4 ms·

> 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 emoti

by 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.
pekk 14y ago
To the people who hold a social norm, someone who violates the social norm is doing something outrageous. Even if it turns out that the violation is actually very positive. If you gloss over the part where someone's norm is violated, you have missed an important aspect of this

by lutusp 14y ago

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.

pekk 14y ago

To the people who hold a social norm, someone who violates the social norm is doing something outrageous. Even if it turns out that the violation is actually very positive. If you gloss over the part where someone's norm is violated, you have missed an important aspect of this