Poll: Is giving someone false confidence a good thing?

[kidd25]

i always point out the things that can go wrong, in my things and in other. right after they go "you're right" i say, "but man, you still gotta try or nothing will happen." yeah i tell the truth, then kinda tell them to still go for it.

 

[Bubba Doongai]

I prefer brutal honesty, if people don't want an honest answer then don't ask the question. Of course you can still try to be as polite as possible, as long as it doesn't sugarcoat the truth.

 

[Death God]

Under certain circumstances, yes; such as weight (unless it is a health problem), telling them they'll be o.k. even if you know they are going to die, ect. But for the most part, if they are your friends, you have to be honest. If they don't hear it from their friends, most likely, they won't hear it at all.

 

[Rule Britannia]

In different situations it's good.

(Sorry about the example, popped into my head)
In harry potter and the half blood prince (I think) Harry receives liquid luck for his achievements in potions class, he then pretends to give Ron liquid luck (for his quidditch game) in his drink. As he did this Hermione noticed Harry and then said to Ron that Harry put the liquid luck in the drink. Ron was then convinced that he was lucky and gave him positive thoughts as he went into his game.
(Sorry about the example, popped into my head)

In that context, false confidence is great. If it turns about bad then they learnt a lesson, do better next time...Apart from in the looks area, that you cannot do much about :S

 

[Just_A_Glitch]

Brutally honest conversation regarding asking a girl out:

Person 1: "Should I do it?"
Person 2: "No. She's too good for you."

Person 1 doesn't try it, misses out on potential romance.

False-confidence conversation regarding same subject:

Person 1: "Should I do it?"
Person 2: "Go for it, you've just as good a chance as anyone else."

Person 1 has potential for romance.

That's one scenario where I think it works out. If you're always brutally honest, you won't get anywhere, nor will anyone else that comes to you for help. Sometimes false confidence manifests into actual confidence. I'm not saying tell everyone that their good enough for everything, but here and there, it doesn't do much harm to build someone up for a good cause.

 

[kjrubberducky]

I am brutally honest. I always have been. Lying is against my core principles. So when someone asks me if they look fat, for instace, I will tell them the honest truth.

It's the brutally part that gets people upset, not the honesty. There is such a thing as being tactfully honest.

Also, fat as in curvy, chubby, chunky, medically overweight, or medically obese? Keep in mind that the person asking might have different qualifiers than you do. For instance, if she is overweight, but not obese, would you tell her she is fat? Would you change your answer if you knew that another girl had just called her a fat cow, and she came to you looking for some comforting words?

 

[pyrokin]

Technically false confidence is the same as regular confidence, all you really do when you fill people with any confidence is just motivation.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Brutally honest conversation regarding asking a girl out:

Person 1: "Should I do it?"
Person 2: "No. She's too good for you."

Person 1 doesn't try it, misses out on potential romance.

False-confidence conversation regarding same subject:

Person 1: "Should I do it?"
Person 2: "Go for it, you've just as good a chance as anyone else."

Person 1 has potential for romance.

Ah then we should take a moment here to mention that we shouldn't mistake "brutal honesty" for "biased opinion", as we are people all our views are subjective and we should always consider that part before we burden others with them.

The truth on the above scenario is simply that you can't know, now you got the option to form a positive or negative opinion on it, if it's for a friend it's usually nice to not be an ass.

 

[Just_A_Glitch]

Brutally honest conversation regarding asking a girl out:

Person 1: "Should I do it?"
Person 2: "No. She's too good for you."

Person 1 doesn't try it, misses out on potential romance.

False-confidence conversation regarding same subject:

Person 1: "Should I do it?"
Person 2: "Go for it, you've just as good a chance as anyone else."

Person 1 has potential for romance.

Ah then we should take a moment here to mention that we shouldn't mistake "brutal honesty" for "biased opinion", as we are people all our views are subjective and we should always consider that part before we burden others with them.

The truth on the above scenario is simply that you can't know, now you got the option to form a positive or negative opinion on it, if it's for a friend it's usually nice to not be an ass.

Re-reading after posting, I thought to myself, "I should change that to "No, you don't have a chance" or whatever. Something not based in opinion (or at least, as much). But I figured the second scenario got the point across enough.