An Interesting Conversation
Mahesh Vijayvargiya
Quality Analyst @Myton-Morrisons | Food Processing Engineer | Freelance Food Product Consultant
“prêcher le faux pour savoir le vrai” which means “preach the falsehood to know the truth”
Imagine you pass by a question that asks “the Titanic got invaded by aliens, right?” On one hand, you’re holding in a chuckle and slightly in disbelief; on the other hand, you went through the pain of researching and answering the question in such enormous detail. So, what happened?
The answer is pretty simple. It’s a weird social media experiment that shows unusual findings when you — in willful ignorance — ask something completely wrong.
according to a researcher at IIM Bangalore, this human tendency to correct others can be used as a strategic tool to increase the engagement of students by 80%.
Strangely enough, this can be applied outside of academia and it’s not just questions but actions too. For example, when my younger self didn’t want to do my chores, I would fumble around like an idiot until my mother would get frustrated and do it for me. Depending on how you use this clever trick, it can make for an unforgettable discussion or a useful tool in getting what you want.
But how is saying the wrong thing supposed to increase more conversation? The human disposition is called “Cunningham’s Law”. A phenomenon perceived to affect human behavior mid-discussion.
Ask Dumb Things to Get Smart Answers
Cunningham’s Law works because sometimes you can be pulled out of your reverie with a fraction of probing or with contradictory data, which results in engagement.
Even Sherlock Holmes in The Great Game says, “people do not like telling you things; they love to contradict you”. Therefore if you want smart answers, do not ask a question. Instead, give a wrong answer or ask a question in such a way that it already contains the wrong information. It is highly likely that people will correct you.
Little do they know, you’re probing them.
A generalization of Cunnigham’s Law is that it’s similar to what Socrates tried almost 2500 years ago: the ancient Greek philosopher that upset many people in his day by questioning their knowledge.
In its simplest and most accurate explanation of the phenomenon being described: people generally don’t want to be helpful, but they do want to be the smartest person in the room.