Stupidity Is Contagious - Science Says So

by Joe Mobley

Posted: 11 years ago 8 replies

OFF TOPIC

Markus Appel discusses a study where 63 Austrian college students who read a short about someone stupid then did worse on a test than a control group - they became more stupid

Makes me think that there are some threads, posts and users I should quit reading.

Stupidity Is Contagious - Science Says So
A very short post.

Joe Mobley

seasoned 11 years ago

Well, making decisions like this based on such a small sample is dumb!

ALSO, they said "but the effect did not occur when the readers had to outline how they differed from the stupid character.". So the good score was apparently 37%. Normalizing that at 100%, that means that the better people in the worst group got 32% or 86%! So they still got a HIGH B. The WORST people got a 30% or an 81%, STILL a B! B is considered a good grade. A is the best. A generally means 90% or better.

If we DON'T normalize the score, BTW, the GOOD group got 37% or a 37%, and that is an F! F is FAILING and basically means they have FLUNKED! A90%+, B80%+,C70%+ D60%+, F is lower than 60%.

Steve
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Young Financier 11 years ago

Anyone who's honest w/ themselves know this. On a larger mundane scale, just look at some communities....people of the same type usually reside in the same areas. And so it goes all across the board in every facet of life.
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John Durham 11 years ago

It's amazing how amazing it is to smart people that birds of a feather flock together. We knew that in the country a long time ago.
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- TimPhelan 11 years ago
  
  The OP wasn't about flocking together. It was about just reading one article and being affected by it.
  
  Originally Posted by John Durham
  
  It's amazing how amazing it is to smart people that birds of a feather flock together. We knew that in the country a long time ago.
  
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  John Durham 11 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by TimPhelan
  
  The OP wasn't about flocking together. It was about just reading one article and being affected by it.
  
  I got that later. My apologies. Still not sure I buy it, but you are correct.
  
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MoneyMagnetMagnate 11 years ago
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thunderbird 11 years ago
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