Why We Love to Rank and Debate Everything

It starts simple enough with an innocent sounding question, like “What’s the best movie?” or “Rank the best fast food fries?” Next thing you know… There’s a full-blown debate happening.

People are:

Defending their picks
Questioning other people’s sanity
Writing paragraphs like it’s a legal argument

And somehow, everyone is completely confident they’re right. Even though it’s all… just opinions. Nobody is actually right or wrong when it comes to an opinion. But that fact doesn’t change anything.

So why do we just love ranking and debating everything so much? And seriously, why does it feel so important to decide what’s “best”? Let’s take a look at this phenomenon.

Table of Contents

Your Brain Likes Order

Let’s face it – The world is chaotic. There are just too many choices, options, and, perhaps most excessive of all, opinions out there. But your brain is an order monster, creating it from chaos. It just so happens that ranking things helps your brain to do its job.

So now when your brain is asked what the top 5 movies are, it can simply respond with: “Here are the top 5.” That feels cleaner, more organized, and infinitely more (or less) satisfying.

It Gives You a Sense of Control

When you’re asked to rank something, you’re deciding:

What matters
What’s better
What deserves attention

Even if it’s something small, like snacks or TV shows, your brain, being the little anti-chaos engine it is, demands to put them in the correct order. That’s just how it works. And it also creates a much-needed sense of control in a world that doesn’t always feel very organized.

We Don’t Just Like Opinions – We Like Defending Them

Having an opinion is one thing, practically everyone does. But defending it? That’s where the real fun starts. When someone disagrees, your brain goes:

“Okay, now I need to explain why I’m right.”

And now you’re busy making a case and bringing up examples that justify it. Sure, it’s just ranking the top five Doctor Who actors, but suddenly you arguing about it like it’s a serious issue. And to your brain, it is, because the functionality is so core to how it functions. Having what id deems to be the correct order can serve as validation to your entire process,

Your brain needs to know it’s right. Even if it’s about something like pizza toppings. (Don’t even get me started about pineapple. It belongs, okay, but without the ham!)

It Becomes Part of Your Identity

Your preferences aren’t just preferences. They’re actually part of how you see yourself, a defining part of your identity.

“I like this kind of movie”
“I don’t like that kind of show”
“This is my favorite character”

So when someone disagrees, it can feel like they are disagreeing with you as a person And this raises the stakes… just a little.

The Internet Probably Made It Worse

Before the internet, you might debate with friends, family, maybe even a coworker. But now? You can argue and debate with the whole world, about anything and everything, and at any time you want. And because it’s online, opinions feel stronger at times and they can certainly seem to last longer.

No one ever wins an opinion argument – that’s why it’s called an opinion. And once out of the bottle you can’t just hit pause and readjust your position. But we keep doing it anyway.

There’s No Such Thing as a “Correct” Ranking

Here’s the funny part: Most of these debates don’t have a right answer. Really, there’s no universal best movie or best show. In fact, rarely is there even a best anything. But your brain, it’s still trying to make sense of all of… this.

So your brain says to itself, “There has to be a correct answer.” Even when there isn’t.

It’s Actually Fun

Let’s be honest. Even when debates get a little intense… They can be enjoyable. Because they:

Get you thinking
Let you express your opinions
Connect you with other people

Even if that connection is: “We strongly disagree about this.”

Why We Keep Doing It

We keep ranking and debating because it simplifies the complex world we live in, and gives us a sense of control. Announcing our ranking decisions let us express exactly who we are, all the way down to the number 1 spot. And it creates an opportunity to interact with others.

Plus… It’s just fun to smugly say: “No, you’re wrong, and here’s why.”