An excellent article Chris. Thanks for alerting us to it. The idea fits in perfectly with my recent podcast episode on a scientific look at self help books. I'll put a link to the article from the show notes. Again thanks.
Michael Britt [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Jul 25, 2008, at 6:59 PM, Christopher D. Green wrote: > > > > Here's a SciAm article on why people are so bad at ignoring > anecdotes in favor of real evidence. > http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=how-anecdotal-evidence-can-undermine-scientific-results > > The punchline is an evolutionary speculation: "we have evolved > brains that pay attention to anecdotes because false positives > (believing there is a connection between A and B when there is not) > are usually harmless, whereas false negatives (believing there is no > connection between A and B when there is) may take you out of the > gene pool." > > Chris > -- > Christopher D. Green > Department of Psychology > York University > Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 > Canada > > 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ > > > "Part of respecting another person is taking the time to criticise > his or her views." > - Melissa Lane, in a Guardian obituary for philosopher Peter Lipton > ================================= > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
