Category: Intuition

Can an Algorithm Hire Better Than a Human?

June 25, 2015

“Hiring and recruiting might seem like some of the least likely jobs to be automated. The whole process seems to need human skills that computers lack, like making conversation and reading social cues.

“But people have biases and predilections. They make hiring decisions, often unconsciously, based on similarities that have nothing to do with the job requirements — like whether an applicant has a friend in common, went to the same school or likes the same sports.”

Learning to See Data

March 27, 2015

“Scientists working in a little-known branch of psychology called perceptual learning have shown that it is possible to fast-forward a person’s gut instincts both in physical fields, like flying an airplane, and more academic ones, like deciphering advanced chemical notation. The idea is to train specific visual skills, usually with computer-game-like modules that require split-second decisions. Over time, a person develops a ‘good eye’ for the material, and with it an ability to extract meaningful patterns instantaneously.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/29/sunday-review/learning-to-see-data.html

RULES OF ATTRACTION: WHY WHITE MEN MARRY ASIAN WOMEN AND ASIAN MEN DON’T MARRY WHITE WOMEN

March 5, 2015

A really interesting piece on the notion and consequence of race in America. The focus is on the perceived attractiveness of various races and genders. This article traces some of the historical origins and evolution of how we came to hold the beliefs that we do as a society. Attraction is largely an intuitive response cultivated by many different factors that work on our psyche over our lifetimes. Influences include our family background, friends, neighborhoods and schools as well as media influence and societal beliefs.

“If you think of Asian men or black women as less attractive than other races, it is because of you, not because of them, Sharma says. Since the day you were born, different influences on your mind – the bedtime stories your Mom read, the cartoons you saw as kid, the school you went to and the wallpaper on your computer – have come together to create a cohesive image of the world.”

http://cholakovv.com/en/blog/2450#.VPaP66EQPkk.facebook

When Whites Get a Free Pass: Research Shows White Privilege is Real

February 24, 2015

“This elegant experiment follows in a tradition of audit testing, in which social scientists have sent testers of different races to, for example, bargain over the price of new cars or old baseball cards. But the Australian study is the first, to my knowledge, to focus on discretionary accommodations. It’s less likely these days to find people in positions of authority, even at lower levels of decision making, consciously denying minorities rights. But it is easier to imagine decision makers, like the bus drivers, granting extra privileges and accommodations to nonminorities. Discriminatory gifts are more likely than discriminatory denials.”

The Monty Hall Problem: Probability, intuition, and Math.

February 22, 2015

LET'S MAKE A DEALThe old game show, Let’s Make a Deal, featured a segment in which contestants could choose the prize behind one of three doors. “Behind one door is a car; behind the others, goats. You pick a door, say No. 1, and the host, who knows what’s behind the other doors, opens another door, say No. 3, which has a goat. He then says to you, ‘Do you want to pick door No. 2?’ Is it to your advantage to take the switch?”

This case provided an interesting case of conflict between our intuitive beliefs and math. This problem was so simple yet confusing, even math professors and other experts got it wrong. Below is an article about the whole story and below that is a link to play an online version of the game in which you can choose a door and then decide whether to switch. The site tallies your overall effectiveness at winning the prize.

http://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/21/us/behind-monty-hall-s-doors-puzzle-debate-and-answer.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/08/science/08monty.html

This American Life Podcast: Cops See it Differently

February 21, 2015

A really amazing two part podcast about policing in the United States. Through the different parts of this podcast, we hear from police departments and officers around the country and how they’re dealing with the challenges they face. What’s fascinating about this is the role of perspective and how different experiences affect how people see different situations. Part 2 Act 2 discusses the implicit association test and what a police department is doing about how to deal with implicit bias while policing. Part 2 Prologue is an interesting and short bit about a reporter watching the Eric Garner video with a friend who is a police officer and how the two of them see completely different things and interpret the video in very different ways.

Below are links for the full episodes.

Part I

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/547/cops-see-it-differently-part-one

Part II

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/548/cops-see-it-differently-part-two

The U.S. government is poised to withdraw longstanding warnings about cholesterol

February 11, 2015

Here’s an interesting case of scientific research backtracking on a long held view about nutrition. Some things to think about are why science can do so much research to confirm a belief that turns out to be wrong. This article discusses various ways in which scientists come to conclusions including animal testing. What’s also interesting to consider is the role of intuition in belief. Because the plaque that builds up on your arteries is partially composed of cholesterol, it’s intuitively believable that cholesterol in your diet would be bad for you. Even though these warnings about cholesterol will be rescinded, people’s long held beliefs will not  change so quickly.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/02/10/feds-poised-to-withdraw-longstanding-warnings-about-dietary-cholesterol/

The “Curse of Knowledge,” or Why Intuition About Teaching Often Fails

January 30, 2015

“This ‘curse of knowledge’ means is that it is dangerous, and often profoundly incorrect to think about student learning based on what appears best to faculty members, as opposed to what has been verified with students. However, the former approach tends to dominate discussions on how to improve physics education. There are great debates in faculty meetings as to what order to present material, or different approaches for introducing quantum mechanics or other topics, all based on how the faculty now think about the subject. Evaluations of teaching are often based upon how a senior faculty member perceives the organization, complexity, and pace of a junior faculty member’s lecture. In the pages of APS News, this same expert-centered approach to assessing educational experiences has played out recently in the debate over the use of interactive simulations vs. hands-on labs.”

http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200711/backpage.cfm