What do you know about people you don’t know?

[cjsmith]

What do you folks think or guess when you don’t know someone?

Elsewhere I wrote:

I have some vague baseline sort-of-trust of people I don’t know well. MOST of them aren’t psychopaths. MOST won’t steal my stuff if they’re in my house for an hour. MOST will try to hide their misogyny from female-appearing persons. That sort of thing. And then I’m always on the lookout for signals that a stranger does indeed fit this model. It’s as if there’s a Generic Human in my mind, and I make a lot of guesses about what that Generic Human is likely to do.

What are some of your guesses about Generic Humans? Small or large, positive or negative - comment away!

(This is a public entry. An access-limited entry is here for folks who prefer not to comment on public posts.)

Comments

[amaebi]

I think that, for me, the question is a bit overly broad. If I hadn't read the earlier discussion I wouldn't have known what to do with it at all.

[cjsmith]

One of my guesses about Generic Humans is that any random human is more socially confident and more well-liked than I am. I recognize that this guess may not have a lot of data to back it up, but I find myself continuing to guess this way nonetheless.

[wcg]

This might apply to your query. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/09/when-malcolm-gladwell-says-nothing-at-all/597697/

[cjsmith]

Another guess I have about Generic Humans is that any random person I see probably doesn't try very hard to grow as a person or think very much about how to be a good/ethical/kind/decent/grownup/responsible human being. I tend to guess that they're more likely focusing on simply getting through the day.

I have been shown to be wrong on this one more than once. Spectacularly wrong. It's humbling. (As I think it should be!)

[noelfigart]

Actually, it's rather awful and I have to guard against it:

Generic Human is unlikely to be as intelligent as I am and is probably not going to think things through.

1. Yes, I know where my IQ falls on the bell curve. It's not an excuse to be an arrogant ass.

2. While it is true that you can generalize and say "The average human" doesn't think things through, that doesn't mean ANYTHING for "The Human in Front of Me at This Moment." (Which also rather applies to point 1.)

[cjsmith]

Oh, I haven’t mentioned a big one.

Generic Human will decide at first glance that I am stupid.

[cjsmith]

Another big one:

Generic Human thinks very differently about Women than about Men, treats these two categories very differently, believes more complimentary things about Men than about Women, will evaluate individual Men as being better at things and smarter and more deserving of respect than individual Women, and will deny all of this vociferously when asked.