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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?
No, I do not think that common sense can be taught. I think you're born more or less rational and pretty much are hard wired either way.
I base that on my own personal experience. My dad one brother and I are very rational, organized people. My mom and one other brother are not. Out of my four kids, two are very rational and organized and two are not. I raised them all the same way, but devoted extra time and attention to trying to work with the two less rational and organized ones, because it seemed to me that life would be more difficult for them without these skills. And life IS more difficult for them, but I was unsuccessful in teaching them to be more rational (common sense is another way to put what I'm describing) and organized.
And you know what else I've noticed - at least in my life? Those who lack common sense seem to be resentful and a bit angry toward those who have it. More defensive.
Yes it can be taught but they have to WANT to learn. Let's start with the definition of common sense.
.......good sense and sound judgment in practical matters.
The way you teach it is to teach people to think more, analyze things in detail, pay attention to these details and not just take things at face value. It is constantly wanting to know more about the details of things and not just accepting them for their label.
I prefer to drive a car that starts virtually every time and requires minimum maintenance as opposed to being fashionable in an expensive, high maintenance car. I care little what others think about my car. I simply want it to go.
In this age of sound bytes people spout whatever they hear as fact are are often too lazy too look at details. A good example is the scraping of Obamacare. Rather than have a civil discussion about what is good and what is bad about it and trying to fix the bad, many go for the much simpler message of "Repeal it", "Get rid of it". The reality is that to deliver healthcare you will need some of the features it has and not want others, but discussing it requires knowledge of the details.
People who cannot look into details will not be able to have common sense. I was lucky that I learned very early on how to research things.
I wanted to buy a cordless stick vacuum cleaner to replace my canister unit for convenience. After about 5 hours of researching them I decided that the cheap ones had real reliability issues. They cheap ones have cheap batteries and they result in vacuums that only run for 10 minutes or so and the batteries and vacuums often fail in under a year. The more reliable ones cost from $400 to $600 though and are too expensive for me.
The robot vacuums also are very expensive for ones that work reliably and do a good job and also they have many more technology issues, updating firmware, docking properly in their dock, recognizing lighthouses (boxes that direct the robot vacuums). So, I ended up keeping my canister for now and I avoided buying a cheap one that would disappoint me in short order and recognized that $400 or more dollars is not worth it to me for what convenience I will get.
Ugh. I was hoping that with education and critical thinking skills that they could learn to be rational. Maybe not. Their mother has only a fifth-grade education. My boyfriend's brother never finished high school. I don't know what my boyfriend's excuse is. I am not acting like I am impervious to irrational thought. I used to be really into alternative means of medicine until I did my research and realized why some of the supplements that I was buying were simply a waste of money. I think that it was a matter of wishful thinking more than anything else. But I am open to dissenting opinions and fact-checking.
I was having a conversation with my boyfriend last night. We make cable spool tables and other stuff as a hobby. He wants to start selling them, but for something like $50 apiece. One kit of Super Glaze to make these things costs $25 by itself, not to mention the other supplies and labor. It would end up costing more to make one of these things than he wanted to sell them for. OTOH, he picks up stuff for free or next to nothing and refuses to sell it for less than top dollar, even though it is practically pure profit. Last night he spent forty-five minutes online looking for the lowest price on a Zippo lighter. Why he can't invest that same amount of time into researching the cost of materials to make these tables I do not know. I could try to reason with him until I am blue in the face, but it doesn't seem to get through to him. I was hoping that maybe one day he could learn, but maybe not. Sigh.
Great question - I think common sense is something a person has or doesn't, it's in the "hard wire".
I have a dear friend that is so sweet and kind but just naive and vulnerable, it's like he believes anything and doesn't really know what to question, notice red flags or listen to and trust instincts. He's always been this way sometimes he will figure out years later that he was talked in to "x, y & z ..." (marriages, having kids, etc.) after he "connects the dots" he then tells me that no one should talk anyone in to anything even if a person means well.
I reply, "well you're the one to make your own decisions, what feels right or doesn't, watch out for the people that are trying to shape, form & mold you and especially watch out for the opportunists."
He hears what I'm saying but doesn't really know how it apply it, common sense.
It depends on what you term common sense. Some of what people consider common sense is actually just learned through firsthand life experience. In that case, a very sheltered person may have very limited experience in certain areas, and lack confidence in them due to limited experience. This might come off as lack of common sense. Once that person actually does something and learns it, hands-on, it may turn out that while experience and confidence was lacking, sense actually isn't.
My DW of 28 years had little common sense when we met, believing everything she read and heard, but now after so many years of me showing her ways to research things and getting beyond the advertisements she no longer takes things at face value and she thinks through things that she would not have previously.
Now she has very good common sense. It can be taught IF they want to learn.
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.
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.
You ever notice that no one in Mensa ever solved a major world problem ? They can't be that smart. Common sense isn't common because people are lazy and like the pre-packaged sound byte that tells them everything they need to know about a subject in one short phrase. Most people lack the attention span to research anything.
I think it is a combination two factors like everyhting else in humans:
- genetics
- upbringing
I firmly believe that children who grow up in daycare lack common sense. Children who grow up around their parents learn common sense by watching their daily activities, chores, how do deal with things/issues ....etc. A child who is in daycare all day from 6am - 6pm lives in a bubble and will not learn basic life skills like a child who is at least half of the day around a grown up at home, watching what they are doing (if they don't just hang out on the couch) and using it as a role model.
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