The fair-world fallacy and the creation of nerds

There is a common belief that, for every positive trait a person has, there is an equal negative trait: that is, the belief that no one can be better than anyone else. Call that the fair-world fallacy, by analogy to the just-world fallacy.

Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences is an excellent example. Actual intelligence is something that some people naturally have more of than others, so there must be other intelligences (and we have to call them intelligences!) that those others can have more of. The supporters of this theory, unconcerned by its lack of empirical validity, claim that “the idea of multiple intelligences is important because it allows for educators to identify differing strengths and weaknesses in students”—ducking the fact of general intelligence and its implication that some students will be generally stronger than others—or, more revealingly, that:

Different intelligences, life requirements and environments also support the idea of diverse learning styles. Therefore, the acceptance of multiple intelligences presents a legitimate challenge to established traditional educational models. If you accept the idea that a person can combine a unique array of specific intelligences, or abilities, you would also need to accept that there is a place for a wide variety of learning approaches to enable each individual to realize his or her potential. In my view diversity in learning styles requires taking into account the specialness of each individual.

By “established traditional educational models”, the author means those based around IQ. (Never mind that these are becoming ever more de-established as the fair-world fallacy takes hold.)

It’s interesting to note that Gardner’s model has taken hold in education, a typically progressive and Blue-Tribe field. The fair-world fallacy is probably a great deal more Blue than Red; this could easily arise from political differences.

A purer example of the fair-world fallacy, one that I’ve seen many times from Blues, is the belief that every positive quality must have a corresponding negative quality, and vice versa. People who are physically fit must be stupid and boorish, people who are attractive or sexually successful must be assholes (note that internet-PUA was popularized by blogs from one specific location, and that location is Washington, DC), people who are mentally deficient in some way must be nice and pleasant to be around, and people who are intelligent must be incapable of social interaction—that is, nerds.

I have even heard, from a Howard Gardner-reading Blue Tribe relative, that all intelligent people are autistic. (This manifestation of the fair-world fallacy may be a factor in the popularity of the awful not-even-comedy The Big Bang Theory: she is a devoted fan of that show. From what I’ve seen of it, it does its very best to reinforce that preconception.)

The article linked above, which defines the Blue and Red tribes, comes close to defining a third, but rejects it in a revealing way:

There is a partly-formed attempt to spin off a Grey Tribe typified by libertarian political beliefs, Dawkins-style atheism, vague annoyance that the question of gay rights even comes up, eating paleo, drinking Soylent, calling in rides on Uber, reading lots of blogs, calling American football “sportsball”, getting conspicuously upset about the War on Drugs and the NSA, and listening to filk – but for our current purposes this is a distraction and they can safely be considered part of the Blue Tribe most of the time.

It later un-rejects it, claiming that (its own) criticism of Blues for hating Reds may be motivated by the narcissism of small differences: as Freud said, “it is precisely communities with adjoining territories, and related to each other in other ways as well, who are engaged in constant feuds and ridiculing each other”. As it is in the Balkans, the Middle East, and Communism, so it is in America—but why are Greys, a group-referent that was immediately taken as a synonym for ‘nerds’, so close to Blues?

The characteristic feature of nerds is a self-perceived inability to fit in. Nerds, it is said, are awkward and introverted, preferring to avoid social interaction and group activities, which they have no talent for, in favor of purely solitary activities. They are also intelligent, and a common belief is that it is because of their intelligence that they are awkward and introverted—that intelligence itself leads naturally to awkwardness and introversion. Which is exactly what the fair-world fallacy would say, and which does not fit with the existence of smart rednecks as a type. Where are the Blue or Grey smart rednecks, and where are the Red nerds?

I grew up in the cracks of the tribal system. Most of my family is Red, but there are a few Blues. In school, I had three distinct groups of friends: one was solidly Grey; one was Red of the military sort; and the other wouldn’t fit into the tribal system at all, since I was the token white guy.

Looking back, I notice two things. First, the Reds did not fall victim to the fair-world fallacy at all; second, different groups have different beliefs as to what correlates with intelligence, and those expectations create social roles that are difficult to escape. That is true as a general principle—it’s easier and less painful to do the expected or the thedish than the unexpected or the elthedish—but it may hold even more strongly in the case of social networks that one cannot (as in the first eighteen or so years of life) or usually should not (as in the case of close family) leave.

The intelligent Reds I knew were physically fit, socially capable, and introverted; the intelligent none-of-the-aboves (yes, there were some) patterned with the Reds; but the intelligent Greys I knew were physically weak, socially awkward, and introverted. Then they went to college, far outside the reach of their previous social context, and mostly shaped up.

If ‘nerdiness’ is inherent and immutable, this cannot be explained, and the absence of nerds among Reds and none-of-the-aboves cannot easily be explained. But if ‘nerdiness’ arises from the crippling of the intelligent by Blue-Grey fair-worldism, it all makes perfect sense. The reason that trait is far more common among Blues and their cladistic descendants is that that environment is the only one that contains the fair-worldism that motivates the role-assignment that gives rise to it.