To think you should never ask a question you don’t already know the answer to?

Totally agree. My in-laws are ridiculously intelligent (and nice) people and my god do they ask a lot of questions. Even just about really small details that I’d never have thought to ask.
knowledge is power, isn’t it?

So you spend your whole life not knowing things and being too afraid to ask questions to improve your understanding in case it makes you look stupid? Maybe if you asked more questions you would be less stupid.

I think people who know very little about a subject can ask a question that exposes just how little they know, which people might judge them for. I am not very clued up on films, music etc so I'm careful what I ask! On a more serious note, we have discussions on EDI (equality, diversity and inclusion) and I think people avoid asking anything for fear of looking ignorant, which defeats the purpose.

On the other hand, I believe a strong leader will ask the difficult questions they don't know the answer to. They will get a range of responses but in amongst that may be some fantastic thoughts. It is important to listen more than you talk to build connections with others. I have had lots of experience at work of people asking questions when you know they are looking for a particular answer and it feels like you have failed the test. It is refreshing when someone is genuinely asking you for your thoughts or expert knowledge.

As an aside, as a parent I try not to ask questions I already know the answer to. Then I'm just testing. I try instead to ask their opinions.

What a sad way of living life!

This reminds me of an approach an ex used to take. He didn't like to appear uninformed so if I mentioned a book or film or topic that he didn't know much or anything about he'd pontificate and argue with me about it until it became clear he didn't actually know what it was about. I'd have had much more respect if he'd just says "I haven't read that, sounds interesting..sounds similar too x " or whatever.

In my work I often share projects with people who have very different expertise from me. Scientists. In a typical meeting there’s about 200 years worth of post-graduate education and experience across at least 4 different disciplines. One compliment I frequently receive is that I ask good questions. It is an important way to show that I can engage with the other domains, it makes people more confident to work with me. Asking insightful questions shows that I have understood things so far and I’m building a coherent mental model of the problem, coming up with ideas and testing them. No one would expect me to already know all that stuff, the whole point of an interdisciplinary team is that we bring different knowledge.

There definitely are questions that will make you appear ignorant. But there are also questions that demonstrate intellect. If you’re generally known to be intelligent, the occasional stupid question won’t change that.

So being devious and manipulative rather than just being genuine? How very Machiavellian. You sound exhausting.

The Dunning-Kruger effect is strong in this one

Op you're playing 4d chess with yourself while everybody else just carries on with conversation 😂

It's not that complicated. Questions are fine.

I work with a guy who insists on asking questions which he should know the answer to (if he had been listening and doing his homework), it makes me cringe every day.
Those kind of questions do have a negative effect on the discourse. I also agree that asking questions which you know the answer to is useful rhetorical tool, to coax a discussion along.

But questions can also be used as a quick way to find out something you don't know, its fine.

My golden rule of questions is that if you are going to ask then you must be ready for the answer whatever it may be.

As a lawyer I don’t ask witnesses questions I don’t know the answer to and I ensure I’m well informed for investigations, but in every other interaction I ask as many questions as I can.

Curiosity is the only way to grow, it develops critical thinking and helps build relationships. The smartest people I know are the question askers

I disagree with the saying “there’s no such thing as a stupid question” as there are many!

But I would take someone who is confident enough to ask the stupid question to further their own understanding over someone who pretends to know it all any day of the week! Only the latter is dangerous.

Only a fool knows everything. Although of course, as the saying goes, better to say nothing and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt…but then again, nothing ventured, nothing gained!

You can’t win OP - people will be able to tell just how stupid you are regardless, so I would embrace learning with open arms and be respected for putting yourself out there!

Imo, the sure-fire way to fail at anything is to pretend that you're an expert in everything.

I'm curious, OP, about how well your strategic approach has served you to date. I presume that it has taken you to the very top of your field, given that you're advocating for your others to follow your example.

My own progression has followed a different route. I readily admit that other people know more than me about all sorts of things, and I don't hesitate to ask them for their insights. I'm confident in the skills that I bring to the table, so I don't feel the need to maintain "the upper hand". Quite the contrary, actually...I think that humility, authenticity and an ability to bring together different people's strengths are part of what got me to where I am now. I can't honestly imagine how I'd have got anywhere if I had restricted my interactions in the way that you suggest.

It depends on the motive for the question.
There's many theories on here

Ignorance is not the same as stupidity.

Deliberately refusing to learn, however, is stupid.

Intelligence is knowing when to ask a question. It's linking your existing knowledge to new information, understanding the gaps that exist and asking the question that fills those gaps. A less Intelligent person may not have the ability to process all this quickly enough to ask the question. Generally question askers are the clever ones.

I think most of the time a question is asked in order to find out things

Like when you posted a question on this forum

Sometimes a question may be asked where indeed you know the answer. For example - Am I still on drugs ? Or, Is this thread batshit ?

The danger of this line of reasoning is that people are afraid to show they don’t know something; that only clever people ask clever questions. I think we’ve all been in situations where ‘questions’ are actually carefully-posited displays of knowingness, which serve nobody except the smug inquirer.

At this point OP just try to settle for asking the question you actually want to ask.

No-one likes a know it all though.

I prefer honest people.

I judge the former but not the latter.

But then I suspect you already know the answer to your question, and are just testing your own theory. 😂

If you're talking about police interviews then yes, often the police know full well what the real answer is. And yes, they will absolutely want to guide the conversation, confirm what they suspect or see if someone lies.

Your first post is just too general a question, OP. Context is everything.

If you don't know ask - otherwise how do you understand what you're listening to?
If you don't ask then you'll look even dafter when it becomes obvious you were pretending to understand.

Any number of times asking the question lets you see that others were equally ignorant - so you're contributing to general understanding.

Are you just talking about in work situations? I'm sure we've all sat in meetings not really understanding what the speaker has said, and wanting to ask questions but feeling a bit unsure about asking, especially if you've felt your concentration wandering at times and been thinking about what to have for dinner that night. 😆 You then run the risk of asking a question which had already been discussed and then it becomes obvious to the rest of the attendees that you weren't listening. You don't want a rep as someeone who doesn't pay attention.

Equally if you're new to an organisation and wanting to impress, it's a fine line between asking questions because you're keen to learn, and asking so many that you appear to be really lacking knowledge that it was actually assumed you already had when you took the job.

If you're talking about social situations, I wouldn't trust a person who asked me or the person I was with questions which I KNEW they knew the answer to. Nobody wants to feel like they're being put on test. My suspicions would be raised immediately as to their intentions. I just wouldn't like to have someone that disingenuous as friend.