Do nerdy people play-up their social awkwardness?
When I watch Survivor, I always think about what I would do in the same situation. I mentioned a three-phase strategy for winning the game above, with the middle-phase being about trying to be as non-threatening as possible. To do that, you have to become aware of what it is about you that naturally makes you threatening. And you then have to somehow mask or justify that. For me, I’d imagine that I’d be a target for seeming too much like a know-it-all or a smart-ass. And so, I’d have to spin that into me being geeky or weird. I’d play up my lack of social skills or I’d play up my wild thoughts, so as to make people think I’m weak or out-there. Now, if I step back and analyze my internal Survivor simulation, I wonder if a certain segment of nerds try to appear non-threatening on purpose. They fall into a role because its within that role that they make sense to other people. It also provides them a natural cover. If they look nerdy, they think, then nobody will expect them to be in char
