Comments for You Are Not So Smart

Comment on The Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy by Amanda

Amanda — Fri, 18 May 2012 01:43:21 +0000

Damn, couldn’t agree more. It’s a great article, but theres definatley a very subtle implication behind all of it. The fallacy itself can be true for many cases, but to apply it to every supernatural, unrealistic, or uncanny coincidence is taking it too far. Seems like the Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy is a contradiction in and of itself, looking at what everything that disproves the coincidence instead of trying to find a deeper explaination.

Comment on Podcast by David Dean

David Dean — Fri, 18 May 2012 00:46:20 +0000

The cookie eating is incredibly annoying.

Comment on Podcast by Matthew

Matthew — Thu, 17 May 2012 07:50:54 +0000

What’s your theme music. I’ve found myself replaying it a few times. I’d like to hear more.

Comment on Placebo Buttons by Stupid

Stupid — Thu, 17 May 2012 06:52:18 +0000

I liken this to Homeopathy, where buttons are pressed, in order to achieve a believable result……then they do.

Comment on The Overjustification Effect by Martin Clausse

Martin Clausse — Thu, 17 May 2012 02:45:30 +0000

This is a quote form the paper by Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton:
“We report an analysis of more than 450,000 responses
to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, a daily survey of
1,000 US residents conducted by the Gallup Organization”
The sample is 1 thousand people, who were asked the same questions every day for over 450 days.
It’s just a technicality, but I think it’s important. The fewer the sample, the less reliable the conclusions. If the sample were almost half a million people, it’s conclusions would be very reliable.

Comment on Procrastination by innapeshkova

innapeshkova — Thu, 17 May 2012 00:01:14 +0000

Excellent post.

Comment on The Sunk Cost Fallacy by Zero-risk Entrepreneurship | Alex Shye

Zero-risk Entrepreneurship | Alex Shye — Wed, 16 May 2012 23:14:31 +0000

[...] Fear of loss. Kahneman and Tversky found that people do not equally weigh loss and gain. The feeling of loss is much stronger. People would rather not deal with potential losses, leading to risk aversion. This also contributes to the sunk cost fallacy. Once people are invested along one path, they are hesitant about switching paths when it involves losing the currently invested costs. The fear of loss makes it harder to leave your current job, your steady paycheck, and your comfortable lifestyle. As a side note, it also helps makes Farmville addictive. [...]

Comment on The Backfire Effect by theebookreport

theebookreport — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:15:36 +0000

Is there a threshold level of belief where the backfire effect takes place? For instance, I believed for most of my life that I had to wait an hour after eating before I went swimming. All it took was reading one article that said it wasn’t true for me to discard that belief. Why did I discard that belief so easily? Did I not believe it strongly enough or maybe it was more palatable to believe the opposite?

An interesting area of study would be how to overcome the backfire effect. How to present contradictory evidence in a way that would be accepted instead of discarded. Finding a technique useful in presenting an argument that would be accepted instead of making the opposite belief even stronger would obviously have a lot of value.

Comment on Contact by James G.

James G. — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:32:57 +0000

I’m enjoying your podcast, but skip the cookies. I really dislike you munching on my earbuds ;^)

Comment on Contact by Misty

Misty — Wed, 16 May 2012 04:24:29 +0000

I just listened to the Illusion of Knowledge podcast and your “I’m a little boy eating a cookie” song made me laugh out loud and now I’m going to make cookies. I’m having cookies for dinner and it’s your fault. I dig the podcast, but the love of a good cookie even more. Thanks!

Comment on About by mimshow

mimshow — Wed, 16 May 2012 03:14:44 +0000

I just discovered your podcast and backtracked to the blog. As a long time skeptic, I share your interest in how we delude and deceive ourselves. I look forward to reading and listening to your work.

Comment on Ego Depletion by nyveen

nyveen — Tue, 15 May 2012 21:06:43 +0000

Or IV glucose.

Isn’t there a book for me to buy that you should be working on?

Comment on Ego Depletion by Allie Brosh

Allie Brosh — Tue, 15 May 2012 20:18:16 +0000

In the cookies and radishes study, couldn’t the results have been affected by the participants’ blood glucose levels? If the subjects were fasted before the test, and only one group got to refuel with carbohydrates from the cookies, it would make sense that that group would perform better on tasks requiring great mental energy (relative to the group who only got to eat radishes and therefore went into the test still glucose depleted).

However, it’s unclear whether the control group was also told to skip a meal before the test (it says they “skipped all of this,” which could mean they skipped only the cookies and radishes part, or they skipped the entire fasting/taste test thing), and that would affect how confounding the participants’ blood glucose levels were.

At any rate, it’s a very interesting study, and I would have loved to see the results if the radishes group were instead offered something calorically similar to cookies, but much less appealing, like plain yogurt.

Comment on Procrastination by Procrastination « You Are Not So Smart « DoseofDekadent

Procrastination « You Are Not So Smart « DoseofDekadent — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:50:20 +0000

[...] Procrastination « You Are Not So Smart. [...]

Comment on Procrastination by doseofdekadent

doseofdekadent — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:44:14 +0000

After being up all night.. and getting absolutely nothing done that I had originally planned. I stumbled upon your blog. Reading your most recent article I was about to shut the computer off until I saw in big red letters procrastination. I have been given every reason in the book for this horrible habit of mine. Including at one point in my life losing jobs, and facing serious consequences. Just recently on my own I was able to recognize that plain fear of conforming to “normal” society as well as blatant instant gratification and not wanting to deal with the emotional upheaval some task caused. Now after reading this it has reaffirmed my self-discovery. The fact is I was being irresponsible and lazy. Not to mention impulsive. Now that I have come to terms with it I have been able to do things about it. One major thing I have done is outsource everything I can from laundry to grocery shopping. The bottom line is I recognize my weakness and understand that in order to overcome it I had to pay for someone else to get it done.

Comment on Procrastination by weight loss of san antonio

weight loss of san antonio — Mon, 14 May 2012 15:08:03 +0000

Hi, Thank you for this awesome blog post! I must bookmark Procrastination You Are Not So Smart. Thanks.

Comment on The Backfire Effect by Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 14 May 2012 04:59:09 +0000

Dude a good article like many you write. One thing that bothers me is I struggle through, it takes ages to read, and then Im like, ok but how do I get to the truth then, if everything I read I either dismiss as irelevant if it doesnt confirm what I already belive or accept without question if it fits what I already believe?
I seem to end reading your articles with more questions than answers.

Comment on YANSS Podcast – Episode One by fekketcantenel

fekketcantenel — Mon, 14 May 2012 03:50:10 +0000

I’m finally getting to listen to this episode, and you made a remark about how the Google Glasses might record everything you see, so you can refer back to it later if your memory is faulty. You might be interested in an episode of Black Mirror called ‘The Entire History of You’, in which that’s the premise.

Comment on Ego Depletion by Sandro

Sandro — Mon, 14 May 2012 03:10:14 +0000

> [...] and you should avoid exercise whenever possible so that you will have muscle strength available for important things. Such a conclusion seems extremely presumptive.

That’s exactly what I thought. None of the studies he cited analyzed long-term trends over exerting choices, ie. repeatedly exerting the same choice over a long period of time makes that choice easier in the future, so that claim doesn’t seem justified.

Comment on YANSS Podcast – Episode Two by Cam from Melbourne

Cam from Melbourne — Sun, 13 May 2012 01:09:07 +0000

Just listened to the first two podcasts; great job! I need to send in an Anzac recipie i think.