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No, it does not mean you are stupid or lying. It means you have the same crappy way of knowing things as we all do. It is conventional wisdom among parents that

No, it does not mean you are stupid or lying. It means you have the same crappy way of knowing things as we all do. It is conventional wisdom among parents that giving kids sugar makes them hyper. They have pretty categorically disproved this idea with studies in which children are dropped off and then returned to parents having been randomly given a sugary treat before hand and half given a non sugary treat. In follow up calls the parents did no better than chance in correlating their child's excitement level to whether they received the sugary treat or not. It doesn't mean anyone is dumb or lying. It just means personal experience isn't good for knowing certain kinds of things are true or not.

baddox 7y ago
Exactly. And I think the effect can be even worse when examining our own behavior and state of mind. There are plenty of extremely well-known cognitive biases that tend to effect our own self-examination. It doesn't mean self-examination is bad, but it does mean that more methodical methods of reasoning (like scientific experiments) are important. The "sugar rush" case has another potential parallel here. It may in fact be the case that parents, when frustrated by their children's hyperactivity, give their children less sugar and in fact observe lower energy levels. Parents may even mistake this for "personal evidence" that "sugar causes hyperactivity" is a good explanation for their observations. But of course, they very well may have just lowered their child's calorie intake, and perhaps sugar itself has no unique effect on hyperactivity. Another thing to note regarding the sugar misconception is that studies have in fact shown that parents will report their children are more hyperactive if they have been told that their children recently consumed sugar. To me, that's the real nail in the coffin, and it's also not good news for the mode of thinking that goes like "I've observed this feeling in my own life therefore no evidence could possibly show otherwise."

baddox 7y ago

Exactly. And I think the effect can be even worse when examining our own behavior and state of mind. There are plenty of extremely well-known cognitive biases that tend to effect our own self-examination. It doesn't mean self-examination is bad, but it does mean that more methodical methods of reasoning (like scientific experiments) are important. The "sugar rush" case has another potential parallel here. It may in fact be the case that parents, when frustrated by their children's hyperactivity, give their children less sugar and in fact observe lower energy levels. Parents may even mistake this for "personal evidence" that "sugar causes hyperactivity" is a good explanation for their observations. But of course, they very well may have just lowered their child's calorie intake, and perhaps sugar itself has no unique effect on hyperactivity. Another thing to note regarding the sugar misconception is that studies have in fact shown that parents will report their children are more hyperactive if they have been told that their children recently consumed sugar. To me, that's the real nail in the coffin, and it's also not good news for the mode of thinking that goes like "I've observed this feeling in my own life therefore no evidence could possibly show otherwise."