4 ms·

This is an excellent article about and excellent idea. The use of the word deviant is unfortunate. I understand now they mean deviation from the mean. "Positive

This is an excellent article about and excellent idea. The use of the word deviant is unfortunate. I understand now they mean deviation from the mean. "Positive Deviance Initiative" sounds like a program for HIV+ sex offenders.

hammock 14y ago
Really, the author is not stretching the meaning of the word deviant. It has always meant deviating from an accepted norm, and it means the same in this context. The social norm was to feed your kid rice 2x per day- the social deviants were the ones feeding their kids more often and animal proteins/greens. They were abnormal. The difference is we are used to hearing negative examples of deviance (crime, etc) when there are plenty of positive ones. Deviance (a relative concept) is not the same as perversion (a moral concept).
- lutusp 14y ago
  > the author is not stretching the meaning of the word deviant. True, but most words have two meanings -- a formal one, and an emotional one. In this case, it seems the emotional meaning was overlooked. > Deviance (a relative concept) is not the same as perversion (a moral concept). But "deviance" is often used in a moral context -- consider the expression "deviant behavior". Just to make the point, the word "perversion" could be used in a neutral context, but only if its emotion baggage could be overlooked. Ironically, one can say "standard deviation" in statistics without anyone taking it the wrong way -- it seems completely neutral when used that way. Anyway, I wish they has asked me -- i would have told them to call it "The Black Swan Strategy."
- nsxwolf 14y ago
  The title of the article deliberately played up the "perversion" angle, though.
lutusp 14y ago
> The use of the word deviant is unfortunate. I agree -- it's very unfortunate. Typically, words have a formal meaning, and an emotional one. This word's emotional meaning was unfortunately ignored. Then, try to to repair the damage, they came up with "positive deviance", which only serves to highlight the error. And to think, any number of better alternatives exist: "The Black Swan Strategy" "Community Natural Selection" "The Self-rescue Plan" And my favorite: "Science"
- krallja 14y ago
  But "When Science Does Good" doesn't sell papers... ;)
  - lutusp 14y ago
    True -- it's a rather bland, predictable title. And it over-uses that already overused word "science".
- michaelwww 14y ago
  > Then, try to to repair the damage, they came up with "positive deviance", which only serves to highlight the error Good point. Their fix just made it worse.
- pcl 14y ago
  "The Black Swan Strategy" But this really doesn't have anything to do with black swans... this technique isn't about a rare and unpredictable occurrence, but rather with a deviation from the norm. "Community Natural Selection" Again, this doesn't map to their findings -- the community was not selecting the preferential strategy, even though it was present in the community. "Positive deviation" would have been a less sensational way to put it, but link-bait in and of itself isn't a bad thing, if the linked-to content delivers. Which I think is the case here.
  - lutusp 14y ago
    > But this really doesn't have anything to do with black swans... this technique isn't about a rare and unpredictable occurrence ... Sure it is -- that's why people didn't notice it until they were encouraged to look at the behavior of the outliers -- those few examples whose children, though poor, weren't malnourished. > Again, this doesn't map to their findings -- the community was not selecting the preferential strategy, even though it was present in the community. Umm, that's how "natural selection" is defined -- the rare behavior that confers an advantage. All these people needed was encouragement to look for the advantageous adaptation that was already present in the population.
- 14y ago

hammock 14y ago

Really, the author is not stretching the meaning of the word deviant. It has always meant deviating from an accepted norm, and it means the same in this context. The social norm was to feed your kid rice 2x per day- the social deviants were the ones feeding their kids more often and animal proteins/greens. They were abnormal. The difference is we are used to hearing negative examples of deviance (crime, etc) when there are plenty of positive ones. Deviance (a relative concept) is not the same as perversion (a moral concept).

lutusp 14y ago
> the author is not stretching the meaning of the word deviant. True, but most words have two meanings -- a formal one, and an emotional one. In this case, it seems the emotional meaning was overlooked. > Deviance (a relative concept) is not the same as perversion (a moral concept). But "deviance" is often used in a moral context -- consider the expression "deviant behavior". Just to make the point, the word "perversion" could be used in a neutral context, but only if its emotion baggage could be overlooked. Ironically, one can say "standard deviation" in statistics without anyone taking it the wrong way -- it seems completely neutral when used that way. Anyway, I wish they has asked me -- i would have told them to call it "The Black Swan Strategy."
nsxwolf 14y ago
The title of the article deliberately played up the "perversion" angle, though.

lutusp 14y ago

> The use of the word deviant is unfortunate. I agree -- it's very unfortunate. Typically, words have a formal meaning, and an emotional one. This word's emotional meaning was unfortunately ignored. Then, try to to repair the damage, they came up with "positive deviance", which only serves to highlight the error. And to think, any number of better alternatives exist: "The Black Swan Strategy" "Community Natural Selection" "The Self-rescue Plan" And my favorite: "Science"

krallja 14y ago
But "When Science Does Good" doesn't sell papers... ;)
- lutusp 14y ago
  True -- it's a rather bland, predictable title. And it over-uses that already overused word "science".
michaelwww 14y ago
> Then, try to to repair the damage, they came up with "positive deviance", which only serves to highlight the error Good point. Their fix just made it worse.
pcl 14y ago
"The Black Swan Strategy" But this really doesn't have anything to do with black swans... this technique isn't about a rare and unpredictable occurrence, but rather with a deviation from the norm. "Community Natural Selection" Again, this doesn't map to their findings -- the community was not selecting the preferential strategy, even though it was present in the community. "Positive deviation" would have been a less sensational way to put it, but link-bait in and of itself isn't a bad thing, if the linked-to content delivers. Which I think is the case here.
- lutusp 14y ago
  > But this really doesn't have anything to do with black swans... this technique isn't about a rare and unpredictable occurrence ... Sure it is -- that's why people didn't notice it until they were encouraged to look at the behavior of the outliers -- those few examples whose children, though poor, weren't malnourished. > Again, this doesn't map to their findings -- the community was not selecting the preferential strategy, even though it was present in the community. Umm, that's how "natural selection" is defined -- the rare behavior that confers an advantage. All these people needed was encouragement to look for the advantageous adaptation that was already present in the population.
14y ago