I strongly believe learning works by hooking what you don't know onto what you do know. Essentially, this is what I call the framework theory of knowledge assimilation. If you don't know algebra, you cannot possibly understand calculus. If you don't understand set theory, you cannot possibly understand relational databases. If you don't understand how emotions work, you cannot possibly understand how people work. (Sociopaths would fall under this category, along with a lot of computer programmers I know.)

The more similar the information you're trying to learn is to your current framework, the faster you'll "understand" it because it will "hook into" your current framework very quickly. So, if you're only learning about computer programming (and similar topics), as a professional computer programmer, you'll assimilate the information much faster than someone who doesn't have your credentials. Compare that with how quickly you would assimilate how to build an overhead cam or how to make traditional Japanese cuisine (a la Iron Chef).

I ran into this in highschool. I hated Biology, because it was all memorization. By that point, I had already created my framework to be rules-based, not knowledge-based. Thus, because I wasn't being presented with the rules behind the nomenclature, I was having a hard time learning the order-phylum-genus stuff. Contrast that with how quickly I picked up math, a completely rules-based system. All I had to do in math was figure out which rule went where and I could derive everything else.

We justify things to ourselves to protect our fragile egos.

I'm not so sure our egos need to be fragile. I'm discovering that ego is strongly related to fear, in particular the fear of being alone. Humans do some really stupid stuff based on that fear, usually resulting in a self-fulfilling prophecy. It's very possible to live in an ego-lite way without too much work, just by figuring out how you stack up against the fear of being alone. (Note: I'm not saying "defeat" the fear. My belief is that no matter how you choose to deal with that fear, the very fact that you're consciously dealing with it will allow you live in an ego-lite way.)