems that tie them to a particular world view. They are of course limited by their emotional problem and that is a different topic indeed.

PS, It takes four years to get a liberalizing education. Of course there are other ways and some people who do attend never learn to expand their mind.
 
Last edited:
poolhustler said:
Why is this in the main forum? Maybe I am too "close-mindedness" ???

:cool:
Click to expand...

Seems to me this is about why some pool players have rigid views and are close minded when it comes to pool related matters. The topic is quite appropriate for attempting to improve the civility of the forum.:)

The potential answers to the question are far ranging and may encompass more than pool players and why they do the things they do.
 
nrhoades said:
What is the mechanism behind a person's dismissal of similar forms of the same discipline? Pool is a good example, where there are many who develop a skill set centered around one type of game, and reject others that are centered around another skill set. An obvious answer may be lack of maturity, but that seems to vague, and probably a partial miss.

This doesn't apply only to pool. A more baffling example is rock climbing, where there is even less direct competition between people. The flamers are terrible, and harshly dismantle, say, trad. climbing if they're a boulderer. They're very quick to poke fun at newer climbers, are arrogant, and feel that their talent in scaling rocks identifies them as modern day prophets. I've climbed for years and have seen much of this.

Then again, maybe it is maturity a little bit. I've also golfed for years. Every senior golfer I've played with was absolutely delightful, and very humble. But in pool, many many older people simply won't have their idea of tradition treaded upon with different objectives in the same sport.

And for god sakes, for the amount of work some of the most contributing members of our society put into their field, their return is barely a mark in all of human knowledge.

"Link: What is a PhD"


I can only think that the people who close their mind use their achievements as a measure of self-worth. If this is valid, then why are some obtuse towards acquiring humility?

Perhaps this is more of a psychological question, but what do you think?
Click to expand...


I believe this is absolutely a psychological question. Let's take a look at some basic human tendencies:

1) People like to be right. "Knowing" something, or providing info that others don't have displays a certain "power" or worth. Being in the know is a common basic human drive.
2) Anything that threatens that information is thus a direct threat to the power or worth derived from that information.
3) Humans' psyches are very weak, and generally do not stand up well to scrutiny. Even the slightest threat to the persons conception of their "self" immediately triggers defensive reactions, even in people that would be considered "mature". As soon as someone starts thinking of themselves as being "knowledgeable" about anything, new information becomes a threat to that knowledge.
4) Newbies provide a medium in which to "strut your stuff", so to speak. It isn't so rewarding to flaunt your knowledge around those who share the same knowledge, since that doesn't make one appear great or worthy. It must be flaunted among those who don't know, thus elevating the status of the flaunter.
5) One common (and foolish) technique for attempting to establish one's worth in the mind of others is by creating a comparison. "I am smart, and I can prove that by pointing out how stupid these other people are." I'm sure we have all heard that before, or some variation.

I think most of the behavior the OP mentioned is explained by these tendencies above. What do others think?

KMRUNOUT
 
JoeW said:
With maturity and a modicum of intellectual ability we begin to realize what we have done to ourselves and we begin to branch out in our thinking. In my opinion this is one of the primary functions of a college education, to expand one’s ability to think and truly see the gray in the world.
Click to expand...

This should be a sticky in NPR.
 
JoeW said:
...some pool players have rigid views and are close minded when it comes to pool related matters.
Click to expand...

Wait, wait, wait ... are you trying to say you can't learn when you already know everything? :D
 
I think about this a bit more simply. Human nature is to remain in ones comfort zone. And learning new things requires stepping out of it. Here's an example.

If you already know how to drive a car with automatic transmission, you are unconsciously competent at that skill; you can do it without thinking about it. Your mind goes elsewhere while your body drives the car.

If you decide to learn how to drive a standard transmission car, you will suddenly find yourself consciously incompetent; you have to think about what you're doing (release the clutch back to the friction point, press on the accelerator, keeping doing both until the car begins to move and then when you get to....damn, stalled it again!). This is uncomfortable for most people. If, however, they are properly motivated to learn, they will continue to progress eventually reaching conscious competence. They can do it properly but have to think about what they are doing. Eventually, given enough repetitions, they will become unconsciously competent at this skill.

What I'm saying is that to learn something new, one must move out of the comfort zone for a little while. If the motivation is not there, the payback or whatever, one is destined not to do it.

I train people for a living; I see this behavior all the time. Until someone has a reason, they won't learn. JMHO.

Brian in VA
 
I believe that Mike (Mik) understood it and explained it back perfectly.

You have just earned the next level of conscientiousness in Tai Kwon Leap, Ed Gruberman.

The ego can be a dangerous thing.
 
nrhoades said:
What is the mechanism behind a person's dismissal of similar forms of the same discipline? Pool is a good example, where there are many who develop a skill set centered around one type of game, and reject others that are centered around another skill set. An obvious answer may be lack of maturity, but that seems to vague, and probably a partial miss.

This doesn't apply only to pool. A more baffling example is rock climbing, where there is even less direct competition between people. The flamers are terrible, and harshly dismantle, say, trad. climbing if they're a boulderer. They're very quick to poke fun at newer climbers, are arrogant, and feel that their talent in scaling rocks identifies them as modern day prophets. I've climbed for years and have seen much of this.

Then again, maybe it is maturity a little bit. I've also golfed for years. Every senior golfer I've played with was absolutely delightful, and very humble. But in pool, many many older people simply won't have their idea of tradition treaded upon with different objectives in the same sport.

And for god sakes, for the amount of work some of the most contributing members of our society put into their field, their return is barely a mark in all of human knowledge.

"Link: What is a PhD"


I can only think that the people who close their mind use their achievements as a measure of self-worth. If this is valid, then why are some obtuse towards acquiring humility?

Perhaps this is more of a psychological question, but what do you think?
Click to expand...

What is with this contrived controversy? There are plenty for relevant topics to post to that have something to do with pool.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top