4 ms·

I had a Ph.D instructor in psychology. She said, women are actually taller than men when all cultures are studied. I don't care enough to dig deeper, but alwa

I had a Ph.D instructor in psychology. She said, women are actually taller than men when all cultures are studied. I don't care enough to dig deeper, but always stuck with me.

Erik816 5y ago
She appears to have made that up: https://www.worlddata.info/average-bodyheight.php https://www.worlddata.info/average-bodyheight.php
jan_Inkepa 5y ago
That's an unexpected (to me at least) claim to make - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ajpa.1330530314 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ajpa.1330530... - I always thought of sexual dimoprhism (men taller than women on average) as a given and this paper backs up my claim specifically in the context of human societies (where it gives a 10cm height advantage in average in men over women, comparing 216 different societies ). There might be some way of counting in which the converse is true, but not in any way I know. I understand you don't want to dig deeper, but thought I'd flag it in case anyone else unwittingly digests this (possibly wrong) knowldge. https://www.quantamagazine.org/males-are-the-taller-sex-estrogen-not-fights-for-mates-may-be-why-20200608/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/males-are-the-taller-sex-estr... is an example of a pop-sci article assuming the same basis (written by a biology phd).
username90 5y ago
People with Ph.D's often makes up facts and believes in nonsense just like everybody else. Edit: This includes those with STEM degrees as well. You really shouldn't trust someone more just because they have a research degree. I knew a professor who claimed to have solved some famous problems but that the peer reviewers just didn't want to accept that he solved it and therefore rejected his papers.
- make3 5y ago
  like you did just now. That person made something up. Let's not put all Ph.Ds in a bag just for that.
  - Dylan16807 5y ago
    > like you did just now. Did what? Made something up? What specifically?
    - make3 5y ago
      make something up
      - Dylan16807 5y ago
        What do you think they made up? You need to be more specific than "something", because I don't see anything in that post that looks like they just made it up. In particular, "People with Ph.D's often makes up facts and believes in nonsense just like everybody else." is definitely not something they just made up. And "just like everybody else" is not putting a particular group into a bag.
        ungamedplayer 5y ago
        It's putting them in the same bag as everyone else. But is being put in a bag such a bad thing. Phd ppl are just as shit as the rest of us.
        username90 5y ago
        To clarify, I trust research papers since they are a network of citations each reviewed by peers, not because they were written by researchers. So when someone cites papers they tend to be trustworthy and you can have a discussion. When they don't you can't trust them, you can still have casual conversations but you can't trust any facts. Them being a researcher or not doesn't matter here. In short: Trust science, not scientists.

I had a Ph.D instructor in psychology. She said, women are actually taller than men when all cultures are studied. I don't care enough to dig deeper, but always stuck with me.

Erik816 5y ago

She appears to have made that up: https://www.worlddata.info/average-bodyheight.php https://www.worlddata.info/average-bodyheight.php

jan_Inkepa 5y ago

That's an unexpected (to me at least) claim to make - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ajpa.1330530314 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ajpa.1330530... - I always thought of sexual dimoprhism (men taller than women on average) as a given and this paper backs up my claim specifically in the context of human societies (where it gives a 10cm height advantage in average in men over women, comparing 216 different societies ). There might be some way of counting in which the converse is true, but not in any way I know. I understand you don't want to dig deeper, but thought I'd flag it in case anyone else unwittingly digests this (possibly wrong) knowldge. https://www.quantamagazine.org/males-are-the-taller-sex-estrogen-not-fights-for-mates-may-be-why-20200608/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/males-are-the-taller-sex-estr... is an example of a pop-sci article assuming the same basis (written by a biology phd).

username90 5y ago

People with Ph.D's often makes up facts and believes in nonsense just like everybody else. Edit: This includes those with STEM degrees as well. You really shouldn't trust someone more just because they have a research degree. I knew a professor who claimed to have solved some famous problems but that the peer reviewers just didn't want to accept that he solved it and therefore rejected his papers.

make3 5y ago
like you did just now. That person made something up. Let's not put all Ph.Ds in a bag just for that.
- Dylan16807 5y ago
  > like you did just now. Did what? Made something up? What specifically?
  - make3 5y ago
    make something up
    - Dylan16807 5y ago
      What do you think they made up? You need to be more specific than "something", because I don't see anything in that post that looks like they just made it up. In particular, "People with Ph.D's often makes up facts and believes in nonsense just like everybody else." is definitely not something they just made up. And "just like everybody else" is not putting a particular group into a bag.
      - ungamedplayer 5y ago
        It's putting them in the same bag as everyone else. But is being put in a bag such a bad thing. Phd ppl are just as shit as the rest of us.
        username90 5y ago
        To clarify, I trust research papers since they are a network of citations each reviewed by peers, not because they were written by researchers. So when someone cites papers they tend to be trustworthy and you can have a discussion. When they don't you can't trust them, you can still have casual conversations but you can't trust any facts. Them being a researcher or not doesn't matter here. In short: Trust science, not scientists.