Do NTs ask stupid questions?

[Haphazard]

Well, questions that are likely to be perceived as stupid by the general populace. The sort that you ask, and everyone laughs, until somebody with enough Fe says, "Come now, there's no such thing as a stupid question."

I've often found myself asking questions about things that are 'obvious' to everybody else. And I find that when I ask these questions, I don't usually get an adequate response. It's just a regurgitation of what they said before, and if I was asking for clarification, well, how is that supposed to help? You don't clarify things by just repeating them!

I have a feeling that with the way NTs tend to think, they might end up overanalyzing and thus ask these sorts of 'stupid questions.'

So? Familiar experience? Or is this just me?

[heart]

It is better to ask for clarification when needed than to make assumptions. There may be repetitive questions asked but it is all relative, it is far stupider to make assumptions in silence!

I am not annoyed by most questions because they are an attempt to understand.

[whatever]

I do that all of the time! (just ask the people on vent sometimes ) I'd really rather just ask a question and know something than shut up and not know. Curiosity is a good thing IMO and I will happily sacrifice pride in order to understand things better.

And you're right! It usually IS the Fe dominant people who assure you that there are no stupid questions!

[Jae Rae]

Obvious questions like "Have you checked your purse?" when someone has misplaced keys or glasses or "Have you tried rebooting?" when the computer crashes.

My all-time favorite "Are we out of eggs?" [How many places could those be?]

Me - "I don't know have you checked the fridge?"

Jae Rae

[CaptainChick]

I have no problem with people who ask questions, but I find that some NTs "ask" questions really in an attempt to defend their positions on said "questions".

I believe that sincere questions, and question asking should be made from a receptive position, but as I type this out I realize that I too am guilty of asking questions only to shoot down what I find to be erroneous or unsatisfactory answers. Whoops!

[Owl]

It's not just you.

While this phenomena may predominate amongst NT's, I don't know if it is limited to NT's. (e.g., I imagine ISTP's often find themselves in similar situations.)

If there is one thing I know about people in general, it is that they neglect, avoid, resist, and deny reason. People would rather try to create meaning apart from reason than let reason inform them as to what is meaningful. So when the NT, hungry for rational justification, presses another to explain why he believes as he does, he finds only empty words, mere noises that the other attempts to use to prop himself up over and against reason in order to retain some degree of autonomy.

*gets off soap box*

[nightning]

What seems obvious might not necessarily be true. The obvious (and stupid sounding) questions to me is the first place to look for answers. People make far too many assumptions.

Addressing Jae's set of questions... If there's a problem, I believe the first thing to do is to check for the most likely (and simple) sources. So for missing keys... your purse, a computer not working... the connections, power source etc. I'm sure most people would have done all of that by themselves before asking. But some don't... and besides it helps get my brain working on the problem by starting with simple things first and observing feedbacks.

[Tallulah]

If I have a question, even if it seems silly, I'll usually ask it. I think with NTs, we see so many sides or possibilities of interpretation, that it's better to clarify that we're on the same page as the person who's talking. Just to make sure we're not off on some completely different thing.

I sometimes, as CC mentioned, will ask a question just to make someone think about what they're claiming a little more. Because it's easier and less conflict-inducing than saying, "Idiot! That makes no sense!"

In college, I would sometimes ask questions if I felt like the teacher wasn't being clear, even if I could still follow what they were talking about. I did that because I've never minded asking questions, and most people are too shy or embarrassed to ask, even if they're really confused.

[Santtu]

My ENFJ friend might think I do .. I did a big 5 test with him, and I had him laughing and nodding at one statement in my results.. "asks questions no-one else does"

Well I sure do.. I use them to rule out some assumptions that might go wrong. I want to know, not to fill in the gaps with my prejudices.

[Jae Rae]

Originally Posted by nightning

Addressing Jae's set of questions... If there's a problem, I believe the first thing to do is to check for the most likely (and simple) sources. So for missing keys... your purse, a computer not working... the connections, power source etc. I'm sure most people would have done all of that by themselves before asking. But some don't... and besides it helps get my brain working on the problem by starting with simple things first and observing feedbacks.

OK, always interesting to hear how an NT thinks about things. From now on I'll try to take these questions as springboards for thought.

My INTJ friend says she makes a point of asking about anything she doesn't understand - she knows she's smart, so she knows she's not asking a stupid question. Co-workers come up to her after presentations and thank her for asking something they didn't know either.

Jae Rae