[EliRivers]

You have misrepresented the case, although I do agree that it's not overtly a male/female thing.

People are in a shared TV-viewing area. There is something being shown on TV. New person enters and decides to change the channel without asking.

This is the action of a total dickhead. I don't care what the established ritual is. If a group of people are clearly watching something else (and they must be, because here they are in the tv viewing area, and something else in being shown, and if they wanted to watch something else they'd have already changed the channel), to pick up the remote and change channel without asking is the action of a dickhead.

Possibly the action of someone on the aspergic scale, possibly the action of a sociopath who just doesn't care what other people want. Coming in and changing the channel without asking is simply a massive dickhead thing.

[Turing_Machine]

"People are in a shared TV-viewing area. There is something being shown on TV. New person enters and decides to change the channel without asking. This is the action of a total dickhead."

If it were a random situation, perhaps. If it is the established norm that a specific program is watched at a specific time, not so much.

[golergka]

But the story doesn't tell us that anyone was actually watching Friends at the moment.

[cathartes]

But she was explicit in saying no one even asked if anyone was watching. Instead, each person in succession walked in, recoiled in horror, and decided to flip the channel without a word. One person doing this is unexceptional. Two? Less than chance, but possibly coincidence. Three or more, however, suggests a gestalt of in-group sports dickery existed around her.

[croon]

It's inferred by people being in the area to laugh at everyone picking up the remote.

[EliRivers]

You know what, the story also doesn't tell us that nobody was on fire at the moment.

When you walk into a shared TV viewing area with people in it, and there is something being shown on TV, even if it looks like nobody is looking at the screen at that moment, you should still ask before changing channel. Social fact. If it looks like nobody is watching it, you can soften it a little by framing the question as "Is anyone watching this, or can I change channel?"

[DanBC]

You had a great point until you brought in psychiatric diagnoses.

I think this is an example of the conjunction fallacy, or The Linda Problem.

Bob walks in and changes the channel even though other people are watching.

Is Bob an asshole, or is Bob and asshole and has Asperger's?

[austinjp]

Indeed.

For those unfamiliar with the Linda problem, Daniel Kahneman's Thinking Fast and Slow explains it.

There are far more assholes than there are people with Asperger's. Consequently Bob is probably an asshole, plain and simple.

[fleitz]

Your point is still great, and IT IS a sociopathic thing to do, they are immediately asserting dominance and challenging anyone to question it.

That doesn't mean they are going to kill you, it means they understand how social hierarchies work and are moving up the ladder.

[EliRivers]

I disagree with your assessment of my comment, but upon re-reading I can see that I was not clear enough.

I believe I suggested that this was the action of a dickhead, OR the action of someone who would have trouble understanding the social rules that suggest he shouldn't just change channel without asking (e.g. Aspergic, or a sociopath of some sort; probably not textbook psychopath, as they're often charming and quite able to abide by social rules in this sort of situation). If I had said "AND" rather than "OR", I would agree with you. I certainly intended to offer the Aspergic/sociopath option as an alternative rather than an additive.