From 668657b508147fc8c01c2362c88e30ec969f9c27 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: "Ankur Sinha (Ankur Sinha Gmail)" Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2019 12:01:26 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] Updated --- docs/atom.xml | 229 +++++++++++++++++++++++------------------------- docs/index.html | 74 +++++++--------- docs/opml.xml | 4 +- docs/rss10.xml | 76 ++++++++-------- docs/rss20.xml | 79 ++++++++--------- 5 files changed, 221 insertions(+), 241 deletions(-) diff --git a/docs/atom.xml b/docs/atom.xml index 30734aae4..78d162025 100644 --- a/docs/atom.xml +++ b/docs/atom.xml @@ -5,9 +5,79 @@ https://sanjayankur31.github.io/planet-neuroscientists/atom.xml - 2019-03-20T06:01:21+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:01:23+00:00 http://intertwingly.net/code/venus/ + + How To Combat The “Illusion Of Causality” That Contributes To So Many Healthy People Taking Multivitamin Pills They Don’t Need + + http://digest.bps.org.uk/?p=36712 + 2019-03-20T10:34:40+00:00 + + <p><img alt="GettyImages-537472788.jpg" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-36713" data-attachment-id="36713" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Getty Images\/iStockphoto&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Slices of vegetables and fruit in a drug blister packaging and open box, natural supplements and vitamins concept&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;elenabs&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Natural supplements&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}" data-image-title="Natural supplements" data-large-file="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/gettyimages-537472788.jpg?w=845?w=845" data-medium-file="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/gettyimages-537472788.jpg?w=845?w=300" data-orig-file="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/gettyimages-537472788.jpg?w=845" data-orig-size="2309,1299" data-permalink="https://digest.bps.org.uk/2019/03/20/how-to-combat-the-illusion-of-causality-that-contributes-to-so-many-healthy-people-taking-multivitamin-pills-they-dont-need/natural-supplements/" src="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/gettyimages-537472788.jpg?w=845" /><em>By</em> <a href="https://twitter.com/mattbwarren">Matthew Warren</a></p> +<p>Millions of people around the world spend time and money on healthcare remedies that mainstream science considers ineffective (in the sense of being no more effective than a placebo), like homeopathy and acupuncture. A <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08870446.2018.1508685">study published recently in <i>Psychology and Health</i></a> investigated how to address this issue in the context of multivitamins, which evidence suggests provide no benefit for healthy people – and may even cause harm in some contexts.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> +<p>Despite this research evidence, huge numbers of healthy people take multivitamins because they appear to be helpful. Scientists refer to this as the “illusion of causality”: when someone takes a vitamin and then their cold goes away, for example, they may believe it was the vitamin that cured them, even though they would have recovered just as quickly anyway. Past research has shown that simply giving people the raw outcomes of clinical trials that show remedies to be ineffective does<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>not necessarily help combat this problem, perhaps because the data can involve large numbers and complex findings, which are difficult for the public to interpret.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> +<p>Douglas MacFarlane and colleagues from the University of Western Australia have explored how to better inoculate people against this illusion. The researchers report that people need to be told clearly about the proportion of people who benefit from the remedy versus taking a <a href="https://digest.bps.org.uk/2019/03/11/the-placebo-effect-digested-10-amazing-findings/">placebo</a> – <i>and</i> this data has to be accompanied by a scientific explanation for why the remedy is ineffective.</p> +<p><span id="more-36712"></span></p> +<p>The researchers recruited 245 undergrad participants and split them into several groups, which were each given different levels of information about the effectiveness of a multivitamin. At one extreme, a control group received no information about the number of people who benefited from the remedy, and was simply told that there was insufficient evidence to make a recommendation for or against using it. At the other extreme, another group was told that 3 out of 4 people benefitted from the pills, but that 3 out of 4 people also benefitted from a placebo, so the evidence showed that the remedy doesn’t have any health benefit. This group was also given a scientific explanation for why this should be: healthy people already receive enough vitamins in their diet.</p> +<p>There were also various intermediate groups, such as one that received information about the proportion of people who get a benefit from the pills, but no information on the effects of placebo, and another that received information about the pills and placebo, but no scientific explanation.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> +<p>Afterwards, all participants were asked how much they would be willing to pay for a tube of the multivitamins. The only group who showed a reduced willingness to pay for the pills was the one given full information on the pills’ efficacy compared with a placebo <i>and</i> the scientific explanation of why they are not effective.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> +<p>The results suggest that simplified frequencies showing how many people have and haven’t benefited from a remedy compared with placebo could help prevent the illusion of causality. This strategy could be used by health authorities to assist people making healthcare decisions, say the authors. At the moment, they write, bodies like the National Institutes of Health in the United States often frame disclaimers about ineffective remedies in diplomatic language about “insufficient clinical evidence”, rather than giving people this kind of simple, explicit data.</p> +<p>Importantly though, the new findings suggest these frequencies are only useful when given alongside a scientific explanation. “This component may serve to fill the mental gap created when a prior belief is challenged by scientific evidence,” write the authors.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> +<p>This conclusion comes with a hefty caveat, however. Because only one group was actually given the scientific explanation, it remains unclear based on the current results whether the explanation and the simple frequencies are <i>both</i> necessary. A scientific explanation about why a remedy is ineffective could, in theory, reduce a person’s willingness to pay regardless of how much they know about the underlying data. Of course, scientific explanations alone <a href="https://digest.bps.org.uk/2016/02/23/why-is-it-so-hard-to-persuade-people-with-facts/">can be pretty unsuccessful at changing people’s minds</a>, so this possibility seems unlikely – but it would be nice to see this question incorporated into the design of a future study.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> +<p>—<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08870446.2018.1508685">Reducing demand for ineffective health remedies: overcoming the illusion of causality</a></p> +<p><strong>Matthew Warren (<a href="https://twitter.com/mattbwarren">@MattbWarren</a>) is Staff Writer at <a href="https://digest.bps.org.uk/">BPS Research Digest</a></strong></p> + + BPS Research Digest + https://digest.bps.org.uk + + + Research Digest + + https://digest.bps.org.uk + 2019-03-20T12:00:41+00:00 + + + + + Sickle cell screening abstract retracted for host of reasons, including an ambivalent co-author + + https://retractionwatch.com/?p=88525 + 2019-03-20T10:00:20+00:00 + + Researchers have lost a 2018 conference abstract on screening for sickle cell disease in Africa over a dispute over authorship and the lack of appropriate disclosures.   The article, “Implementation of a sickle cell disease screening initiative in Uganda with HemoTypeSC(TM),” which was presented at a 2018 conference and then appeared in Blood, described a … <a class="more-link" href="https://retractionwatch.com/2019/03/20/sickle-cell-screening-abstract-retracted-for-host-of-reasons-including-an-ambivalent-co-author/">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Sickle cell screening abstract retracted for host of reasons, including an ambivalent co-author</span></a> + + Adam Marcus + https://retractionwatch.com + + + Retraction Watch + Tracking retractions as a window into the scientific process + + https://retractionwatch.com + 2019-03-20T12:00:45+00:00 + + + + + In a first, a fossilized egg is found preserved inside an ancient bird + + https://www.sciencenews.org/article/first-fossilized-egg-found-cretaceous-bird + 2019-03-20T10:00:04+00:00 + + Scientists have found the first known fossil of a bird that died with an unlaid egg inside its body. The egg has been crushed by pressure over time. + + Carolyn Gramling + https://www.sciencenews.org/feeds/headlines.rss + + + Science News + + + 2019-03-20T12:00:41+00:00 + + + Surprising astronomers, Bennu spits plumes of dust into space @@ -23,7 +93,7 @@ Science News - 2019-03-20T00:00:33+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:41+00:00 @@ -42,7 +112,7 @@ Science News - 2019-03-20T00:00:33+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:41+00:00 @@ -107,7 +177,7 @@ Research Digest https://digest.bps.org.uk - 2019-03-20T06:00:39+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:41+00:00 @@ -126,7 +196,7 @@ Science News - 2019-03-20T00:00:33+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:41+00:00 @@ -146,7 +216,7 @@ Tracking retractions as a window into the scientific process https://retractionwatch.com - 2019-03-19T12:00:45+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:45+00:00 @@ -165,7 +235,7 @@ Science News - 2019-03-20T00:00:33+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:41+00:00 @@ -184,7 +254,7 @@ Science News - 2019-03-20T00:00:33+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:41+00:00 @@ -228,7 +298,7 @@ Science News - 2019-03-20T00:00:33+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:41+00:00 @@ -247,7 +317,7 @@ Science News - 2019-03-20T00:00:33+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:41+00:00 @@ -279,7 +349,7 @@ Research Digest https://digest.bps.org.uk - 2019-03-20T06:00:39+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:41+00:00 @@ -299,7 +369,7 @@ Tracking retractions as a window into the scientific process https://retractionwatch.com - 2019-03-19T12:00:45+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:45+00:00 @@ -397,7 +467,7 @@ Science journalism by Leonid Schneider, on research integrity and academic publishing in life sciences and biomedicine https://forbetterscience.com - 2019-03-20T00:00:36+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:42+00:00 @@ -416,7 +486,7 @@ Science News - 2019-03-20T00:00:33+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:41+00:00 @@ -464,7 +534,7 @@ Despite the talk of mutations, there is no genetics in this paper. No atheist ge Tracking retractions as a window into the scientific process https://retractionwatch.com - 2019-03-19T12:00:45+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:45+00:00 @@ -483,7 +553,7 @@ Despite the talk of mutations, there is no genetics in this paper. No atheist ge Science News - 2019-03-20T00:00:33+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:41+00:00 @@ -502,7 +572,7 @@ Despite the talk of mutations, there is no genetics in this paper. No atheist ge Science News - 2019-03-20T00:00:33+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:41+00:00 @@ -521,7 +591,7 @@ Despite the talk of mutations, there is no genetics in this paper. No atheist ge Science News - 2019-03-20T00:00:33+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:41+00:00 @@ -541,7 +611,7 @@ Despite the talk of mutations, there is no genetics in this paper. No atheist ge Tracking retractions as a window into the scientific process https://retractionwatch.com - 2019-03-19T12:00:45+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:45+00:00 @@ -572,7 +642,7 @@ Despite the talk of mutations, there is no genetics in this paper. No atheist ge Research Digest https://digest.bps.org.uk - 2019-03-20T06:00:39+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:41+00:00 @@ -592,7 +662,7 @@ Despite the talk of mutations, there is no genetics in this paper. No atheist ge Science journalism by Leonid Schneider, on research integrity and academic publishing in life sciences and biomedicine https://forbetterscience.com - 2019-03-20T00:00:36+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:42+00:00 @@ -611,7 +681,7 @@ Despite the talk of mutations, there is no genetics in this paper. No atheist ge Science News - 2019-03-20T00:00:33+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:41+00:00 @@ -803,7 +873,7 @@ Despite the talk of mutations, there is no genetics in this paper. No atheist ge Science News - 2019-03-20T00:00:33+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:41+00:00 @@ -822,7 +892,7 @@ Despite the talk of mutations, there is no genetics in this paper. No atheist ge Science News - 2019-03-20T00:00:33+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:41+00:00 @@ -841,7 +911,7 @@ Despite the talk of mutations, there is no genetics in this paper. No atheist ge Science News - 2019-03-20T00:00:33+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:41+00:00 @@ -870,7 +940,7 @@ Despite the talk of mutations, there is no genetics in this paper. No atheist ge Research Digest https://digest.bps.org.uk - 2019-03-20T06:00:39+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:41+00:00 @@ -890,7 +960,7 @@ Despite the talk of mutations, there is no genetics in this paper. No atheist ge Tracking retractions as a window into the scientific process https://retractionwatch.com - 2019-03-19T12:00:45+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:45+00:00 @@ -909,7 +979,7 @@ Despite the talk of mutations, there is no genetics in this paper. No atheist ge Science News - 2019-03-20T00:00:33+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:41+00:00 @@ -952,7 +1022,7 @@ Despite the talk of mutations, there is no genetics in this paper. No atheist ge Science News - 2019-03-20T00:00:33+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:41+00:00 @@ -971,7 +1041,7 @@ Despite the talk of mutations, there is no genetics in this paper. No atheist ge Science News - 2019-03-20T00:00:33+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:41+00:00 @@ -990,7 +1060,7 @@ Despite the talk of mutations, there is no genetics in this paper. No atheist ge Science News - 2019-03-20T00:00:33+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:41+00:00 @@ -1106,7 +1176,7 @@ Despite the talk of mutations, there is no genetics in this paper. No atheist ge Research Digest https://digest.bps.org.uk - 2019-03-20T06:00:39+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:41+00:00 @@ -1126,7 +1196,7 @@ Despite the talk of mutations, there is no genetics in this paper. No atheist ge Tracking retractions as a window into the scientific process https://retractionwatch.com - 2019-03-19T12:00:45+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:45+00:00 @@ -1272,7 +1342,7 @@ Despite the talk of mutations, there is no genetics in this paper. No atheist ge Tracking retractions as a window into the scientific process https://retractionwatch.com - 2019-03-19T12:00:45+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:45+00:00 @@ -1325,7 +1395,7 @@ Despite the talk of mutations, there is no genetics in this paper. No atheist ge Research Digest https://digest.bps.org.uk - 2019-03-20T06:00:39+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:41+00:00 @@ -1520,7 +1590,7 @@ We continue to invest in our people, processes and equipment to meet our clients Research Digest https://digest.bps.org.uk - 2019-03-20T06:00:39+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:41+00:00 @@ -1559,7 +1629,7 @@ We continue to invest in our people, processes and equipment to meet our clients Tracking retractions as a window into the scientific process https://retractionwatch.com - 2019-03-19T12:00:45+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:45+00:00 @@ -1579,7 +1649,7 @@ We continue to invest in our people, processes and equipment to meet our clients Science journalism by Leonid Schneider, on research integrity and academic publishing in life sciences and biomedicine https://forbetterscience.com - 2019-03-20T00:00:36+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:42+00:00 @@ -1623,7 +1693,7 @@ Yet there may be more to FAS than meets the eye (or ear). According to a new pap Tracking retractions as a window into the scientific process https://retractionwatch.com - 2019-03-19T12:00:45+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:45+00:00 @@ -1833,7 +1903,7 @@ Yet there may be more to FAS than meets the eye (or ear). According to a new pap Research Digest https://digest.bps.org.uk - 2019-03-20T06:00:39+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:41+00:00 @@ -1995,7 +2065,7 @@ Yet there may be more to FAS than meets the eye (or ear). According to a new pap Research Digest https://digest.bps.org.uk - 2019-03-20T06:00:39+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:41+00:00 @@ -2212,7 +2282,7 @@ Yet there may be more to FAS than meets the eye (or ear). According to a new pap Science journalism by Leonid Schneider, on research integrity and academic publishing in life sciences and biomedicine https://forbetterscience.com - 2019-03-20T00:00:36+00:00 + 2019-03-20T12:00:42+00:00 @@ -2570,79 +2640,4 @@ Yet there may be more to FAS than meets the eye (or ear). According to a new pap - - Q&amp;A: Amref leader on why universal health coverage is crucial for Africa - - https://www.elsevier.com/connect/q-and-a-amref-leader-on-why-universal-health-coverage-is-crucial-for-africa - 2019-03-04T10:46:02+00:00 - - Dr. Githinji Gitahi, Group CEO of Amref Health Africa, talks about Africa’s unique path to UHC and what to expect at #AHAIC2019 - - Elsevier Connect - - - - Elsevier Connect - - https://www.elsevier.com/connect/feed - 2019-03-14T12:00:37+00:00 - - - - - How machine learning can speed up “annoyingly hard” medical research - - https://www.elsevier.com/connect/how-machine-learning-can-speed-up-annoyingly-hard-medical-research - 2019-03-04T10:20:54+00:00 - - Researcher Alexander Mathiasen hopes to solve medical problems with machine learning while working across disciplines - - Elsevier Connect - - - - Elsevier Connect - - https://www.elsevier.com/connect/feed - 2019-03-14T12:00:37+00:00 - - - - - Your Romantic Partner Is Probably Less Intelligent Than You Think, Suggests New Study - - http://digest.bps.org.uk/?p=36608 - 2019-03-04T09:44:37+00:00 - - <p><img alt="GettyImages-1092632424.jpg" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-36611" data-attachment-id="36611" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Getty Images\/iStockphoto&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;NIKON D800&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Close up portrait of two she her he him his best friends siblings boy lady with open mouth arms up on head yelling from shock wearing casual shirts denim plaid outfit isolated on rose background&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Close up portrait of two she her he him his best friends sibling&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}" data-image-title="Close up portrait of two she her he him his best friends sibling" data-large-file="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/gettyimages-1092632424.jpg?w=845?w=845" data-medium-file="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/gettyimages-1092632424.jpg?w=845?w=300" data-orig-file="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/gettyimages-1092632424.jpg?w=845" data-orig-size="2119,1414" data-permalink="https://digest.bps.org.uk/2019/03/04/your-romantic-partner-is-probably-less-intelligent-than-you-think-suggests-new-study/close-up-portrait-of-two-she-her-he-him-his-best-friends-sibling/" src="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/gettyimages-1092632424.jpg?w=845" /><em>By guest blogger</em> <a href="http://www.davidrobson.me/">David Robson</a></p> -<p>It’s now well known that many of us over-estimate our own brainpower. In one study, more than 90 per cent of US college professors famously claimed to be better than average at teaching, for instance – which would be highly unlikely. Our egos blind us to our own flaws.</p> -<p>But do we have an even more inflated view of our nearest and dearest? It seems we do – that’s the conclusion of a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289618302150">new paper published in <i>Intelligence</i> journal</a>, which has shown that we consistently view our romantic partners as being much smarter than they really are.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> -<p><span id="more-36608"></span></p> -<p>The researchers, Gilles Gignac at the University of Western Australia and Marcin Zajenkowski at the University of Warsaw, also tested whether the couples’ actual IQs influenced their relationship satisfaction – with surprising results.</p> -<p>There had been some previous signs that we are especially optimistic about our loved ones’ attributes. When it comes to physical attractiveness, for instance, we tend to think that we have managed to attract someone who is even hotter than us – an effect sometimes called the “love is blind bias”. But past studies had failed to find a similar optimism for estimates of partners’ intelligence. Overall, people seemed to judge their partners’ intelligence as equal to their own – rather than thinking that they were especially clever.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> -<p>For the new study, the researchers recruited 218 heterosexual couples, who had been together for an average of six years, and around a quarter were married. Rather that guessing IQ scores – which might be confusing for participants who have little knowledge of IQ tests and their scoring – the participants had to estimate their own intelligence and their partner’s intelligence using a more intuitive, graphical scale (see below). The researchers then converted those estimates to IQ points according to the known statistical distribution of intelligence – the famous bell curve. To find the participants’ actual, objective IQ scores, the researchers also asked them to take a standard test of non-verbal intelligence known as the Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> -<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_36609" style="width: 3063px;"><img alt="1-s2.0-S0160289618302150-gr1_lrg.jpg" class=" size-full wp-image-36609 aligncenter" data-attachment-id="36609" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="1-s2.0-S0160289618302150-gr1_lrg" data-large-file="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/1-s2.0-s0160289618302150-gr1_lrg.jpg?w=845?w=845" data-medium-file="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/1-s2.0-s0160289618302150-gr1_lrg.jpg?w=845?w=300" data-orig-file="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/1-s2.0-s0160289618302150-gr1_lrg.jpg?w=845" data-orig-size="3063,250" data-permalink="https://digest.bps.org.uk/2019/03/04/your-romantic-partner-is-probably-less-intelligent-than-you-think-suggests-new-study/1-s2-0-s0160289618302150-gr1_lrg/" src="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/1-s2.0-s0160289618302150-gr1_lrg.jpg?w=845" />via <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289618302150">Gignac &amp; Zajenkowski, 2019</a></figure> -<p>As the previous research on individual overconfidence had found, most participants over-estimated their own intelligence by a huge margin – the equivalent of around 30 IQ points on average. Overall, only 0.9 per cent of women and 1.8 per cent of men assessed their own intelligence as being below average (even though 68.8 per cent of the women and 55.0 per cent of the men in this study scored below 100 – the mean IQ of the population as a whole).<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> -<p>The participants’ estimates of their partners’ intelligence were even more skewed. The men thought their wives and girlfriends’ IQs were around 36 points higher than they really were; the women thought their husbands and boyfriends’ IQs were 38 points higher than the reality. In other words, if you are like the majority of people in this sample, your partner is probably much less clever than you believe.</p> -<figure class="wp-caption alignleft" data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_36610" style="width: 204px;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Intelligence-Trap-People-Mistakes-Decisions/dp/1473669839/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=&amp;sr="><img alt="The Intelligence Trap Cover" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-36610" data-attachment-id="36610" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="The Intelligence Trap Cover" data-large-file="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/the-intelligence-trap-cover.jpg?w=421" data-medium-file="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/the-intelligence-trap-cover.jpg?w=194" data-orig-file="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/the-intelligence-trap-cover.jpg" data-orig-size="421,650" data-permalink="https://digest.bps.org.uk/2019/03/04/your-romantic-partner-is-probably-less-intelligent-than-you-think-suggests-new-study/the-intelligence-trap-cover/" height="300" src="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/the-intelligence-trap-cover.jpg?w=194&amp;h=300" width="194" /></a> <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Intelligence-Trap-People-Mistakes-Decisions/dp/1473669839/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=&amp;sr=">Available for pre-order now</a></figure> -<p>Besides this eye-catching result, Gignac and Zajenkowski’s paper is rich with other findings. They were interested, for instance, in whether people tend to hook up with someone of similar cognitive ability – and whether that “intellectual compatibility” is important for their happiness together. As previous research has found, there was a moderate correlation between the partners’ actual IQ scores – so in general people do seem to pick partners who roughly match their intelligence.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> -<p>Maybe we have a slight preference for people with similar smarts to ourselves, or maybe it’s due to the fact that we have more opportunity to get romantically involved with people of roughly similar intelligence – in education or at work. Whatever the reasons, the degree of similarity of couples’ IQs didn’t seem to influence their relationship satisfaction – overall, couples with lower “intellectual compatibility” appeared to be just as happy as the couples who were more closely matched.</p> -<p>Gignac and Zajenkowski also examined whether the men or the women in their sample were better at estimating their partners’ intelligence. According to some evolutionary psychologists, because the responsibility of pregnancy, childbirth, and usually childrearing, falls more directly on women, they should be pickier than men about the kind of person they choose to reproduce with. If true, it would make sense for women to have evolved to be more perceptive than men of differences in other people’s intelligence. Yet the researchers found no evidence of this.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> -<p>As the researchers admit, there are some limitations to their study. They only used a non-verbal IQ test, for instance, and it’s possible you would see different results if you also looked at verbal questions. After all, the size of someone’s vocabulary and their linguistic fluency may be easier for a partner to judge accurately.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> -<p>But overall, the findings help extend our understanding of our self-serving biases, showing our egotism and self-confidence can sometimes spill-over to our loved ones. Maybe we like to think we’re with a partner who reflects an even better version of ourselves.</p> -<p>—<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289618302150%23s0030">People tend to overestimate their romantic partner’s intelligence even more than their own</a></p> -<p><strong>Post written by <a href="http://www.davidrobson.me/">David Robson</a></strong><b> (<a href="https://twitter.com/d_a_robson">@d_a_robson</a>) for the BPS Research Digest</b>. David is the author of <em>The Intelligence Trap</em>, published in the UK and commonwealth by Hodder &amp; Stoughton on 7 March. It is available for <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Intelligence-Trap-People-Mistakes-Decisions/dp/1473669839/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=&amp;sr=">pre-order now</a>.</p> -<p> </p> - - BPS Research Digest - https://digest.bps.org.uk - - - Research Digest - - https://digest.bps.org.uk - 2019-03-18T06:00:35+00:00 - - - diff --git a/docs/index.html b/docs/index.html index 41386a2dc..1e03b07a0 100644 --- a/docs/index.html +++ b/docs/index.html @@ -85,11 +85,44 @@

Planet Neuroscientists

last updated by Venus - on March 20, 2019 06:01 AM on behalf of Ankur Sinha. + on March 20, 2019 12:01 PM on behalf of Ankur Sinha.

diff --git a/docs/opml.xml b/docs/opml.xml index 4dd15d327..f94db07c8 100644 --- a/docs/opml.xml +++ b/docs/opml.xml @@ -2,8 +2,8 @@ Planet Neuroscientists - Wed, 20 Mar 2019 06:01:25 +0000 - Wed, 20 Mar 2019 06:01:25 +0000 + Wed, 20 Mar 2019 12:01:26 +0000 + Wed, 20 Mar 2019 12:01:26 +0000 Ankur Sinha ankursinha AT fedoraproject DOT org diff --git a/docs/rss10.xml b/docs/rss10.xml index 9dfb9bd69..52f1aae30 100644 --- a/docs/rss10.xml +++ b/docs/rss10.xml @@ -15,6 +15,9 @@ + + + @@ -112,13 +115,43 @@ - - - + + The British Psychological Society - Research Digest: How To Combat The “Illusion Of Causality” That Contributes To So Many Healthy People Taking Multivitamin Pills They Don’t Need + https://digest.bps.org.uk/2019/03/20/how-to-combat-the-illusion-of-causality-that-contributes-to-so-many-healthy-people-taking-multivitamin-pills-they-dont-need/ + <p><img alt="GettyImages-537472788.jpg" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-36713" data-attachment-id="36713" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Getty Images\/iStockphoto&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Slices of vegetables and fruit in a drug blister packaging and open box, natural supplements and vitamins concept&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;elenabs&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Natural supplements&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}" data-image-title="Natural supplements" data-large-file="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/gettyimages-537472788.jpg?w=845?w=845" data-medium-file="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/gettyimages-537472788.jpg?w=845?w=300" data-orig-file="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/gettyimages-537472788.jpg?w=845" data-orig-size="2309,1299" data-permalink="https://digest.bps.org.uk/2019/03/20/how-to-combat-the-illusion-of-causality-that-contributes-to-so-many-healthy-people-taking-multivitamin-pills-they-dont-need/natural-supplements/" src="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/gettyimages-537472788.jpg?w=845" /><em>By</em> <a href="https://twitter.com/mattbwarren">Matthew Warren</a></p> +<p>Millions of people around the world spend time and money on healthcare remedies that mainstream science considers ineffective (in the sense of being no more effective than a placebo), like homeopathy and acupuncture. A <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08870446.2018.1508685">study published recently in <i>Psychology and Health</i></a> investigated how to address this issue in the context of multivitamins, which evidence suggests provide no benefit for healthy people – and may even cause harm in some contexts.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> +<p>Despite this research evidence, huge numbers of healthy people take multivitamins because they appear to be helpful. Scientists refer to this as the “illusion of causality”: when someone takes a vitamin and then their cold goes away, for example, they may believe it was the vitamin that cured them, even though they would have recovered just as quickly anyway. Past research has shown that simply giving people the raw outcomes of clinical trials that show remedies to be ineffective does<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>not necessarily help combat this problem, perhaps because the data can involve large numbers and complex findings, which are difficult for the public to interpret.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> +<p>Douglas MacFarlane and colleagues from the University of Western Australia have explored how to better inoculate people against this illusion. The researchers report that people need to be told clearly about the proportion of people who benefit from the remedy versus taking a <a href="https://digest.bps.org.uk/2019/03/11/the-placebo-effect-digested-10-amazing-findings/">placebo</a> – <i>and</i> this data has to be accompanied by a scientific explanation for why the remedy is ineffective.</p> +<p><span id="more-36712"></span></p> +<p>The researchers recruited 245 undergrad participants and split them into several groups, which were each given different levels of information about the effectiveness of a multivitamin. At one extreme, a control group received no information about the number of people who benefited from the remedy, and was simply told that there was insufficient evidence to make a recommendation for or against using it. At the other extreme, another group was told that 3 out of 4 people benefitted from the pills, but that 3 out of 4 people also benefitted from a placebo, so the evidence showed that the remedy doesn’t have any health benefit. This group was also given a scientific explanation for why this should be: healthy people already receive enough vitamins in their diet.</p> +<p>There were also various intermediate groups, such as one that received information about the proportion of people who get a benefit from the pills, but no information on the effects of placebo, and another that received information about the pills and placebo, but no scientific explanation.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> +<p>Afterwards, all participants were asked how much they would be willing to pay for a tube of the multivitamins. The only group who showed a reduced willingness to pay for the pills was the one given full information on the pills’ efficacy compared with a placebo <i>and</i> the scientific explanation of why they are not effective.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> +<p>The results suggest that simplified frequencies showing how many people have and haven’t benefited from a remedy compared with placebo could help prevent the illusion of causality. This strategy could be used by health authorities to assist people making healthcare decisions, say the authors. At the moment, they write, bodies like the National Institutes of Health in the United States often frame disclaimers about ineffective remedies in diplomatic language about “insufficient clinical evidence”, rather than giving people this kind of simple, explicit data.</p> +<p>Importantly though, the new findings suggest these frequencies are only useful when given alongside a scientific explanation. “This component may serve to fill the mental gap created when a prior belief is challenged by scientific evidence,” write the authors.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> +<p>This conclusion comes with a hefty caveat, however. Because only one group was actually given the scientific explanation, it remains unclear based on the current results whether the explanation and the simple frequencies are <i>both</i> necessary. A scientific explanation about why a remedy is ineffective could, in theory, reduce a person’s willingness to pay regardless of how much they know about the underlying data. Of course, scientific explanations alone <a href="https://digest.bps.org.uk/2016/02/23/why-is-it-so-hard-to-persuade-people-with-facts/">can be pretty unsuccessful at changing people’s minds</a>, so this possibility seems unlikely – but it would be nice to see this question incorporated into the design of a future study.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> +<p>—<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08870446.2018.1508685">Reducing demand for ineffective health remedies: overcoming the illusion of causality</a></p> +<p><strong>Matthew Warren (<a href="https://twitter.com/mattbwarren">@MattbWarren</a>) is Staff Writer at <a href="https://digest.bps.org.uk/">BPS Research Digest</a></strong></p> + 2019-03-20T10:34:40+00:00 + BPS Research Digest + + + Retraction watch: Sickle cell screening abstract retracted for host of reasons, including an ambivalent co-author + https://retractionwatch.com/2019/03/20/sickle-cell-screening-abstract-retracted-for-host-of-reasons-including-an-ambivalent-co-author/ + Researchers have lost a 2018 conference abstract on screening for sickle cell disease in Africa over a dispute over authorship and the lack of appropriate disclosures.   The article, “Implementation of a sickle cell disease screening initiative in Uganda with HemoTypeSC(TM),” which was presented at a 2018 conference and then appeared in Blood, described a … <a class="more-link" href="https://retractionwatch.com/2019/03/20/sickle-cell-screening-abstract-retracted-for-host-of-reasons-including-an-ambivalent-co-author/">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Sickle cell screening abstract retracted for host of reasons, including an ambivalent co-author</span></a> + 2019-03-20T10:00:20+00:00 + Adam Marcus + + + Science News: In a first, a fossilized egg is found preserved inside an ancient bird + https://www.sciencenews.org/article/first-fossilized-egg-found-cretaceous-bird + Scientists have found the first known fossil of a bird that died with an unlaid egg inside its body. The egg has been crushed by pressure over time. + 2019-03-20T10:00:04+00:00 + Carolyn Gramling + Science News: Surprising astronomers, Bennu spits plumes of dust into space https://www.sciencenews.org/article/asteroid-bennu-surprises-spits-plumes-dust-space @@ -1485,42 +1518,5 @@ Yet there may be more to FAS than meets the eye (or ear). According to a new pap 2019-03-04T11:00:05+00:00 Susan Milius - - Elsevier Connect: Q&A: Amref leader on why universal health coverage is crucial for Africa - https://www.elsevier.com/connect/q-and-a-amref-leader-on-why-universal-health-coverage-is-crucial-for-africa - Dr. Githinji Gitahi, Group CEO of Amref Health Africa, talks about Africa’s unique path to UHC and what to expect at #AHAIC2019 - 2019-03-04T10:46:02+00:00 - - - Elsevier Connect: How machine learning can speed up “annoyingly hard” medical research - https://www.elsevier.com/connect/how-machine-learning-can-speed-up-annoyingly-hard-medical-research - Researcher Alexander Mathiasen hopes to solve medical problems with machine learning while working across disciplines - 2019-03-04T10:20:54+00:00 - - - The British Psychological Society - Research Digest: Your Romantic Partner Is Probably Less Intelligent Than You Think, Suggests New Study - https://digest.bps.org.uk/2019/03/04/your-romantic-partner-is-probably-less-intelligent-than-you-think-suggests-new-study/ - <p><img alt="GettyImages-1092632424.jpg" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-36611" data-attachment-id="36611" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Getty Images\/iStockphoto&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;NIKON D800&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Close up portrait of two she her he him his best friends siblings boy lady with open mouth arms up on head yelling from shock wearing casual shirts denim plaid outfit isolated on rose background&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Close up portrait of two she her he him his best friends sibling&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}" data-image-title="Close up portrait of two she her he him his best friends sibling" data-large-file="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/gettyimages-1092632424.jpg?w=845?w=845" data-medium-file="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/gettyimages-1092632424.jpg?w=845?w=300" data-orig-file="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/gettyimages-1092632424.jpg?w=845" data-orig-size="2119,1414" data-permalink="https://digest.bps.org.uk/2019/03/04/your-romantic-partner-is-probably-less-intelligent-than-you-think-suggests-new-study/close-up-portrait-of-two-she-her-he-him-his-best-friends-sibling/" src="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/gettyimages-1092632424.jpg?w=845" /><em>By guest blogger</em> <a href="http://www.davidrobson.me/">David Robson</a></p> -<p>It’s now well known that many of us over-estimate our own brainpower. In one study, more than 90 per cent of US college professors famously claimed to be better than average at teaching, for instance – which would be highly unlikely. Our egos blind us to our own flaws.</p> -<p>But do we have an even more inflated view of our nearest and dearest? It seems we do – that’s the conclusion of a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289618302150">new paper published in <i>Intelligence</i> journal</a>, which has shown that we consistently view our romantic partners as being much smarter than they really are.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> -<p><span id="more-36608"></span></p> -<p>The researchers, Gilles Gignac at the University of Western Australia and Marcin Zajenkowski at the University of Warsaw, also tested whether the couples’ actual IQs influenced their relationship satisfaction – with surprising results.</p> -<p>There had been some previous signs that we are especially optimistic about our loved ones’ attributes. When it comes to physical attractiveness, for instance, we tend to think that we have managed to attract someone who is even hotter than us – an effect sometimes called the “love is blind bias”. But past studies had failed to find a similar optimism for estimates of partners’ intelligence. Overall, people seemed to judge their partners’ intelligence as equal to their own – rather than thinking that they were especially clever.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> -<p>For the new study, the researchers recruited 218 heterosexual couples, who had been together for an average of six years, and around a quarter were married. Rather that guessing IQ scores – which might be confusing for participants who have little knowledge of IQ tests and their scoring – the participants had to estimate their own intelligence and their partner’s intelligence using a more intuitive, graphical scale (see below). The researchers then converted those estimates to IQ points according to the known statistical distribution of intelligence – the famous bell curve. To find the participants’ actual, objective IQ scores, the researchers also asked them to take a standard test of non-verbal intelligence known as the Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> -<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_36609" style="width: 3063px;"><img alt="1-s2.0-S0160289618302150-gr1_lrg.jpg" class=" size-full wp-image-36609 aligncenter" data-attachment-id="36609" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="1-s2.0-S0160289618302150-gr1_lrg" data-large-file="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/1-s2.0-s0160289618302150-gr1_lrg.jpg?w=845?w=845" data-medium-file="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/1-s2.0-s0160289618302150-gr1_lrg.jpg?w=845?w=300" data-orig-file="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/1-s2.0-s0160289618302150-gr1_lrg.jpg?w=845" data-orig-size="3063,250" data-permalink="https://digest.bps.org.uk/2019/03/04/your-romantic-partner-is-probably-less-intelligent-than-you-think-suggests-new-study/1-s2-0-s0160289618302150-gr1_lrg/" src="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/1-s2.0-s0160289618302150-gr1_lrg.jpg?w=845" />via <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289618302150">Gignac &amp; Zajenkowski, 2019</a></figure> -<p>As the previous research on individual overconfidence had found, most participants over-estimated their own intelligence by a huge margin – the equivalent of around 30 IQ points on average. Overall, only 0.9 per cent of women and 1.8 per cent of men assessed their own intelligence as being below average (even though 68.8 per cent of the women and 55.0 per cent of the men in this study scored below 100 – the mean IQ of the population as a whole).<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> -<p>The participants’ estimates of their partners’ intelligence were even more skewed. The men thought their wives and girlfriends’ IQs were around 36 points higher than they really were; the women thought their husbands and boyfriends’ IQs were 38 points higher than the reality. In other words, if you are like the majority of people in this sample, your partner is probably much less clever than you believe.</p> -<figure class="wp-caption alignleft" data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_36610" style="width: 204px;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Intelligence-Trap-People-Mistakes-Decisions/dp/1473669839/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=&amp;sr="><img alt="The Intelligence Trap Cover" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-36610" data-attachment-id="36610" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="The Intelligence Trap Cover" data-large-file="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/the-intelligence-trap-cover.jpg?w=421" data-medium-file="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/the-intelligence-trap-cover.jpg?w=194" data-orig-file="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/the-intelligence-trap-cover.jpg" data-orig-size="421,650" data-permalink="https://digest.bps.org.uk/2019/03/04/your-romantic-partner-is-probably-less-intelligent-than-you-think-suggests-new-study/the-intelligence-trap-cover/" height="300" src="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/the-intelligence-trap-cover.jpg?w=194&amp;h=300" width="194" /></a> <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Intelligence-Trap-People-Mistakes-Decisions/dp/1473669839/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=&amp;sr=">Available for pre-order now</a></figure> -<p>Besides this eye-catching result, Gignac and Zajenkowski’s paper is rich with other findings. They were interested, for instance, in whether people tend to hook up with someone of similar cognitive ability – and whether that “intellectual compatibility” is important for their happiness together. As previous research has found, there was a moderate correlation between the partners’ actual IQ scores – so in general people do seem to pick partners who roughly match their intelligence.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> -<p>Maybe we have a slight preference for people with similar smarts to ourselves, or maybe it’s due to the fact that we have more opportunity to get romantically involved with people of roughly similar intelligence – in education or at work. Whatever the reasons, the degree of similarity of couples’ IQs didn’t seem to influence their relationship satisfaction – overall, couples with lower “intellectual compatibility” appeared to be just as happy as the couples who were more closely matched.</p> -<p>Gignac and Zajenkowski also examined whether the men or the women in their sample were better at estimating their partners’ intelligence. According to some evolutionary psychologists, because the responsibility of pregnancy, childbirth, and usually childrearing, falls more directly on women, they should be pickier than men about the kind of person they choose to reproduce with. If true, it would make sense for women to have evolved to be more perceptive than men of differences in other people’s intelligence. Yet the researchers found no evidence of this.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> -<p>As the researchers admit, there are some limitations to their study. They only used a non-verbal IQ test, for instance, and it’s possible you would see different results if you also looked at verbal questions. After all, the size of someone’s vocabulary and their linguistic fluency may be easier for a partner to judge accurately.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> -<p>But overall, the findings help extend our understanding of our self-serving biases, showing our egotism and self-confidence can sometimes spill-over to our loved ones. Maybe we like to think we’re with a partner who reflects an even better version of ourselves.</p> -<p>—<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289618302150%23s0030">People tend to overestimate their romantic partner’s intelligence even more than their own</a></p> -<p><strong>Post written by <a href="http://www.davidrobson.me/">David Robson</a></strong><b> (<a href="https://twitter.com/d_a_robson">@d_a_robson</a>) for the BPS Research Digest</b>. David is the author of <em>The Intelligence Trap</em>, published in the UK and commonwealth by Hodder &amp; Stoughton on 7 March. It is available for <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Intelligence-Trap-People-Mistakes-Decisions/dp/1473669839/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=&amp;sr=">pre-order now</a>.</p> -<p> </p> - 2019-03-04T09:44:37+00:00 - BPS Research Digest - diff --git a/docs/rss20.xml b/docs/rss20.xml index feddd23ac..e849ff17f 100644 --- a/docs/rss20.xml +++ b/docs/rss20.xml @@ -8,6 +8,43 @@ Planet Neuroscientists - https://sanjayankur31.github.io/planet-neuroscientists/ + + The British Psychological Society - Research Digest: How To Combat The “Illusion Of Causality” That Contributes To So Many Healthy People Taking Multivitamin Pills They Don’t Need + http://digest.bps.org.uk/?p=36712 + https://digest.bps.org.uk/2019/03/20/how-to-combat-the-illusion-of-causality-that-contributes-to-so-many-healthy-people-taking-multivitamin-pills-they-dont-need/ + <p><img alt="GettyImages-537472788.jpg" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-36713" data-attachment-id="36713" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Getty Images\/iStockphoto&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Slices of vegetables and fruit in a drug blister packaging and open box, natural supplements and vitamins concept&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;elenabs&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Natural supplements&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}" data-image-title="Natural supplements" data-large-file="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/gettyimages-537472788.jpg?w=845?w=845" data-medium-file="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/gettyimages-537472788.jpg?w=845?w=300" data-orig-file="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/gettyimages-537472788.jpg?w=845" data-orig-size="2309,1299" data-permalink="https://digest.bps.org.uk/2019/03/20/how-to-combat-the-illusion-of-causality-that-contributes-to-so-many-healthy-people-taking-multivitamin-pills-they-dont-need/natural-supplements/" src="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/gettyimages-537472788.jpg?w=845" /><em>By</em> <a href="https://twitter.com/mattbwarren">Matthew Warren</a></p> +<p>Millions of people around the world spend time and money on healthcare remedies that mainstream science considers ineffective (in the sense of being no more effective than a placebo), like homeopathy and acupuncture. A <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08870446.2018.1508685">study published recently in <i>Psychology and Health</i></a> investigated how to address this issue in the context of multivitamins, which evidence suggests provide no benefit for healthy people – and may even cause harm in some contexts.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> +<p>Despite this research evidence, huge numbers of healthy people take multivitamins because they appear to be helpful. Scientists refer to this as the “illusion of causality”: when someone takes a vitamin and then their cold goes away, for example, they may believe it was the vitamin that cured them, even though they would have recovered just as quickly anyway. Past research has shown that simply giving people the raw outcomes of clinical trials that show remedies to be ineffective does<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>not necessarily help combat this problem, perhaps because the data can involve large numbers and complex findings, which are difficult for the public to interpret.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> +<p>Douglas MacFarlane and colleagues from the University of Western Australia have explored how to better inoculate people against this illusion. The researchers report that people need to be told clearly about the proportion of people who benefit from the remedy versus taking a <a href="https://digest.bps.org.uk/2019/03/11/the-placebo-effect-digested-10-amazing-findings/">placebo</a> – <i>and</i> this data has to be accompanied by a scientific explanation for why the remedy is ineffective.</p> +<p><span id="more-36712"></span></p> +<p>The researchers recruited 245 undergrad participants and split them into several groups, which were each given different levels of information about the effectiveness of a multivitamin. At one extreme, a control group received no information about the number of people who benefited from the remedy, and was simply told that there was insufficient evidence to make a recommendation for or against using it. At the other extreme, another group was told that 3 out of 4 people benefitted from the pills, but that 3 out of 4 people also benefitted from a placebo, so the evidence showed that the remedy doesn’t have any health benefit. This group was also given a scientific explanation for why this should be: healthy people already receive enough vitamins in their diet.</p> +<p>There were also various intermediate groups, such as one that received information about the proportion of people who get a benefit from the pills, but no information on the effects of placebo, and another that received information about the pills and placebo, but no scientific explanation.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> +<p>Afterwards, all participants were asked how much they would be willing to pay for a tube of the multivitamins. The only group who showed a reduced willingness to pay for the pills was the one given full information on the pills’ efficacy compared with a placebo <i>and</i> the scientific explanation of why they are not effective.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> +<p>The results suggest that simplified frequencies showing how many people have and haven’t benefited from a remedy compared with placebo could help prevent the illusion of causality. This strategy could be used by health authorities to assist people making healthcare decisions, say the authors. At the moment, they write, bodies like the National Institutes of Health in the United States often frame disclaimers about ineffective remedies in diplomatic language about “insufficient clinical evidence”, rather than giving people this kind of simple, explicit data.</p> +<p>Importantly though, the new findings suggest these frequencies are only useful when given alongside a scientific explanation. “This component may serve to fill the mental gap created when a prior belief is challenged by scientific evidence,” write the authors.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> +<p>This conclusion comes with a hefty caveat, however. Because only one group was actually given the scientific explanation, it remains unclear based on the current results whether the explanation and the simple frequencies are <i>both</i> necessary. A scientific explanation about why a remedy is ineffective could, in theory, reduce a person’s willingness to pay regardless of how much they know about the underlying data. Of course, scientific explanations alone <a href="https://digest.bps.org.uk/2016/02/23/why-is-it-so-hard-to-persuade-people-with-facts/">can be pretty unsuccessful at changing people’s minds</a>, so this possibility seems unlikely – but it would be nice to see this question incorporated into the design of a future study.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> +<p>—<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08870446.2018.1508685">Reducing demand for ineffective health remedies: overcoming the illusion of causality</a></p> +<p><strong>Matthew Warren (<a href="https://twitter.com/mattbwarren">@MattbWarren</a>) is Staff Writer at <a href="https://digest.bps.org.uk/">BPS Research Digest</a></strong></p> + Wed, 20 Mar 2019 10:34:40 +0000 + Research Digest + + + Retraction watch: Sickle cell screening abstract retracted for host of reasons, including an ambivalent co-author + https://retractionwatch.com/?p=88525 + https://retractionwatch.com/2019/03/20/sickle-cell-screening-abstract-retracted-for-host-of-reasons-including-an-ambivalent-co-author/ + Researchers have lost a 2018 conference abstract on screening for sickle cell disease in Africa over a dispute over authorship and the lack of appropriate disclosures.   The article, “Implementation of a sickle cell disease screening initiative in Uganda with HemoTypeSC(TM),” which was presented at a 2018 conference and then appeared in Blood, described a … <a class="more-link" href="https://retractionwatch.com/2019/03/20/sickle-cell-screening-abstract-retracted-for-host-of-reasons-including-an-ambivalent-co-author/">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Sickle cell screening abstract retracted for host of reasons, including an ambivalent co-author</span></a> + Wed, 20 Mar 2019 10:00:20 +0000 + Retraction Watch + + + Science News: In a first, a fossilized egg is found preserved inside an ancient bird + https://www.sciencenews.org/article/first-fossilized-egg-found-cretaceous-bird + https://www.sciencenews.org/article/first-fossilized-egg-found-cretaceous-bird + Scientists have found the first known fossil of a bird that died with an unlaid egg inside its body. The egg has been crushed by pressure over time. + Wed, 20 Mar 2019 10:00:04 +0000 + + + Science News: Surprising astronomers, Bennu spits plumes of dust into space https://www.sciencenews.org/article/asteroid-bennu-surprises-spits-plumes-dust-space @@ -1533,48 +1570,6 @@ Yet there may be more to FAS than meets the eye (or ear). According to a new pap - - Elsevier Connect: Q&A: Amref leader on why universal health coverage is crucial for Africa - https://www.elsevier.com/connect/q-and-a-amref-leader-on-why-universal-health-coverage-is-crucial-for-africa - https://www.elsevier.com/connect/q-and-a-amref-leader-on-why-universal-health-coverage-is-crucial-for-africa - Dr. Githinji Gitahi, Group CEO of Amref Health Africa, talks about Africa’s unique path to UHC and what to expect at #AHAIC2019 - Mon, 04 Mar 2019 10:46:02 +0000 - Elsevier Connect - - - Elsevier Connect: How machine learning can speed up “annoyingly hard” medical research - https://www.elsevier.com/connect/how-machine-learning-can-speed-up-annoyingly-hard-medical-research - https://www.elsevier.com/connect/how-machine-learning-can-speed-up-annoyingly-hard-medical-research - Researcher Alexander Mathiasen hopes to solve medical problems with machine learning while working across disciplines - Mon, 04 Mar 2019 10:20:54 +0000 - Elsevier Connect - - - The British Psychological Society - Research Digest: Your Romantic Partner Is Probably Less Intelligent Than You Think, Suggests New Study - http://digest.bps.org.uk/?p=36608 - https://digest.bps.org.uk/2019/03/04/your-romantic-partner-is-probably-less-intelligent-than-you-think-suggests-new-study/ - <p><img alt="GettyImages-1092632424.jpg" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-36611" data-attachment-id="36611" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Getty Images\/iStockphoto&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;NIKON D800&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Close up portrait of two she her he him his best friends siblings boy lady with open mouth arms up on head yelling from shock wearing casual shirts denim plaid outfit isolated on rose background&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Close up portrait of two she her he him his best friends sibling&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}" data-image-title="Close up portrait of two she her he him his best friends sibling" data-large-file="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/gettyimages-1092632424.jpg?w=845?w=845" data-medium-file="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/gettyimages-1092632424.jpg?w=845?w=300" data-orig-file="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/gettyimages-1092632424.jpg?w=845" data-orig-size="2119,1414" data-permalink="https://digest.bps.org.uk/2019/03/04/your-romantic-partner-is-probably-less-intelligent-than-you-think-suggests-new-study/close-up-portrait-of-two-she-her-he-him-his-best-friends-sibling/" src="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/gettyimages-1092632424.jpg?w=845" /><em>By guest blogger</em> <a href="http://www.davidrobson.me/">David Robson</a></p> -<p>It’s now well known that many of us over-estimate our own brainpower. In one study, more than 90 per cent of US college professors famously claimed to be better than average at teaching, for instance – which would be highly unlikely. Our egos blind us to our own flaws.</p> -<p>But do we have an even more inflated view of our nearest and dearest? It seems we do – that’s the conclusion of a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289618302150">new paper published in <i>Intelligence</i> journal</a>, which has shown that we consistently view our romantic partners as being much smarter than they really are.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> -<p><span id="more-36608"></span></p> -<p>The researchers, Gilles Gignac at the University of Western Australia and Marcin Zajenkowski at the University of Warsaw, also tested whether the couples’ actual IQs influenced their relationship satisfaction – with surprising results.</p> -<p>There had been some previous signs that we are especially optimistic about our loved ones’ attributes. When it comes to physical attractiveness, for instance, we tend to think that we have managed to attract someone who is even hotter than us – an effect sometimes called the “love is blind bias”. But past studies had failed to find a similar optimism for estimates of partners’ intelligence. Overall, people seemed to judge their partners’ intelligence as equal to their own – rather than thinking that they were especially clever.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> -<p>For the new study, the researchers recruited 218 heterosexual couples, who had been together for an average of six years, and around a quarter were married. Rather that guessing IQ scores – which might be confusing for participants who have little knowledge of IQ tests and their scoring – the participants had to estimate their own intelligence and their partner’s intelligence using a more intuitive, graphical scale (see below). The researchers then converted those estimates to IQ points according to the known statistical distribution of intelligence – the famous bell curve. To find the participants’ actual, objective IQ scores, the researchers also asked them to take a standard test of non-verbal intelligence known as the Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> -<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_36609" style="width: 3063px;"><img alt="1-s2.0-S0160289618302150-gr1_lrg.jpg" class=" size-full wp-image-36609 aligncenter" data-attachment-id="36609" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="1-s2.0-S0160289618302150-gr1_lrg" data-large-file="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/1-s2.0-s0160289618302150-gr1_lrg.jpg?w=845?w=845" data-medium-file="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/1-s2.0-s0160289618302150-gr1_lrg.jpg?w=845?w=300" data-orig-file="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/1-s2.0-s0160289618302150-gr1_lrg.jpg?w=845" data-orig-size="3063,250" data-permalink="https://digest.bps.org.uk/2019/03/04/your-romantic-partner-is-probably-less-intelligent-than-you-think-suggests-new-study/1-s2-0-s0160289618302150-gr1_lrg/" src="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/1-s2.0-s0160289618302150-gr1_lrg.jpg?w=845" />via <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289618302150">Gignac &amp; Zajenkowski, 2019</a></figure> -<p>As the previous research on individual overconfidence had found, most participants over-estimated their own intelligence by a huge margin – the equivalent of around 30 IQ points on average. Overall, only 0.9 per cent of women and 1.8 per cent of men assessed their own intelligence as being below average (even though 68.8 per cent of the women and 55.0 per cent of the men in this study scored below 100 – the mean IQ of the population as a whole).<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> -<p>The participants’ estimates of their partners’ intelligence were even more skewed. The men thought their wives and girlfriends’ IQs were around 36 points higher than they really were; the women thought their husbands and boyfriends’ IQs were 38 points higher than the reality. In other words, if you are like the majority of people in this sample, your partner is probably much less clever than you believe.</p> -<figure class="wp-caption alignleft" data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_36610" style="width: 204px;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Intelligence-Trap-People-Mistakes-Decisions/dp/1473669839/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=&amp;sr="><img alt="The Intelligence Trap Cover" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-36610" data-attachment-id="36610" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="The Intelligence Trap Cover" data-large-file="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/the-intelligence-trap-cover.jpg?w=421" data-medium-file="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/the-intelligence-trap-cover.jpg?w=194" data-orig-file="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/the-intelligence-trap-cover.jpg" data-orig-size="421,650" data-permalink="https://digest.bps.org.uk/2019/03/04/your-romantic-partner-is-probably-less-intelligent-than-you-think-suggests-new-study/the-intelligence-trap-cover/" height="300" src="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/the-intelligence-trap-cover.jpg?w=194&amp;h=300" width="194" /></a> <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Intelligence-Trap-People-Mistakes-Decisions/dp/1473669839/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=&amp;sr=">Available for pre-order now</a></figure> -<p>Besides this eye-catching result, Gignac and Zajenkowski’s paper is rich with other findings. They were interested, for instance, in whether people tend to hook up with someone of similar cognitive ability – and whether that “intellectual compatibility” is important for their happiness together. As previous research has found, there was a moderate correlation between the partners’ actual IQ scores – so in general people do seem to pick partners who roughly match their intelligence.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> -<p>Maybe we have a slight preference for people with similar smarts to ourselves, or maybe it’s due to the fact that we have more opportunity to get romantically involved with people of roughly similar intelligence – in education or at work. Whatever the reasons, the degree of similarity of couples’ IQs didn’t seem to influence their relationship satisfaction – overall, couples with lower “intellectual compatibility” appeared to be just as happy as the couples who were more closely matched.</p> -<p>Gignac and Zajenkowski also examined whether the men or the women in their sample were better at estimating their partners’ intelligence. According to some evolutionary psychologists, because the responsibility of pregnancy, childbirth, and usually childrearing, falls more directly on women, they should be pickier than men about the kind of person they choose to reproduce with. If true, it would make sense for women to have evolved to be more perceptive than men of differences in other people’s intelligence. Yet the researchers found no evidence of this.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> -<p>As the researchers admit, there are some limitations to their study. They only used a non-verbal IQ test, for instance, and it’s possible you would see different results if you also looked at verbal questions. After all, the size of someone’s vocabulary and their linguistic fluency may be easier for a partner to judge accurately.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> -<p>But overall, the findings help extend our understanding of our self-serving biases, showing our egotism and self-confidence can sometimes spill-over to our loved ones. Maybe we like to think we’re with a partner who reflects an even better version of ourselves.</p> -<p>—<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289618302150%23s0030">People tend to overestimate their romantic partner’s intelligence even more than their own</a></p> -<p><strong>Post written by <a href="http://www.davidrobson.me/">David Robson</a></strong><b> (<a href="https://twitter.com/d_a_robson">@d_a_robson</a>) for the BPS Research Digest</b>. David is the author of <em>The Intelligence Trap</em>, published in the UK and commonwealth by Hodder &amp; Stoughton on 7 March. It is available for <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Intelligence-Trap-People-Mistakes-Decisions/dp/1473669839/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=&amp;sr=">pre-order now</a>.</p> -<p> </p> - Mon, 04 Mar 2019 09:44:37 +0000 - Research Digest -