• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Accurate inaccurate accuracy

R

robotninja

Gone But Not Forgotten
(ACCOUNT RETIRED)
Joined
Oct 6, 2004
Messages
37
I experience the phenomenon I'm about to detail often.

On many occasions, I am wrong when I felt I was entirely right. This does not sound like anything unique at all, I know. Let me explain.


Sometimes I will answer a question or tell someone something, and as I am saying it or immediately afterwards, I will 'know' I am correct. A sensation accompanies this, and it's kind of a smug 'damn, I am so impressive. What I just said is absolutely true, and I know that it was true entirely'. I don't think that as a thought. I am not actually thinking to myself how great I am or anything like that, it's more of a sensation of 'knowing' i am right. After having this sensation, always and without fail, what I said that I felt was right is immediately proven wrong.

This is all kind of hard to explain but hopefully it has made sense so far. An example will help.


In high school I remember an incedent prominantly. I had just finished a test in one math class or another, so I walked up and handed it to the teacher and as I did, I got this sensation on one of the questions that he was going to be so impressed that I got it correct. Like I said above, it is not actually me thinking "He is going to be so impressed!", it is a sensation of sorts, or more importantly, it is not me being cocky because in no way do I actually think "He is going to be impressed!" when this occurs. Anyway, I handed it to him, being a teacher who would quickly grade them as you stood there, and he did. He handed it to me and said "I don't know how you could miss #4 [or whatever question number it was], it was so simple" #4, of course, was the same question i 'felt' would impress him.

This is not an isolated incident. Since it has happened so many times, I know what to expect. Whenever I feel this sensation, I know that what I said that I felt was so right is actually incredibly wrong . I can trust this feeling to accurately let me now how inaccurate my accuracy was.

One explanation is that I simply do not remember all the times where I have this sensation and then end up actually being right. However, I have taken this into account and have yet to be correct after having this sensation.

I hope everything made sense. If you're sketchy about anything, ask me and I'll try to explain better.
 
If ever you feel this sensation again, you'll know to do the opposite I suppose...
 
Good news!

You seem quite certain that you get these feelings. After reading your post, it seems that that means you don't get them at all.

No need to thank me.
 
Oh Peripart I was alreay confused before you said that. Now I feel worse.

robotninja, perhaps you were confusing the feeling of "oh god im not sure if im right about this" with "yes i am absolutely right" these feelings have the same physical effect, butterflies in the tummy etc.
Is it possibble to be confused about your own reactions? ie, thinking something is positive when its actually a negative reaction your having?

ok time for breakfast..
 
Perhaps you're experiencing Attention Defiecit Disorder. We didn't have this when I was in school, like you I was told things like "If you chose answer D for question 4, that's ridiculous." I had of course chosen that as the correct answer. I frequently 'flip' phone numbers, pick the wrong key for the door (of only two possible), and couldn't recall a number sequence for a combination type padlock if my life depended on it. Sometimes it's quite emabarrasing as I'll say the wrong word, and be completely unaware of it. Fortunately, the Missus is nearby to explain, that no, I'm not really daft.
 
you have all somehow managed to confuse even me. There is no way it is ADD and I personally don't even see the connection. Also, maybe my example was bad. I'll use another that happened yesterday.

I was checking to see when a tv show was on, and as I was scrolling through the onscreen guide I was thinking to myself "It is on at 7, what an impressive thing to know", but as I clicked the arrow button and the guide flipped to 7 o' clock, it was a different show entirely. The show I wanted to see is on at 8.

Maybe I was unclear in my first post. I do somewhat think to myself 'That's impressive', but the reality of the situation is even though I think that, I am not impressed by myself nor is it a situation in which someone would be impressed at all.

Can you possibly imagine a friend being impressed that you know what time a tv show is on? No. Why would I even be impressed that I know what time a tv show i watch every week is on (or rather, don't know)?

That is why this sensation/phenomenon is so weird to me.

In more response to Prof_Pretorious, almost all of the situations are entirely internal with no outside source. What I mean it is usually scenarios more similar to that TV show thing. They are always things where I am undeniably wrong, not cases where I was actually right and am told I am wrong. Things like me walking to a cabinet with 6 drawers, opening one 'knowing' that the spoons are in it (such happened at my brother's new house), only to be met with egg beaters.


and in response to gncxx: I have learned to know exactly what this sense is, but I cannot do the opposite because it happens as I am thinking whatever thought is actually wrong. I can, however, with startling accuracy (as the confusing title implies), know without a doubt that whatever i just thought is the opposite of what i thought it was.

cassandra: I'm afraid that it is a very definate cocky "i'm so damn correct" absolute feeling, not a nervious uncertain butterfly one.

alright, I better stop now because with each word i type i feel it gets more confusing.
 
Ummm ... is it like the feeling when you are staring at a cryptic crossword clue and (without working it out logically) the answer comes to you? You think "Aha! Got it!", only in your case you would fill it in and it would be wrong and then the whole crossword would go wrong ... ??
 
OK I have 2 theories.

Firstly, you are downright cocky and arrogant and need to slap yourself and stop thinking you are right all the time. (Said in the friendliest way possible, no offense!)

Secondly, you are in fact the opposite of the above and really paranoid about being wrong. For example, I would open that draw with confidence and upon finding whisks would have a little giggle at myself, then promptly open the others and not even have another thought on the matter. These things happen all the time, I just don't think about it.

Maybe you are whisking yourself up too much ;)
 
Well you'd think that to become arrogant and cocky, I would have had to be correct some of the time when it happens to set up a basis in my mind that I was right at some point, but I have yet to feel this specific feeling and end up being correct.

I would compare it to the 'aha!' kind of moment in that it is a very brisk and sudden feeling, not an elongated thought process. It is different in that an aha moment occurs when you suddenly realize or understand something. The thing that happens to me is like a sudden instant remembering of knowledge that I have not even learned yet, which is disproven moments later. I don't feel upset or anything after it happens, but I never cease to be shocked at how each time the sensation hits, the outcome is the same.

Cassandra, to make a broad generalization about myself, I have never cared what people think of me (i know a lot of people claim this attribute but it is the single thing I have been told that defines me as a person), and thus I really don't care when I am wrong. I'm definately not going to deny logically proving the logicless wrong or anything of that sort but I wouldn't say I am a naturally arrogant or self-conscious person.
 
Maybe it's a pathway in your brain that has been exercised a little more than it should be, so it's playing up?
 
Maybe you were born with a 'crossed wire' in your intuition somewhere? Think how helpful it would be if it had been wired up correctly and you were right every time!

Do you ever find it dangerous, intuitively getting things wrong? It sounds like it would be.
 
personally i try not to think at all when trying to predict say cutting a pack of cards
iiho ppl try to think which card it will be but as this dosnt work imho not thinking is the best ploy as thinking dont work
its hard but have been able once in the past to predict five cuts of the pack corrcet although it seems i havent been able to replicate this(probably thinking too hard)

not sure how too but just focus on the first thought un filtered by choice or reason....easy eh lol
 
It could be crossed brain wiring of some sorts but in that case it is still odd because I would always be right about being wrong.
 
THAT'S why I suggested ADD. It's like dyslexia, except you think you're right when in reality you're wrong. I went through this with a psychotherapist regarding problems I have with memory. She immediately said, well you're ADD. I recall being in a woodworking class back in school, and making the wrong measurement three times !! My instructor was ready to flunk me on the spot!! Each time I had measured the board, I was sure I had done so correctly, but each time was completely wrong.
 
oh ok, I understand the ADD comparison now. That's an interesting idea but I don't think it applies here because a lot of the time it is information I do not know and could not know yet, such as going into my brother's house for the first time and suddenly getting the sensation that i know where the spoons are.
 
Oh well, perhaps cassandra78 was correct:
Firstly, you are downright cocky and arrogant and need to slap yourself and stop thinking you are right all the time. (Said in the friendliest way possible, no offense!)
Click to expand...
 
haha, this thread is not turning out well. I am the opposite of always correct, I am always wrong! I'm only correct about being entirely wrong
 
haha, this thread is not turning out well.
Click to expand...

Nonsense, you have generated quite a bit of interest and we've all taken different angles and have different perspectives on it. It seems nobody can really fathom it out... how Fortean! ;)
 
:) Hey,I can put a name to this...

"!akeruE"syndrome.

or how's this.....

Untuition!




sorry.
 
Is Untuition what kids get at awful schools? :?
 
robotninja I think that at the time these incidents happen you ARE right. But a vengeful God or the Keepers of the Matrix immediately change reality just to cause you to be wrong.

I've experienced this too. Once in a class highschool where I raised a question about something I'd just read in a world history textbook (regarding the untouchable caste in India - such as people employed in the tanning of hides, etc.). The teacher became angry, rudely informing me that there was no such group of people. I tried to point it out to him in the textbook - but the paragraph dealing with the subject was GONE!
 
Booth

Here's a story which fits here. At least I THINK it fits here. I could be wrong.

Back during the late 19th century the great American actor Edwin Booth (brother of John Wilkes Booth the assassin) trod the boards in an afternoon matinee of a Shakespeare play. From the first act through the last Booth was almost electrically aware that he was delivering the single finest acting of his illustrous career. In fact, it could very possibly be the finest Shakespean performance EVER..

When Booth returned to his dressing room after the performance he found his adult daughter - who'd been in the audience - anxiously awaiting him.

"Dad," she asked nervously, "are you okay?"

"But of course," answered the thespian. "Why do you even have to ask?"

"Because your acting today was so atrocious lousy that I was afraid that you were seriously ill and might even be dying."
 
OldTimeRadio, that does fit and is very similar.


and pshaw, I think you're right. There's a god with a price on my head.

of course, since i think you're right, you must be wrong.
 
I know what you're getting at! I'm similar in that I'm often wrong when I'm convinced I'm right but in my case it's more that I should realise I'm not always right! what I mean is, when I think I'm right I have thought through whatever I'm talking about and come up with an answer I'm convinced is right, but then whoever is disagreeing with me will point out something that means I'm wrong, and which seems really obvious after they've said it! I base my thinking I'm right on facts I know rather than sudden intuition though.
 
Ninja - is this not just the dawning realisation that youve messed something up or got something wrong? Im thinking of the moment after youve put your pen down at the end of an exam that you get a sudden flash of insight into an answer you should have given, but invariably didnt. Something along those lines?

Do you get that kind of stuff also?

Presumably you "get stuff right" without ever having the feeling, and you "get stuff wrong" also without the feeling. Are you saying youve never experienced the feeling of being intrinsically right about something and found out you were?

So on those occasions when you felt you were right, but then (through years of experience of this) realised you were in fact wrong about it, was it not just a case of being suddenly crestfallen?

I feel that this would be easier to discuss using symbols, lets switch to algebra-mode.
 
Henry Fort, it is not the dawning realization I just got something wrong. I have a good example from tonight- I was playing on PokerStars, a poker program,. I will, for matter of clarification, assume there are folk who don't know the basics- everyone gets two cards in their hand, three cards proceed to flop, everyone bets, then two more cards flopped.


I had a King and a 3, and the flop was a 4, a 10 and a 6 (or something like that). I decided to fold my hand. My friend who is really good at poker- to the point where he got an ace of spades tattooed on his arm- was watching me play. As I folded my hand, I had a "boy, this sure will impress josh, me folding this hand" sensation/thought. About 10 seconds later, the last two cards of the river flopped. They were a King and a King.

I would have had 3 kings and would have won a hefty amount of fake money.

Also, I can say that in my hundreds of experiences with this phenomenon, I do not remember ever being right. I can tell you this much: it would be much more bizzare at this point for me to be right when i get the feeling, and i would not soon forget it if it happened.
 
Maybe it's a really useless form of pre-ognition. Like, D wasn't the right answer to question 4 THAT day, but it will be in the next test. You're doing the test in the future, but of course, completely cocking up the present day!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top