What psychological conditions have to be present in a society for a people to become arrogant? This study will use the definition of arrogance as “unearned confidence.”
First it seems that bluffing should be rewarded i.e. presentation has to become higher valued than experience. For if this is the case presentation will over time come to dominate over wisdom. If wisdom is lost what remains is inaptitude. Given that confidence is relative viz. confidence in skill is measured in relation to other homo sapiens sapiens confidence in all probability follows the normal distribution (statistics and probability theory) which means that there will be individuals having confident characteristics while being ultimately without episteme. This satisfies the definition of arrogance as postulated supra.
Another possible condition is the loss of knowledge which simultaneously can lead to arrogance since a general loss of knowledge makes people overconfident in their understanding. If there is a universal principle to which understanding can be measured a false confidence paired with imperfect understanding can likewise be classified as arrogance. However the hypothesis of there being a universal principle which acts as the universe’s ruler is not uniformly accepted. The first case thus seems to be a more fitting candidate to explain the presence of arrogance.
These examples show why it is neccessary to keep an attitude of epistemic humility i.e. to keep oneself on the lookout for blind spots.