Reading people: the smug personality (Charlie "destroys" people with epistemology, he says
We reviewed the pattern of Charlie's laughter here a few times.
Charlie sometimes laughs at other people, or while describing their thinking process.
That's an indirect way of saying "look how silly they are, I'm much better".
That can be an important sign of personality.
Another example pointing in the same direction:
Ben: When we said that, people often say "that's irresponsible"
Charlie: That's when I destroy them, and we get into epistemology and how do they know the things they know (...)
Ben is referring to comments people write.
And I haven't read a single time Charlie doing what he says he'd do in the comments.
Talking about his family Chalie sometimes shares of approaching it that way.
And yet, he also says that the conversation with his family never budges. It's a continuous, "grindlocked conflict" Gottman would call it, of Charlie trying to persuade them against the main narrative in the news, but his family sticking to the main narrative.
So there's no real "destroying" in terms of persuasion.
But the fact he frames it that way, and the smug laughter, tells you that Charlie maybe thinks he's destroying them, and that he probably feels a lot superior to most other folks.
And by the way, this is not to say he might not be.
He's a very smart guy, so in some sense, it's most likely true.
On the other hand, being able to read people at this level gives you a lot of leverage over them.
Charlie -and guys like him- are often very partial and pliable to your ingratiating efforts of making them feel smart and "superior".
These analyses of personality based on behavior are really really useful. I think behaviors like these could be associated to narcissistic traits.
And those usually not only come with the person in question being initially susceptible to ingratiation, but also with a whole lot of other traits that, in the long run, are damaging to those around the person.
Quote from Bel on March 16, 2022, 12:39 pmThese analyses of personality based on behavior are really really useful. I think behaviors like these could be associated to narcissistic traits.
And those usually not only come with the person in question being initially susceptible to ingratiation, but also with a whole lot of other traits that, in the long run, are damaging to those around the person.
It might probably come from a narcissist, yes.
Albeit I personally wouldn't jump the gun on smug = narcissist. Personally, from what I've heard, I wouldn't consider Charlie a narcissist -if one wanted to provide one of those HR descriptions that try to spin a criticism into a positive, they might say "a very healthy opinion of himself :)".
But he seems to be really trying to be a moral and ethical person, including putting real skin in the game (ie.: pescatarian, researching the impact of his choices, donations).