It might be a result of the perfection humankind is seeking to achieve. It might also be a result of an education system that teaches us the importance of the correct answer.

The need to be right and the obligation to adapt to what is perceived as right is present everywhere.

In conversations where being right is the way the dialogue is led. It either derails the dialogue into a battle of who is right, or it focuses on figuring out what the right answer may be. The former is anchored in who has the better understanding of the situation. The latter is anchored in the assumption that logic is the best way to address the situation. The gain of both approaches is to end up with more certainty as what is right is expected to be certain. Another gain of this approach is to develop an understanding of where power is located, either it is one of the persons in the conversation who is stronger than the other, or those involved can perceive themselves as being powerful as a group. It is a way to determine where responsibility will be once the situation evolves and the found answer is confronted with reality.

In a way, it is how those involved leave aside what they actually want. However, it is a mostly unconscious move. One that seems to be based on the idea that getting what one wants can be substituted by discovering what is right. Either because it then is justice to receive it, or because it allows avoiding the experience that one doesn’t always get what one wants.