People who think they are always right are called perfectionists, self-righteous, dictators, and peremptory people, or they suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder.
These sets of people are hardly pleased. And except things are done their way, there’s a high chance of being at loggerhead with them.
If you’ve ever encountered one, or you find yourself behaving this way, then there are a number of causation factors and how this can be remedied.
Individuals are built differently, and people behave as a result of the summation of their habits which forms their characters. Know that some truths are universal while others are subject to one’s reality.
This calls for understanding that what one sees as the truth can only find relevance in one’s immediate environment and must not be enforced on all people.
And until people begin to see things outside the prism of their realities, their compatibility level with others would be on a constant decline.
What Names Do You Call Someone Who Thinks They’re Always Right? (Explained)
People who think they are always right are named according to the distinctiveness of the peculiarity of their respective conditions. They are named:
- A Perfectionist
- A Peremptory person
- A Dictator
- A self-righteous person
- A person with OCD
1. A Perfectionist
In psychology, the concept of perfectionism is characterized by an individual’s unhealthy concern and striving toward perfection and flawlessness.
This is often followed by a critical evaluation of oneself and others. Simply put, a Perfectionist is someone who at all times, wants to get things done perfectly and cannot stand others not getting it done that way too.
People with this trait often hold themselves to a relatively high standard and think they are seldom good enough and would also want to impose this on others.
And until things are done according to how they have defined it in their minds to be correct, they will always find fault with it.
This is the reason they come off as though they’re always right, but in truth, they do not just criticize others alone because they do not escape from this criticism as well.
One of the biggest downsides of perfectionists is that they tend to procrastinate a whole lot. The reason for this is that they often seek the perfect time to carry out activities as they are comparatively afraid of failure more than an average person.
2. A Peremptory Person
A peremptory person is filled with the need to always be obeyed and given attention. The problem with these sets of people is that they often do this in an imperious way.
And this is the leading cause of why they always have problems with people they are dealing with. They usually feel one is obligated to do their bidding regardless of whether or not they are wrong.
A person who feels he is always right can be peremptory because this set of people gives little or no room for their opinions to be debated, or for the opinions of others to find a soft landing in the event that they have already spoken, or decided.
Why a peremptory person feels he is always right is because he holds on to existing conventional principles that he feels are true, rather than a type of truth that is based on deduction or evidence.
This is why they often dictate and expect everyone to follow through without giving proper scrutiny.
3. A Dictator
One who thinks he is always right can be a dictator. A dictator is a person who exists within a political system as a supreme leader and possesses absolute power.
The words of a dictator are laws, he changes them at will and no one dares challenge him. Otherwise, such a person faces the death penalty.
Currently, there are countries with dictatorial leaders. An instance is the president of North Korea, Kim Jong-un. He decides the hairstyles of the citizens, who can reside in the capital city of the country, and other ridiculous laws.
Within the jurisdiction of his territory, a dictator’s words are ultimate, and the affairs of the country are run according to how he deems fit as opposed to how right it should be, following the principle of valid inference and criteria.
Another case is Adolf Hitler. A dictator is never wrong in his own eyes, he is far different from a perfectionist because he never criticizes himself.
4. A Self-righteous Person
Another name to describe a person that feels they are never wrong is a self-righteous person. A self-righteous person always feels their moral standards and beliefs are superior to that of every other person.
And it is upon this faulty assumption that they always want to have people behave and do things like them because they feel they are helping people uphold a better moral standard and an ideal belief system.
The perspective from which people in this category view things and life, in general, make the choices and decisions of others seem imperfect and unworthy.
Hence, they are always on the lookout to put the perceived wrong of others to right. A self-righteous person sees every other person on an erroneous path but himself.
This is the reason one is more likely to get tired of people in this class as they would always strive to make every decision people around them make to align with their definition of perceived correctness.
5. A Person With OCD
OCD is the acronym for obsessive-compulsive disorder. OCD is a type of disorder that doesn’t just come with unwanted and repeated sensation and thought, it also comes with the rare feeling of satisfaction.
There are four variants of OCD – one of which is contamination and cleaning OCD. This type of OCD fills a person with a type of discomfort that comes from the fear of uncleanliness and contamination.
So, people with this type of OCD can come off as though they’re always right because they’re under a type of psychological compulsion to do things in a certain type of way.
And they always tend to want others to adhere to the way that satisfies their mental yearnings. Otherwise, they are never comfortable until they correct you to do their bidding.
If you have a person that arranges their shoes, folds their shirts, arranges their drinks in the fridge, and does other things with so much attention paid to patterns, then such a person is most likely battling with an obsessive-compulsive feeling.
How To Deal With Someone Who Thinks They’re Always Right?
Since a psychological mechanism is an event and pathway that determines specific changes in psychological outcome, then the right way to deal with a person that thinks he’s always right is to identify their psychological mechanisms and resolve the problem in that regard.
If you have ever had to deal with a person that always feels he is right and you’re thinking of the safest way possible to deal with them, then you must understand that there’s no one-rule-fit-all strategy to this.
This means you must deal with each case according to the peculiarity of the causation factor that makes them feel they are always right.
For instance, using the same strategy for a perfectionist and a dictator wouldn’t quite suffice.
In both cases, they feel they are seldom wrong, however, being able to identify their varying reasons as to why they act the way they do, would give you a good heads up to better tackle them with respect to their uniqueness.
1. Walk away when necessary
Walking away from people who think they are always right is one of the best ways to deal with them.
For sure, they are energy drainers. Being logical or trying to see reasons with them would always end in futility as they always have their preconceived notions they will always resort to without giving credence to your take.
2. Try not to get offended
You say the most hurtful words when angry, and this, you’re likely to regret in the long run. Understanding this makes you not take the excesses of those who think they are always right personally.
This is because you should have known their kind of person has been affected by a type of psychological bias.
3. Simply Obey
Sometimes, it is a statement of a good dose of emotional intelligence to simply Obey a person that thinks he’s always right and just do as they wish.
This is as long as you’re not obeying them to your detriment or that of any other person. This should apply only in harmless and trivial cases.
Conclusion
Aside from inherent traits in people, there are certain habits learned that can be dropped off as well.
A habit is the accumulation of behaviors, emotions, and unconscious thoughts – they are often automatic and get to become a habit through being constantly repeated.
Understanding this makes you know that unless a person is willing to go through a type of cognitive behavioral therapy, or open up their analytical minds to welcome new ideas, they will always maintain their old habits – one of which is, always claiming to be right.
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