{"id":128373,"date":"2024-08-11T09:31:59","date_gmt":"2024-08-11T13:31:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=128373"},"modified":"2024-08-13T10:17:45","modified_gmt":"2024-08-13T14:17:45","slug":"the-art-of-being-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-art-of-being-wrong\/","title":{"rendered":"The Art of Being Wrong: Embracing the Wonders of Error"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Have you ever wondered why art and humor captivate us so deeply? What role does being wrong play in our creativity and individuality?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her book Being Wrong<\/em>, Kathryn Schulz explores the art of being wrong and its surprising benefits. She argues that our mistakes and misperceptions are not just inevitable\u2014but essential\u2014to our humanity. She shows how wrongness fuels humor, art, and personal uniqueness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read on to discover why embracing our errors might be the key to unlocking our full potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Art of Being Wrong<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the grand scheme of things, all artistic creation exploits the same loophole of “wrongness”\u2014the mismatch between different perceptions\u2014that humor uses to make a joke. Schulz writes that we usually think of being wrong as a mistake. But, if we embrace the art<\/em> of being wrong, we can enter into the realm of error on purpose. Art shows worlds that don’t exist, perhaps through the distortion of a painting, the soundscape of a song, or the twist of an engrossing story. Art lets us explore the unreal\u2014the wrong\u2014without any of the baggage we attach to misconceptions in our day-to-day lives. Beyond that, art lets us see other people’s foibles through our own eyes. When we can connect others’ wrongness with our own, we learn empathy in a way that being “right” can’t teach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: When we engage with a fictional world presented through art and stories, we often say that we \u201csuspend our disbelief,\u201d an expression that some psychologists take literally. Because we can\u2019t affect the story a work of art is telling, our brains don\u2019t engage in the neural processes that would spur us to act to change the story\u2019s outcome<\/a>\u2014the same neural connections that would normally work to fact-check whatever we\u2019re seeing. During the time that we view a painting, watch a film, or read a book, our brains respond as if the imaginary story depicted by the art is true, even as we know\u2014as Schulz would put it\u2014that that belief is categorically wrong.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps the greatest benefit to being wrong is that the unique ways in which we\u2019re wrong are what let us stand out as individuals. Schulz suggests that our idiosyncratic worldviews, each of which is wrong in its own way, distinguish us as separate and valuable.<\/strong> To understand this, imagine if each of us was objectively right all the time. We\u2019d share the same views; we\u2019d think the same thoughts. We wouldn\u2019t be human\u2014instead, we\u2019d be machines, each of us running the same operating system. Feelings like mystery, wonder, and surprise wouldn\u2019t exist in the world of \u201cbeing right.\u201d It\u2019s only by being wrong <\/em>and envisioning a world that doesn\u2019t exist that we open the door to such human fundamentals as imagination, aspiration, and hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: By suggesting that, if we were right all the time, we\u2019d have the exact same beliefs and perspectives, Schulz presupposes the existence of an underlying objective reality that we would all have access to. However, even in theoretical physics there is doubt as to whether an objective reality exists<\/a>. In A Brief History of Time<\/em><\/a>, Stephen Hawking explains that many fundamental physical \u201ctruths\u201d\u2014such as where an object exists in space and time\u2014depend entirely on the perspective of the observer. In other words, it\u2019s possible for two people to make conflicting observations<\/a>, such as how fast an object is moving or how much time it takes to travel a set distance, and both be absolutely \u201cright\u201d from their own point of view.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being Wrong Can Be Fun<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The fact that our ideas about the world can be wrong is something that brings joy to all of our lives. If you find this hard to believe, consider that the disparity between how each of us views the world from each other\u2014a multitude of opinions that cannot all be \u201cright\u201d\u2014is the genesis of humor, art, and the quirks that make each of us unique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people believe the whole point of humor is to point out mistakes in a way that\u2019s pleasant and easy to digest.<\/strong> At its basic level, such as classic \u201cpratfall\u201d humor, we laugh at other people\u2019s mistakes, and\u2014if we\u2019re strong enough to take a joke\u2014we laugh at errors of our own. Schulz points out that more complicated humor also revolves around harnessing wrongness\u2014a comedian says something that creates an expectation, then shows that expectation to be wrong in a way that briefly confuses the listener until they \u201cget the joke.\u201d Not all humor works this way, but enough of it does that it\u2019s one of comedy\u2019s defining traits, as epitomized by the medieval \u201ccourt jester\u201d who was the only one allowed to make fun of the king. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Comedians can set up and subvert an expectation in a single sentence with a verbal trick called a paraprosdokian<\/a>. This technique exploits the brain\u2019s tendency to anticipate how a sentence will end based on its opening words, and then provides a different ending instead. As Schulz suggests, these verbal tricks switch the listener\u2019s mind from \u201cwrong\u201d to \u201cright\u201d in a way that\u2019s cognitively safe and fun, but comedians exploit other forms of \u201cwrongness\u201d too. One of these is breaking social taboos against addressing certain subjects<\/a>, from low-brow toilet humor to politics and religion<\/a>. By doing the \u201cwrong\u201d thing and broaching sensitive topics, comedians start dialogues on social issues<\/a> that might otherwise remain bottled up.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you ever wondered why art and humor captivate us so deeply? What role does being wrong play in our creativity and individuality? In her book Being Wrong, Kathryn Schulz explores the art of being wrong and its surprising benefits. She argues that our mistakes and misperceptions are not just inevitable\u2014but essential\u2014to our humanity. She shows how wrongness fuels humor, art, and personal uniqueness. Read on to discover why embracing our errors might be the key to unlocking our full potential.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":128390,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1568],"class_list":["post-128373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-psychology","tag-being-wrong","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Art of Being Wrong: Embracing the Wonders of Error - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mistakes can fuel creativity and individuality. 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