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How to Think Like a Scientist
There is no single formula
Be open to have your basic presumptions shattered.
Strategies for solving scientific mysteries:
- pin down why perspectives on them differ and what each has to offer
- try to locate the essential core of available evidence
- not put much stock in any single study or piece of evidence
- watch for recurring patterns in the most reliable data
- think through likely counterarguments
- and look hard for holes in my evidence and logic.
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SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
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Key Ideas
Statistics Inaccuracies
Most studies that involve statistical research remain largely inaccurate, and a large number of hypotheses use data samples which are inadequate.
Beliefs and Statistics
- Researchers extract a lot of false certainty from data which is used to study a particular hypothesis, due to their myopic thinking, confirmation bias, and other cognitive assumptions that they aren't even aware of.
- Many researchers believe in small samples of data as if they stand for the whole of the population, and this can lead to unpredictable consequences.
The Eye Poster Experiment
It points out our irrational bias and behavior towards our surroundings. How people succumb to irrational beliefs was demonstrated in an experiment at a University Kitchen.
It found out that if there was a poster with eyes put up near the kitchen counter, then people were more likely to pay for the food, subconsciously taking those eyes in the poster as someone looking at them.
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Key Ideas
Understanding morality
Psychologists do not understand human moral behavior, because it seldom makes any logical sense.
Using moral philosophy and psychology, biology, economics, mathematics, and computer science, ...
Our default mode
Through a series of experiments, it was discovered that despite the temptation to be selfish, most people show selflessness.
This is particularly true when subjects were forced to make their decision under time pressure; people are prone to cooperation when they rely more on intuition.
Creating quantitative models
Most of the psychological theories are verbal, but words can be imprecise. If "cooperation is intuitive", it needs to state when. And what does "intuitive" mean?
In order to solve this, computer simulations of society were developed.
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Key Ideas
Early History
The connection between genius and possible insanity was first documented in 1891 in the Italian physicians’ book The Man Of Genius.
In 1869, this was taken up by the cousin of Charles Darwi...
Genius and Heredity
In a 1904 study by English physician Havelock Ellis, a list was made of 1030 individuals through extensive research, examining thoroughly the intellectual distinction people had by the various factors like heredity, general health, and social class.
These works established that genius minds are often hereditary.
Genetic Studies Of Genius
A body of work of Stanford psychologist Lewis M. Terman, was an in-depth multi-decade study of gifted individuals, and an attempt to improve the measurement of genius and its association with the degradation of mental stability. This also included an enhanced version of the French IQ (Intelligence Quotient) test.