Actually, I saw the show and heard the question. It was on yesterday. I could make up all sorts of excuses as to why I had the show on, but...
The question was not answered (the contestant took the money and ran while ahead), but I wondered what they (the producers) would do if the question were to be challenged as having no viable answer. Since I already had the invaluable knowledge provided by TIPS I could watch and feel smug. Carol Carol L. DeVolder, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology Chair, Department of Psychology St. Ambrose University 518 West Locust Street Davenport, Iowa 52803 Phone: 563-333-6482 e-mail: [email protected] web: http://web.sau.edu/psychology/psychfaculty/cdevolder.htm The contents of this message are confidential and may not be shared with anyone without permission of the sender. -----Original Message----- From: Mike Palij [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thu 5/14/2009 8:16 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Cc: Mike Palij Subject: RE: [tips] $25,000 Darwinian quote On Thu, 14 May 2009 05:39:18 -0700, Rick Froman wrote: >It is a little ironic that game shows are being denigrated as reliable >sources when we have no reliable citation that this question ever >appeared on a quiz show. I am shocked! SHOCKED, you hear! That anyone would even imply that our "multicultural dude", our venerable Michael Sylvester, Ph.D., would provide us an example of a question from a TV show that WAS NOT ACTUALLY ASKED!?! Say it isn't so, [fill in the blank]! >Given that they are in the business of giving away large sums of >money based on answers to questions, Wait, the U.S. federal government, bailout to financial institutions in the billions and trillions, few questions asked, few answers given. What were you saying about the outlay of huge amounts of money necessitating asking pointed and meaningful (and accurate) questions? ;-) >they do have researchers that develop the questions Hmmm, don't the people who make up test items for the textbooks do the same thing? Are the questions and answers flawless? Yeah, that has worked out real well. >and they are more public than any peer-reviewed scientific study >could ever hope to be, If you mean that more people will watch a TV show than read a scientific journal article, I'd say you're right. However, few people in the general public may catch errors or even care that there are errors. Case in point: the spectacular errors of physics that are routinely shown in movies (e.g., in "Star Wars" movies: sounds of explosions in outer space?); for more see: http://www.intuitor.com/moviephysics/ >I do have some confidence in the questions and answers >on such shows. A quick search of several databases has provided no studies of the accuracy of either questions or answers used on quiz shows. Anyone need a thesis topic? >I also have seen cases where contestants have appealed incorrect >answers and been allowed to return on some shows. Wait, you ADMIT to watching QUIZ SHOWS?!? OH THE HUMANITY~! But your point implies that some proportion of "official answers" are in error. What is the baserate of errors for questions and answers? >I don't think it is in any way equivalent to drawing conclusions about >real life based on fictional programs like CSI. What do mean CSI is a fictional program? You mean that....OMIGOD!!! ;-) -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
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