Cognition, Intelligence and Language Critical Thinking Social Psychology

Ep 333: Bible Codes, Anti-Vaccination Beliefs and the Look Elsewhere Effect

Bible Code and the Look Elsewhere Effect

 

In this episode I talk about whether there really is a bible code, anti-vaccination beliefs and whether jellybeans cause acne. It’s all part of how we humans love to find patterns in the world and the amount of wiggle room we’re willing to give ourselves to find them. Too often we make the Look Elsewhere error. And not just of everyday folk do this – scientists can as well. We’ve got to be more careful in our thinking if we’re going to find relationships that really do exist in the world – and then make important decisions based on our findings.

Resources

Michael

About Author

3 Comments

  1. Avatar

    Charlotte Montgomery

    September 19, 2019

    This podcast shows that results found in experiments e.g., lab experiments are not always generalizable to the real world. Humans have a moral conscience (everyone’s is different) so it cannot be said that because a certain amount of people didn’t step forward and something in a certain situation e.g., the car crash incident, doesn’t mean that same amount won’t step in to help in another situation. It depends on the people involved and environment.

  2. Avatar

    Callum

    September 19, 2019

    I think that a lot of factors would come into play when it comes to helping someone who’s fell including who has fell as if they are vulnerable (old, young etc) people may feel more obliged to help as well as the severity of the fall as if they get back up straight away and carry on i personally might laugh and not help. I also think age and culture play a big part as well as how similiar to the victim you are and what it costs you to help. As for anti vax and the conspiracy’s such as the one surrounding power lines, I’ve never understood why people believe these things and think it’s paranoia but at the same time surely not as many people would believe such things if there was absolutely no truth to it.

  3. Avatar

    Jaden Su

    September 19, 2019

    Not all beliefs are equal. 1 out of 20 studies become validated and get published to the public to see. This podcast is interesting as vaccinations are looked up to and also looked down upon. Religious beliefs agree in the belief of anti-vaccination as they argue vaccination of humans is a sin against God because according to them, it is not natural. Humans originally have a hard time with uncertainty as The Look Elsewhere effect is a phenomenon in the statistical analysis of scientific experiments where an apparently statistically significant observation may have actually arisen by chance because of the sheer size of the parameter space to be searched. There is a strong belief with religious people that vaccination is a sin, even if it may benefit most ordinary humans in life to become immune to diseases and flus, etc.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may also like

Critical Thinking Research and Stats

Episode 3: Predictions, Predictions

Have you ever heard of someone who says they can predict the future? Perhaps you’ve seen magazine articles in which
Social Psychology

Episode #4: On Birds Flocking and Opposites Attracting: the data on Love

Do Birds of a Feather Flock together or do Opposites Attract? Find out which proverb is correct in this episode.