One of my strongest signaling attempts was the language I used in The Wannabe Rational. Was this signaling or countersignaling? I am not up to snuff on the signaling terminology, so this is an attempt at clarification and not an objection to your points.
Another clarification example: If a community used what you know as a status symbol, would it be signaling or countersignaling to ask for an answer you didn’t have?
Is there a reason that this post is entitled Things You Can’t Countersignal? Wouldn’t it be more accurate to say that there are Places You Can’t Countersignal? The problem isn’t the countersignal. It is the target of the countersignal that causes issues. Or am I wrong?
I think “The Wannabe Rational” signaled humility (rather effectively).
When what you know already is a status symbol, acknowledging genuine ignorance would say nothing good about you at all, although if you have immense local credibility and can disguise the question as a test of someone else’s knowledge, asking questions could be a signal (if it looks like you’re wielding authority to pass judgment on others’ knowledge) or a countersignal (if it looks like you’re using your question to poke holes in someone else’s position). When wanting to know things is the status symbol, asking any questions that don’t indicate you’ve done next to no homework will tend to signal medium to high status depending on how difficult they are.
Perhaps the title would have been better as “Audiences To Whom You Can’t Countersignal”, but that just has no punch to it.
Another clarification example: If a community used what you know as a status symbol, would it be signaling or countersignaling to ask for an answer you didn’t have?
Guessing in advance of Alicorn’s reply (edit: ninja’d!): that reads to me as countersignaling unless there is a norm in favor of asking for information. Asking for an answer you didn’t have here (for example) would not be read as a status signal unless the question were particularly wrongheaded.
Edit: An example I have read of but not seen firsthand is the classroom in Brazil where Feynman taught—in which none of his students were willing to show ignorance by asking questions in class.
One of my strongest signaling attempts was the language I used in The Wannabe Rational. Was this signaling or countersignaling? I am not up to snuff on the signaling terminology, so this is an attempt at clarification and not an objection to your points.
Another clarification example: If a community used what you know as a status symbol, would it be signaling or countersignaling to ask for an answer you didn’t have?
Is there a reason that this post is entitled Things You Can’t Countersignal? Wouldn’t it be more accurate to say that there are Places You Can’t Countersignal? The problem isn’t the countersignal. It is the target of the countersignal that causes issues. Or am I wrong?
I think “The Wannabe Rational” signaled humility (rather effectively).
When what you know already is a status symbol, acknowledging genuine ignorance would say nothing good about you at all, although if you have immense local credibility and can disguise the question as a test of someone else’s knowledge, asking questions could be a signal (if it looks like you’re wielding authority to pass judgment on others’ knowledge) or a countersignal (if it looks like you’re using your question to poke holes in someone else’s position). When wanting to know things is the status symbol, asking any questions that don’t indicate you’ve done next to no homework will tend to signal medium to high status depending on how difficult they are.
Perhaps the title would have been better as “Audiences To Whom You Can’t Countersignal”, but that just has no punch to it.
Guessing in advance of Alicorn’s reply (edit: ninja’d!): that reads to me as countersignaling unless there is a norm in favor of asking for information. Asking for an answer you didn’t have here (for example) would not be read as a status signal unless the question were particularly wrongheaded.
Edit: An example I have read of but not seen firsthand is the classroom in Brazil where Feynman taught—in which none of his students were willing to show ignorance by asking questions in class.