THINKER'S ALMANAC - November 8

What image did researchers add to a scientific study to make it appear more credible to readers?

Subject:  Influence, Perception, and Bias - Brain Bias

Event:  Birthday of David McCabe, 1969

Everything we do, every thought we've ever had, is produced by the human brain. But exactly how it operates remains one of the biggest unsolved mysteries, and it seems the more we probe its secrets, the more surprises we find. -Neil deGrasse Tyson

                                                            Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay 

Imagine a study in which the subjects were broken into two groups:  The members of both groups read the same scientific study of approximately 500 words.  After reading the article, the subjects were then asked whether or not they agreed with the article’s conclusion and to quantify their agreement or disagreement on a scale of 1 to 10. 

The results of the study revealed that the first group, Group A, scored the article with significantly higher numbers on the agree/disagree scale than did the second group, Group B.  Although the texts read by both groups were exactly the same, there was a single difference between Group A’s article and Group B’s article.  What difference do you think would explain the differences in the two groups’ scores?

The study described here was conducted in 2008 by David McCabe, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Colorado State University, who was born on this day in 1969.  What was the key difference between the two articles?  The study read by Group A featured a picture of the human brain, an MRI brain scan; The study read by Group B had no picture.

 

As the study showed, humans appear to have a “brain bias.”  The mere presence of a brain image can influence a member of the general public to conclude that the scientific finding is credible.  In an age where more and more scientific information and findings are being reported in the popular press, this study is a reminder of the subtle ways that we can be influenced.  It is also a reminder to question what you read and to remain skeptical (1).

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What is the brain bias, and how did researchers document its influence on the perception of a scientific paper’s credibility?

Challenge - Brain Anatomy:  The human brain can be divided into many different parts.  Do some research on one part of the human brain that you would like to know more about.  Write an explanation about what we know about how the one part you research contributes to the whole human.

ALSO ON THIS DAY:

November 8, 1983:  On this date in 1983 retired navy commander Meredith G. Williams (1924-2012) won a “create a new word” contest run by the Washington Post.  Williams’ winning neologism was “backronym,” which he defined as the “same as an acronym, except that the words were chosen to fit the letters.”  An example of a backronym is the Apgar score, a rating scale used to evaluate the health of newborn babies.  The test was named for its creator, Virginia Apgar.  Then, years later it became the backronym APGAR, a mnemonic device to help its users remember the test’s key variables:  appearance, pulse, grimace, activity, and respiration (2).  So instead of beginning with the letters of already-existing words and phrases and making them into a word, as in the acronym RADAR (“Radio Detection and Ranging”), the creator of a backronym begins with word and then creates a phrase to match the word’s letters.  For example, the backronym AMBER from the AMBER alert system was named for Amber Hagerman, who was abducted in Texas in 1996.  The official translation for AMBER was invented to fit the name:  “America’s Missing:  Broadcast Emergency Response.”

Sources:

1-Britt, Michael A. Psych Experiments.  Avon, Massachusetts: Adams Media, 2017: 183.

2-Dickson, Paul.  Authorisms:  Words Wrought by Writers.  New York:  Bloomsbury, 2014:  26.