Wrong expectations
April 19th 2009 05:34
Two examples.
1. You want simply to build a shelf, it doesn't matter what type, it's just a temporary, makeshift shelf to hold some equipment, and your friend knows this. So you're nailing planks together, when your friend turns to you and says, "That's the wrong way to do it." You ask why. He answers, "You're nailing in the wrong place. It's more secure if you nail a little to the left."
2. You're babysitting for a day. You prepare some buttered toast. The boy looks at you spreading the butter, and says, "You're doing it the wrong way." You ask why. He says, "You need to spread from left to right, not right to left." You ask why. He says, "That's the way mommy always does it."
I think there's a few things going on here.
On the one hand, there are the requirements, the parameters of the job. Right and wrong can be judged with respect to an outcome. Take the construction example. In this scenario, you wanted to build a shelf; in other scenarios, you might have wanted not just a shelf, but a secure shelf, or not just a secure shelf, but an aesthetically pleasing one. If you straightforwardly fail to meet the requirements, whatever they are, then you can be doing something the wrong way.
But you didn't fail. All you wanted was a shelf, and that's what you would have got. Your friend was aware of this, and he didn't say, "There's a better way to do that", he said, "That's the wrong way".
If this is a legitimate and meaningful use of language, what did he mean by "wrong"? If there is a difference between "There's a better way" and "That's the wrong way", how do you account for his using the latter?
My attempt at an explanation: -- Perhaps "wrong" is not only to do with meeting the parameters, but is also to do with the way people usually do it. Consider the boy and the buttered toast. You're doing it the wrong way because you're not doing it the usual way. It might not be an explicit requirement of the job that you follow standard practice, but there's normally an expectation. This expectation might in turn be founded on an unquestioning faith in standard practice, or an explicit belief that standard practice is best practice.
To put this a slightly different way, there is a connection between the words "right" and "wrong", and expectation. Judgments of right and wrong are relative to expectations. You can walk into a room, and the light is a little dimmer than it normally is, and you straightaway think "Something is wrong." Or your car sounds a little different when you start it up. Or people are behaving a little weird because there's a surprise party for you. -- Something is wrong. Something is not ordinary. Not everything is as it should be. -- And how should it be? Well, it should conform to expectations and normal behaviour, predictable behaviour.
1. You want simply to build a shelf, it doesn't matter what type, it's just a temporary, makeshift shelf to hold some equipment, and your friend knows this. So you're nailing planks together, when your friend turns to you and says, "That's the wrong way to do it." You ask why. He answers, "You're nailing in the wrong place. It's more secure if you nail a little to the left."
2. You're babysitting for a day. You prepare some buttered toast. The boy looks at you spreading the butter, and says, "You're doing it the wrong way." You ask why. He says, "You need to spread from left to right, not right to left." You ask why. He says, "That's the way mommy always does it."
I think there's a few things going on here.
On the one hand, there are the requirements, the parameters of the job. Right and wrong can be judged with respect to an outcome. Take the construction example. In this scenario, you wanted to build a shelf; in other scenarios, you might have wanted not just a shelf, but a secure shelf, or not just a secure shelf, but an aesthetically pleasing one. If you straightforwardly fail to meet the requirements, whatever they are, then you can be doing something the wrong way.
But you didn't fail. All you wanted was a shelf, and that's what you would have got. Your friend was aware of this, and he didn't say, "There's a better way to do that", he said, "That's the wrong way".
If this is a legitimate and meaningful use of language, what did he mean by "wrong"? If there is a difference between "There's a better way" and "That's the wrong way", how do you account for his using the latter?
My attempt at an explanation: -- Perhaps "wrong" is not only to do with meeting the parameters, but is also to do with the way people usually do it. Consider the boy and the buttered toast. You're doing it the wrong way because you're not doing it the usual way. It might not be an explicit requirement of the job that you follow standard practice, but there's normally an expectation. This expectation might in turn be founded on an unquestioning faith in standard practice, or an explicit belief that standard practice is best practice.
To put this a slightly different way, there is a connection between the words "right" and "wrong", and expectation. Judgments of right and wrong are relative to expectations. You can walk into a room, and the light is a little dimmer than it normally is, and you straightaway think "Something is wrong." Or your car sounds a little different when you start it up. Or people are behaving a little weird because there's a surprise party for you. -- Something is wrong. Something is not ordinary. Not everything is as it should be. -- And how should it be? Well, it should conform to expectations and normal behaviour, predictable behaviour.
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