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What common sense would suggest is true very often doesn't align with what research has found to actually be true. Don't take the world for granted. Don't assu
by ivraatiems 9y ago
What common sense would suggest is true very often doesn't align with what research has found to actually be true.
Don't take the world for granted. Don't assume you understand something just because the answer seems obvious.
In fact, the example you gave - people who smile more are happier - is true, but the cause is possibly the opposite of what the sentence implies. Some people are happy more because they force themselves to smile; they're not smiling because they're happy.[1]
[1] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/smile-it-could-make-you-happier/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/smile-it-could-ma...
- Bartweiss 9y agoOn the other hand, throwing enough p = .05 studies at the world lets you 'learn' all sorts of unintuitive - and untrue - things. That smiling/happiness result, for example, looks to be another casualty of the replication crisis. [1] Could it be true? Maybe, but at the quality of existing research it's not clear studying it was an improvement on intuition. Checking our instincts with data is a good thing to do, but it's hardly a silver bullet when searching for the truth. [1] http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/cover_story/2016/08/can_smiling_make_you_happier_maybe_maybe_not_we_have_no_idea.html http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/cover_story...
- imh 9y agoThose are two entirely separate questions. Poorly designed studies vs the studies's subject matter.
- aje403 9y agoPart of me is dumbfounded it's an actual study, but part of me is unsurprised at the same time
- ivraatiems 9y agoI guess I don't understand why.