Dan Ariely: Beware conflicts of interest

[Hythloday71]

Great anecdote, great quote/ paraphrase 'there is always somebody trying to tattoo our faces'. Many peoples political opinions are shaded by the vested interest of ego. That is they want the poor and criminally minded to wholly take responsibility as they see their good fortune as 'all' their own doing. Get it? If they admit they were lucky, they scratch their self esteem and might have to concede the argument that people are rarely wholly responsible for their fate and thus need show empathy.

[qigong1001]

@GrudgyDiablo Thats interesting. Now we know what kind of people are complaining about the volume.

[GraeHall]

And that's what I love about the practice of science, its introspection, how it tries to identify mistakes, and be less wrong. Not right, but less wrong.

It's a truly special endeavour of humanity, that's unlike any other, and its power is staggering.

[qigong1001]

The 'thumbs up' on the "volume of the intros" ... only reflects herd-like behavior. "Groupthink." The intro is a musical buildup effect that people confuse with "getting louder." TED has no control over the volume on youtube or your computer. Learn to focus on the talk rather than the intro.

[phreakyprofessor]

@qigong1001

Simply normalizing the volume within the mixed-down vid would stop all complaints. Basic production skills are missing here.

Also: learn to focus on the talk? So we should ignore problems and just not mention them ever again? Sounds like a key to a glorious future...

[qigong1001]

@phreakyprofessor There is no problem with the intro; so it needs no correction. People should stop trying to rewrite others work. Its a musical buildup effect typical of video intros. Its suppose to sound that way. TED has had the same intro for quite some time. And now all of a sudden people are complaining? This is typical bandwagon effect. Thinking like the "herd." They see the "thumbs up" counter go up and they can't help themselves...they have to click on it. Baa Baa!

[freefreeist]

@qigong1001 Amen brother!

[ranasingh]

being biased about things for your own desires.

[FungusyHam]

I love how the guy's shoes are different colors, making them asymmetrical :D

[qigong1001]

@FungusyHam Yeah, went well with the topic of conversation. Asymmetry in appearance (shoes, face) and between groups of individuals. He is well thought out.

[richardcadbury]

This aint original zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz­zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[NicosMind]

Ive seen this guy a couple of times and i quite like him. I bought his book Predictably Irrational hoping to gain some economic insight. I didnt. What i did "learn" but already knew was people act irrationally. His book should have been titled samples of irratioanl decisions, but even if it was that would have only made it slightly better cause he used small test groups and he drew conclusions from college students. He needed bigger groups and a lot more variety.

Anyways good talk

[pwnmonkeyisreal]

those are some stylish shoes!

[DerEchteSenf]

I STILL WANT HIS COOK BOOK!!!!

@topic: I think science can only be driven by personal interests and tendencies. Because they differ from scientist to scientist, there will always be someone there to point out the methodological errors we make becasue of this.

[DarkAura971]

Umm in case you guys didn't notice, my comment was sort of stupid as a top comment and i removed it cuz it's a waste of space up there. you guys honestly put up thumbs so freely it's almost stupid. yah didn't feel like wasting space up there in the top comments cuz there are smarter words than can be used for this vid. those comments deserve to be on top. not this one. this one is ranting on you and nothing about his freakin shoes....

[Mr83nn0]

this is why i stoped studying psychology, About half of the courses where about the scientific method and later even the other half was just about using it. It wasnt about people it was about research.

[tukkek]

If he used a median instead of the mean the drunk wouldn't have affected the end results. It's always better to use it exactly because it's less prone to noisy data.

Not a problem of conflict interest, but of statistical method.

[Mornys]

Double-blind study.

[briansmobile1]

To recognize hypocrisy in others is common. To see it in ourselves is to begin to know ourselves. THEN we can do something with ourselves.

[MrOnkL]

It is indeed very important to know when you are led into thinking a certain, undesirable way.

[qttytn]

You can hope all you like, just don't let it interfere with you data and practices, be reflexive. Simple, or be discredited.

[vidarfreyr]

I love TED for these little bytes of info that would never make the news or anywhere else.

[piprod01]

His second story is exactly what Richard Feynman called "Cargo Cult Science". I'd recommend anyone interested to watch Conc0rdance's reading at /watch?v=yvfAtIJbatg. Feynman uses the example of the charge of the electron; originally the calculation for the electron a little off. But what's more interesting is that the subsequent papers gradually got closer to the actual value. The experiments saw that the value was vastly different from the one before and only then looked for mistakes.

[RoGeorgeRoGeorge]

@piprod01 Thank you for the link, nice lecture.

[RoGeorgeRoGeorge]

The mind tend to see what it SUPPOSED to be seen, not the reality.

This is a very deep truth. When I discovered it I thought I was the first. Then I found out this is not new and it's a very old peace of wisdom.

Ex: "The assumption is the mother of all fuck ups!"

:o)

[HolySativa]

whats with the bowling shoes

[prabhatpalpal]

Hence, "Physics is the only Science, rest is just stamp-collection."

#esp. psychology

[smoothbanana]

One must take into account the whole body of evidence when considering new research. Furthermore, new research is not necessarily "new". The experiment may have been carried out several years ago only to be published now! Everyone and their uncle are cognizant of conflicts of interest, yet alarmist opinions abound. It seems that if it goes against conventional wisdom, then it must be right (see the rise of alternative medicine), Don't be so quick to jump on the bandwagon, folks :)

[yeild101]

How is this weak sauce? I found it great, its universally applicable: smart people act counter to their own goals in big ways all the time, not seeing the forest from the trees. Its arrogant to assume your immune & you need to follow rules that factor out bias in your own decision making. Well put.

[startreking2007]

All these science spheres are made of asbestos by the way, keeps out the rats. Let us know if you feel a shortness of breath, a persistent dry cough or your heart stopping, because that's not part of the test. That's asbestos. Good news is the lab boys say the symptoms of asbestos poisoning show a median latency of 44.6 years, so if you're 30 or older you're laughing. Worst case scenario you miss out on a few rounds of canasta. Plus you forwarded the cause of science by three centuries.

[invinciblemode]

0:15 to skip the loud-ass intro.

[yeild101]

@invinciblemode by the time i read your comment it was too late, although thanks for your effort.

[perceptualvets]

so is his suggestion more urine tests to determine sober candiates, or not offer money to candiates in the samplings, or both? the true defining of a "means test" begins on TED 2011. :)

[GrahamTVdotNet]

So True !

[askirojadu]

hehe, his shoes are symmetric. Pink on the outside, blue on the inside.

[ZapperGhandi]

did TED take a summer break? or am I'm missing a lot of good talks here?

[pinochska]

weak sauce talk IMHO

[b29349]

Psychology makes Science Biased. Apply this to thousands of years of Biblical 100% accurancy predictions. Evolutionist + Christian = exponential increase in learning.

[kebakent]

If they lowered the volume of the intro, people would just find some other irrelevant thing to complain about. You know I'm right.

[XxhilfmirxX]

were missing 25+ talks... UNLISTED videos D: :ohmygod:

(yes i know the intro is premade and is on now because they are close to 1000+ talks and its more time efficient. especially since this video will be around and people might come back when there is 1000+ talks...im just playing around)

[WyldOrbit]

@darkaura971 thought I was the only one xD

[travez1782]

Two weeks between videos? Come on TED don't leave me hanging, i love the videos, keep em coming.

[brettygood]

I know I've been watching too much True Blood when my first thought of this guy is "he's a vampire".

[dylanlawless1]

I know, obviously, the thing about masking a defect is used a metaphor, but i always find it unlikely that my impression of a person can be affected by a scar. Maybe its just me or maybe as a species we do not hold past injuries of any importance, be it in attraction or just personal image. It's a blemish which i subconsciously omit from a superficial appearance. Is it just me?

[waysworth]

@dylanlawless1 ... interesting re: impressions of scaring.

I actually find some scaring quite attractive, and others off-putting. The latter requires conscious effort to overcome and produces some guilt that it affected me at all. Oddly enough, exactly the same thing happens when there is no scaring, and I'm just looking at a face. So the scar simply becomes another feature which works either for or against the over-all appearance.

[TheHickstead]

asymmetrical shoes

[LordWargus]

Okay, awesome video

I want to to get this to top Comments so please like it...

TED, YOU SHOULD LOWER THE VOLUME OF YOUR INTROS.

Lets try and make a change here

[VitriolicAC]

@LordWargus An idea worth sharing indeed.

[SuperiorApostate]

@LordWargus as far as I know, the intro is more silent than it use to be, but I did thumb up your comment because if you think it's still too loud I wouldn't mind it being even more silent.

[SiddharthMandhata]

@LordWargus

I agree both things - comments about the video and the volume of intros.

Hello TED... are you listening what your users say...!

[oicub2]

I hav a list for you 4:48

War , Money , Wall street ,Carbon tax ,Clean energy ,Government , Cell phone contracts , Divorce lawyers , Pharmaceuticals ,Education ,Healthcare , Old age , Red lights , High gas prices , Prohibition laws , a 5 day work week with a pay check thats gone before I get it , a retirement i'll never pay for and an estate tax that collects all my shit when i'm dead so when i give it to my kids they'll have to Pay for it ?? !! Ya , I'm Pissed , I got me a Conflict of interest

[aarongrooves]

What's up with all of these short, seemingly unprepared ted talks???

[Forthedisplaced]

@aarongrooves maybe its a lunch sharing session? I kid I kid. True that its unsubstantial.

[Mrmoc7]

Ted still hasn't gotten around to making the opening and ending volume symmetrical with the volume of the talk. *shakes head.*

[herrbasan]

what exacly was "worth spreading" just now ?

[Radjehuty]

@herrbasan uh...to not do bad science by biasing your work? Leave your career ambitions at the door before entering your lab? I think this is very much worth spreading because anyone who works in a university lab can see people redoing experiments or tweaking them just so they get the results they WANT

[YtterbiJum]

If one outlier was enough to skew his experimental results by that much, his sample size was way too small.

[tedoymisojos]

Why was this so short?

[audiowiz]

Dan Ariely's first book is great

[watisthis99]

@audiowiz Indeed it is, just got done reading it

[The3nlightened0ne]

he's no psychologist, he's an economist

[2323jimmy23]

This would be great if it was at least 20 years old. lol the guy is a psychologist of all things.

[headphonz777]

This was pretty great hahaha short sweet and simple

[gaiagale]

I had solve the extreme volume challenge of TEDtalks by turning down the volume before clicking on a TEDtalk but it has been awhile so I forgot ...I clicked ...nearly jumping out of my skin as the volume of the intro blasted into the room and my ears...YIKES ...during the lightning quick reflex action ;-]) I remembered to turn down the volume in time to miss Dan's first words ...as my heartrate returned to normal I gently moused the video back to the beginning of Dan ...all is calm ...whew

[solojam]

dont watch this if your a salesman, u will go broke lol

[tyty1794]

My favorite author. Well, one of my favorite. I miss when he used to be on APM Marketplace.

[TheScienceFoundation]

Well I heard 12 seconds of it, and now I don't think I'll ever hear anything again.

[LordWargus]

@TheScienceFoundation Try saying "Lower the volume of the intro" instead and maybe you could make a change ;)

[LuckyMarketGameplay]

@LordWargus people do every single video for months... -.-

[apocaRUFF]

@TheScienceFoundation First time watching a TED video?

[TheScienceFoundation]

@apocaRUFF No, I just forget

[NsaneNtheNbrane]

When I saw the title, I thought it was going to be about how conflicts of interest affect motivation...like how people are bogged down with conflicting motivations and as a result get nothing done in their lives.  I would like to see a talk on that.

[glitchnoise]

he should be the joker in the next batman movie.

[NsaneNtheNbrane]

If one person could have that much of an effect on the overall result, then the sample was too small.

[axelasdf]

I normally think of the conflict between Financial crisis and Global Warming. If you're sure about one and don't care about the other, what sensationalist things might be said? Why would they stop saying them? Which one is actually sticking around?

[batfly]

Apply this phenomenon to GLOBAL WARMING!

[BaileysBeads]

@batfly There's enormous financial interest in disproving GW yeah.

[batfly]

@BaileysBeads

There's even more enormous financial interest in Carbon taxes and Scientific grants for GW proponents ... yeah.

[BaileysBeads]

@batfly Haha if you want money then you shouldn't become a scientist. Really it's the lobbyists and the vocal climate 'sceptics' that are being paid by the millions to cause dissent.

[batfly]

@BaileysBeads

Government running and ruining our lives by legislating away our liberty. You are ignorant if you don't realize the ones against global warming are the same ones for it... BP for example. Research it and you will discover the whole mess is labyrinth of obfuscation of smoke and mirrors.

[BaileysBeads]

@batfly Woa that's an entire new conspiracy. Big oil is behind global warming alarmism now? I don't even...

[batfly]

@BaileysBeads

I know... I know... You aren't suppose to even...

[unluckylion]

well, in science it's easy: Don't "hope" for a result, try to show all data, even if the results are not as expected. If your results are saying your idea was wrong, thats also a good result. Tweaking your results, is baad science and will be discovered at some point...

[fatkasuvayu]

@unluckylion U got it spot on man!!

[MrLesWhite]

@unluckylion problem is even if science was the perfect means of analysis...which it is not.... you have very "imperfect" human beings involved in the process...so all results are tainted.... you would need a perfect or super-human being to do what you are asking... i hope this makes sense...

[guyboy625]

@unluckylion It's not so easy when you have an emotional attraction to a theory.

[Provoker7]

@unluckylion

It's not always that clear-cut in science. Many experiments won't get repeated due to a lack of funds, and lots of "low-profile" experiment results get pushed aside and forgotten because peer-review journals have a bias towards publishing mostly significant, positive or sensational results.

/watch?v=hBNeuG10-ac

[dsgreat3]

@unluckylion exactly the whole point of writing papers and peer review is that your results can be repeated by any scientist anywhere around the world and get the same results (unless geography affects the results) this is the reason science works so well

[gulllars]

@unluckylion true.

In his case though, the drunk guy could probably be included as an anomaly, and his "good group" could be represented with and without the anomaly. Though you would have to explain isolating the anomaly.

Also, if you looked at the groups through score distribution rather that a mean score for the entire group, the anomaly would be clearly visible as just that.

[Scotvenom]

@unluckylion Sounds so simple, but I think in practice it's more difficult. You may not be aware that you are 'tweaking', if you believe that you are merely eliminating an invalid sample from the data set (which may be valid under some circumstances).

[Eleandorwins]

@unluckylion Not hoping for a result is *not* easy. It's the right way, not the easiest.

[gadzometer]

@unluckylion I agree mate but sometimes there is a lot riding on that result. What if your career, your job, the way you provide for your family hinges on that result? Not saying it is right but he makes a good point. No matter how nobel or pure a concept is(like the scientific method) humans always have their own biases and interests.

[BenRHarsh]

@unluckylion Or in his case: Retest until you get the results you were looking for.

[niinja2]

@unluckylion

we hope for results in science because results bring stuff like satisfaction and money into science.

if results say my idea was wrong it means i dont get any more funding.

[Dendrago0]

@unluckylion

"I never failed. I merely succeeded in finding a thousand ways that don't work."

--Thomas Edison

[bmx4637]

@unluckylion yea definitely, that's why double blinded studies should be used more often; whent he doctors don't know what outcome is expected.

[Myrmidon717]

@GodEquals3 ha nice

[gaiagale]

@DarkAura971 yes ...I did

[58jtaylor]

@DarkAura971 yes, they were very gay

[Vagus1985]

@DarkAura971 don't tell me it's another experiment ? :P

[TheOats]

@DarkAura971 Its all about not being symmetrical, I guess.

[Magmacano]

@DarkAura971 I did now

[0bring0out0the0gimp0]

@DarkAura971 striving to be unsymmetrical

[strike3022]

@DarkAura971 unsymmetrical right.

[maxgunn555]

@DarkAura971 what about them?

[DarkAura971]

@oxidindigo i honestly didn't expect this to be the top comment

[oxidindigo]

@DarkAura971 i understand, i was more talking about all the people that gave it thumbs up

[DarkAura971]

@oxidindigo i didn't take it that offensively but thanks for letting me know that i was taking up useful space that's now taken up with not so useless Ted volume intros concerns XD

[Zageron]

That was interesting.

[xjustamem0ryx]

tell it to economics and politics....

[GodEquals3]

wanna play snake on youtube? keep pressing up and left arrows... then play ;-)

[GodEquals3]

@GodEquals3 but first you have to click on the video...

[GodEquals3]

@GodEquals3 PS: don´t click up and left at the same time...

[frungahr]

It's been too long TED, I'v missed you.

[JohnPavilonis]

Laser hair removal in now available. Why not laser your other side of the face. You wont have to shave at all.

[jetmanisme]

It's great to see this guy give a talk. I really liked his books. I highly recommend both "The Upside of Irrationality" and "Predictably Irrational."

[glitchnoise]

@jetmanisme thank you. do you know where I could find the PDF version of "Predictably Irrational"?

[jetmanisme]

@glitchnoise Unfortunately I'm one of those old school nerds who has a shelf overstuffed with books. Sorry >_<

[IIGaMeSlaVe540II]

Very good.

[roguesqadronairsoft]

man its like ted died or something

[ApocAlypse6275]

@roguesqadronairsoft well you cant expect every talk is like "LIFE CHANGING"

[roguesqadronairsoft]

@ApocAlypse6275 no because i havent had a ted video in my sub box for a month

[gark217]

yay no top comment

its my chance thumbs up if you never get the top comment

[mazdaplz]

cool!