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Yes, I think it is taught - by parents and others.
Many people struggle with cognitive distortions - like the guy who fell for a hoax - they jump to conclusions etc. Many do this - even "educated" people - just to a different degree or sometimes selectively applied.
Or is it just one of those things that you either have, or you don't? Why do some people have it and others not? And, if it can be learned, how? I am just curious because of some of the things that I observe in some of the people that are close to me. For example, they will believe the very first thing that they read on the Internet, no matter how far-fetched, and no amount of reasoning seems to help. Here's just one example: my boyfriend's brother read somewhere that pig bladder helped someone's finger grow back and now they are using it to grow back limbs. Now he wants me to order it online for him. A simple fact-check shows that this is a hoax. I am sure that someone here has had someone forward them an e-mail or another with some crazy story that can be debunked by checking Snopes. My boyfriend and his brother read some book by some conspiracy theorist and now they believe that the government is going to microchip everyone in the year 2017. They scared the hell out of their mother because she has one of those debit cards with the chip in it. Now she thinks that she has the mark of the Beast and is going to hell. It would be funny on some level if it weren't so frustrating to try to talks some sense into them. What do you think?
They say you can teach a mule some sense, after you get its attention with a 2X4.
This is a really interesting question. When you break it down, it seems to me that common sense actually requires decent analytical skills.
You need to be able to size up a situation, and kind of analyze what is happening or may happen, what people's motives might be, flash back to your previous experiences or remember hearing about someone else's experiences in the same situation, etc., and do all that fairly quickly in your mind.
And maybe it's "street smarts" that are thought of as common sense, too. My dad was a cop and he taught us things that helped us to avoid bad situations. So, my street smarts were mostly learned. Things like locking your car doors every time, as soon as you got in. And when I was a young woman, on two occasions a stranger tried my door handle after I'd gotten into my car and locked the door. They just came out of nowhere, once in a parking lot, and once when I was at a stoplight.
And he taught us to trust our instincts (which I guess you'd have to have naturally) when walking down a street and someone gives you the creeps - and to cross the street away from them, or head toward a group of people, etc. Don't get in cars with strangers, etc. I think these things are taught to you.
I don't know the answer to your question but I have a guess based on life experience:
common sense has to be modeled by a parent or responsible adult. But some people are naturally more trusting, and hence more gullible.
Common sense means to me more than being gullible; it also means how to react in a crisis, and how to choose which actions to prioritize in any given situation. A person with common sense, gasses up the car before it runs to empty, for instance. This person would not set out on a journey unprepared, would not apply for a job for which he or she was not qualified, would not be blotto drunk before a first date, would not volunteer to cook a special meal without knowing how to cook.
But some people who function very well in life, do tend to be gullible. I don't really know why that is.
Common sense isn't all that common. I realize that every time I watch the news or see a trending topic on Facebook. I have a few family members that have high IQ's, two belong to Mensa, however they are seriously lacking any common sense at all.
I know a lot of smart people with strange "senses".
Then again, most people I know with very high levels of common sense are also smart.
I would posit that intelligence comes into play here. Intelligence has a definition "the ability to learn from mistakes" (or the past, or history and experiences, etc.)...
Using that definition, the smart strange people I know DO have common sense. They may be crazy but they are survivors since they spend a lot of time thinking about themselves.
The books about "Freakanomics" show various examples which are interesting - is the drug dealer on the corner more blessed with common sense than the kid who believes that working at McDonalds will get him ahead? Same with the prostitute - are they blessed with common sense because they work for $500 an hour instead of $20?
You'll have to read the book to figure out the answers...
whats common sense to one is different from another
I think its common sense to know how to change a car tire jump a dead battery with cables... change your own oil....
however.... if no one has ever done it its not common sense
its common sense not to leave kids or dogs in a hot car,,,but it happens ...to me this is stupidity/criminal negligence beyond common sense
I went to a store a couple days ago ///a convenience store ..it was cold ...kids were left in the car...as are dogs...while the parent(s) ran in the store for a couple items ..
now this happens in maine often ...without anyone taking off with your car.....or kid...is this very bad common sense??? if it was other areas id say yes
I haven't locked my front door of my house for 25 years...or locked my garage ...... with never a problem,,
is this common sense??
one elementary teacher would put math problems on the chalk board....and ask randomly us kids to walk up and show the work for the answer..
the teacher called this "common sense basic math"
lots of kids did not get the problems correct...
common sense is a perspective ....
it also depends on experience....
how many of us.....who have never backed a boat on a trailer - back it in smoothly down a launching ramp??
this is common sense for many...but if you have never done this it is not... is it common sense the trailer turns the opposite direction of the truck????? no it isn't
I have the opportunity to raise both a child born to me (not seeing his father after age 4) and our son who we adopted (whom we knew a lot about the birth parents), nature is so much more than nurture, so much more.
My older son is so intelligent and highly educated, but doesn't have a lick of commonsense, takes after his father. The son we adopted, has Down syndrome, but has commonsense. It is interesting.
I spent vast amounts of time with both children, no babysitters and allowed the schools to make limited impressions.
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