I meant egocentricity!

I stand corrected . Thank you for bringing that to my attention , is the proper thing to say. As you pointed out It can be embarrassing so there could be a reluctance to admit you are wrong. I think it is human nature.

As a kid I hated to be wrong but as I matured it was evident that good people respect you more when you fess up. I try not to lie but I sure make mistakes and hopefully I own them. I wonder with the Me-To movement going on and a certain political persuasion always saying it was a lie while those who do admit their mistakes oftentimes seem to have it worse, if that is just sending a terrible message out. I really hope that people aren’t that stupid.

Why? That's a good question, but it probably starts with insecurity and embarrassment, or rather avoiding embarrassment..

I know for a fact that I'll admit when I'm wrong because it happened once

When I screw up, I want to fix it, not worry about deflecting blame. I don't ever intend to be caught in a lie, though. Integrity is important to me, and once compromised it's gone.

Yes, it is a human thing. I like to be wrong as I like to know the truth. a lot of people look at it as a floor where I look at it as learning.

I'm only ever wrong when a woman tells me that i am wrong, that must be 100% correct every time since woman are NEVER wrongt.....LOL.

Not being a dogmatic person, I normally admit immediately when I realize I've had a wrong idea, but I usually come to that conclusion by weighing new facts as they make themselves known to me. I think the problem begins with dogmatic beliefs, which have built in defense mechinisms, and that teaches us to look for ways to defend our primary belief without accepting new evidence. So, it could be a learned behavior by watching our dogmatic or narcisistic leaders.

"What do you think is at the core of this epidemic?
Is it simply the fear of feeling embarrassed or ashamed?"

While not everyone can be pinned down strictly to these reasons, I think what you stated is a good part of the root causes for not admitting our wrongs.

Some people are actual sociopaths or psychopaths... so there's that.
Some are narcissists like you mentioned who can't accept anything that might tarnish their perceived reputation. Donald Trump is a perfect example of that.

I personally have changed my ways in this area in the last five or so years.
Being right no longer means as much to me as it once did.
Maybe it's just my getting older and wiser, maybe it's because in the past I was wrong most of the time anyway.

I like what you stated about someone who can admit their fallibility, it instills a little more trust even if it's something that wasn't a huge deal.

Many people will be genuinely taken aback when someone admits they are or have done wrong because they don't don't see it happen much.
That in itself says a lot.

I like looking at the evidence. If the evidence changes, my mind usually follows... if the new evidence is of high quality. If I can easily pick the study apart, it goes in the trash heap.

Your never wrong. You stand Corrected. Thankfully and gracious that someone pointed out your errant. Egotists and Narcissistic Individuals are engulfed in Religion and to this they will always point the guilty finger at you and not the fact that there are like 5000 mistakes in the Bible that they cannot explain. You will only be condemmed guilty by a Religious Fundamentalist or a Court of Law who will not enable you to explain your errant. They do not accept apologies or explainations or any kind. My favorite post on this website has been that if your looking for sympathy you have to look in up in the dictionary. It is between Shit and Syphillius.
Making you their example by aplogizing or explaining is just feeding into their exemplary accomplished example of be a perfect Narcissitic.
I will end on a quote that my Philosphy Professor once said. "He who never washed any dishes, never broke any."

Eccentricity is one of the most heinous human traits. Admitting when you are wr