Pluralistic Ignorance (AKA Herd Mentality)

Posted by Roger Keays, 22 June 2011, 6:07 PM

Freaky extract from Influence: The Psychology Of Persuasion (Robert Cialdini).

Catherine Genovese had not experienced a quick, muffled death. It had been a long, loud, tortured, public event. Her assailant had chased and attacked her in the street three times over a period of thirty-five minutes before his knife finally silenced her cries for help. Incredibly, thirty-eight of her neighbors watched the events of her death unfold from the safety of their apartment windows without so much as lifting a finger to call the police.

Latané and Darley suggested that no one had helped precisely because there were so many observers. The psychologists speculated that, for at least two reasons, a bystander to an emergency would be unlikely to help when there were a number of other bystanders present. The first reason is fairly straightforward. With several potential helpers around, the personal responsibility of each individual is reduced: “Perhaps someone else will give or call for aid, perhaps someone else already has.” So with everyone thinking that someone else will help or has helped, no one does.

Richard Dawkins - What If You're Wrong?

Posted by Roger Keays, 19 June 2011, 2:25 PM

I guess he's been asked that one before.

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Learned Helplessness

Posted by Roger Keays, 7 June 2011, 8:43 AM

Check out this paragraph from Wikipedia's page on Learned Helplessness:

A similar experiment was done with people who performed mental tasks in the presence of distracting noise. People who could use a switch to turn off the noise had improved performance, even though they rarely bothered to do so. Simply being aware of this option was enough to substantially counteract its distracting effect.

This is totally resonating for me, the prime example being my Secret Weapon Against Noise, which I blogged about a couple of years ago. Well, now that I have this weapon I no longer need it. I even slept like a baby in my apartment in Rio next door to possibly the noisiest construction site in all of Brazil (and next to possibly the noisiest snorer from all of the Singapore ;).

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Who Is More Dominant?

Posted by Roger Keays, 27 May 2011, 11:31 AM

Jas and I recently played a little game trying to determine the qualities that establish people's position in the global dominance hierarchy. i.e. social status in a global context. So we made a list of people and paired them off and she had to decide who would be more dominant if the two of them met alone in a neutral environment. Here is the order she determined:

Greyscale Illusion

Posted by Roger Keays, 12 November 2010, 8:53 PM

They are actually blocks of solid colour above the gradient. Wierd huh. Actually it even works pretty well if you cover the gradient with your hand.

grey-illusion.xcf

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Dating Scoreboard

Posted by Roger Keays, 22 July 2009, 10:00 PM

Good evening my conjelicious companions. How are we all? Ah... bon. Shall we get started then? Non, wait just one moment please... Today's topic is somewhat sensitive and gender specific, so I therefore must request that all female visitors stop reading immediately and go look for shoes on ebay instead. If you do not, you will probably hate me forever.

Thank-you.

Now, gentlemen. Gentlemen, gentlemen, gentlemen. Let's cut to the chase. Why do we date? I know the answer, but I'm giving you a minute or two to think for yourself..... Yes! We date because we have no choice. Even when we are 'not dating', we are dating and even if we believe in fairly tales, karma and destiny, we go right ahead and play the dating game... badly.

But don't worry. I'm here to help. Really, I care. Okay. I don't care, but I had a lot of fun making this dating scoreboard anyway. It's very simple to use. The first column is drivel, the second is nonsense and the third is largely a waste of space and only making this whole global warming thing worse. Nevertheless, I post it here in the hope that one day my work will be recognised by the leading psychologists of tomorrow.

Je vous presente... the Dating Scoreboard!

Essential Reading

Posted by Roger Keays, 26 October 2008, 3:02 AM

Essential Reading

Books that have made an impact... or are simply unequivocal.

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Quantum Physics and Aging

Posted by Roger Keays, 16 August 2008, 3:20 AM

Since having become accustomed to thinking of time as a fourth space dimension (albeit one that it is difficult to traverse), I've come across another problem. What is aging? Can quantum physics answer this question? Could it simply be series of accumulating indeterministic quantum events knocking out your cells and causing gradual failure?

Clearly, under this definition, it doesn't make sense to quote your age in years, as this only measures the distance between two points in space. It would be somewhat like answering the question "How old are you?" with "63 Ninth Avenue". So, from now on I'm answering that question with reference to the state of my body's quantum decay. Given my life plan, that puts me at 14% old.

Hmmm... now I understand why I don't celebrate my birthdays and still behave like a 21 year old.... How interesting, and what a perfect excuse!

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