Why we are in so much trouble
Experts.
They impress us and we listen to them because ... well... because they are experts. It's called "The Dr Fox Effect," named for an experiment where a man introduced as "an expert" and carrying the title of Dr Fox gave an entertaining, humorous discourse on an obscure math question. The only problem was that the entire talk was absolute nonsense. Needless to say the listeners ate it up and raved about how good the talk was. (btw, did I tell you that I am a Dr? In Medieval History? An expert).
I read that in a column by Nicholas Kristoff in today's NYT that derides "experts" in general and media pundits in particular. Here is my favorite part:
Other studies have confirmed the general sense that expertise is overrated. In one experiment, clinical psychologists did no better than their secretaries in their diagnoses. In another, a white rat in a maze repeatedly beat groups of Yale undergraduates in understanding the optimal way to get food dropped in the maze. The students overanalyzed and saw patterns that didn’t exist, so they were beaten by the rodent.
Well, they were from Yale.
I'd make more of this, but then I would have to analyze it to establish some patterns. Did I tell you I was an expert? With a PhD?
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Labels: death doom and destruction, experts
posted by Clemens @ 9:15 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Did you ever see the study about legislators and how the dealt with problems in a budget? On very complex items that were beyond their expertise, but very expensive, there was little argument and talk, but on something that they all “understood “ like pencils or rubber bands they would argue way into the night .
I believe that technically, you are not an expert so much as an AUTHORity.
That means I'm an Ity author?
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