4 ms·

The article cites a study from a business management class of 84 people. That seems like quite a small sample, and I wouldn't expect business management studen

The article cites a study from a business management class of 84 people. That seems like quite a small sample, and I wouldn't expect business management students to be representative of the population as a whole. It might still be true, but it's probably a bit early to write off all of your perceived friends as shallow fakes.

redleggedfrog 10y ago
Not being a troll, but I'd probably have a tough time finding friends in a business management class anyway, so I don't really find this that surprising.
Bartweiss 10y ago
This definitely seems like another edition of "researcher generalizes from handful of white college students to entire country". If you asked me to name a group with the largest percentage of fake friendships, "college business management class" would be right up there with "popular clique in high school". So the topic is worth talking about, but I'll bet the number is skewed way to the high end.
- oldmanjay 10y ago
  It's important to note that your biases certainly don't lend your conclusions any more credence than you're willing to give the article
  - Bartweiss 10y ago
    No, but I'm not actually objecting to the business management class in particular (that's just a guess). I'm objecting to yet another popular article that treats a narrow study of a non-standard sample like it's ground truth. Generalizing from classmates to friend groups (which are more elective and full of closure/network effects) is totally unsupported, and while that doesn't invalidate the study it certainly cripples the article.
StavrosK 10y ago
It also seems very easy to misinterpret, because it says that only about 50% reciprocated, but what does this mean? A considers B their best friend, but B does not? Maybe B has someone else who is their actual best friend, but are still close to A. Maybe A and B don't agree on the term of the relationship they have, but, if you asked them how much they like each other, you'd get the same answers.

redleggedfrog 10y ago

Not being a troll, but I'd probably have a tough time finding friends in a business management class anyway, so I don't really find this that surprising.

Bartweiss 10y ago

This definitely seems like another edition of "researcher generalizes from handful of white college students to entire country". If you asked me to name a group with the largest percentage of fake friendships, "college business management class" would be right up there with "popular clique in high school". So the topic is worth talking about, but I'll bet the number is skewed way to the high end.

oldmanjay 10y ago
It's important to note that your biases certainly don't lend your conclusions any more credence than you're willing to give the article
- Bartweiss 10y ago
  No, but I'm not actually objecting to the business management class in particular (that's just a guess). I'm objecting to yet another popular article that treats a narrow study of a non-standard sample like it's ground truth. Generalizing from classmates to friend groups (which are more elective and full of closure/network effects) is totally unsupported, and while that doesn't invalidate the study it certainly cripples the article.

StavrosK 10y ago

It also seems very easy to misinterpret, because it says that only about 50% reciprocated, but what does this mean? A considers B their best friend, but B does not? Maybe B has someone else who is their actual best friend, but are still close to A. Maybe A and B don't agree on the term of the relationship they have, but, if you asked them how much they like each other, you'd get the same answers.