Beyond Priming: Using Conformity To Shape Society

[peristaltor]

Just a bit ago, badlydrawnjeff brought up priming, the concept that preparing people can affect perceptions, especially of ambiguous or even non-sense material. Fair enough, that.

I think we should, however, pursue this concept just a bit farther. Consider the following graphic:

Comments

[meus_ovatio]

fMRIs are probably the most abused piece of equipment in science these days.

They put a dead fish in one. It had brain activity correlated with listening to Bach.

[eracerhead]

You're wrong. It was Beatlemania, not Bach.

[peristaltor]

Sure, and anti-Darwinists have carbon dated the shells of living snails as being 50,000 years old. Goof with the equipment enough and you can pretty much pull any result out of the hat.

Dad used to be a cop. He was dragged to court by a guy contesting his speeding ticket. The guy presented evidence that radar guns could register trees going 60.

Dad said, "You weren't driving a tree. I clocked your car doing 70."

The judge laughed. The guy lost.

[meus_ovatio]

No seriously, correlational fMRIs don't mean what people think they mean.

[johnny9fingers]

Recommended post.

[htpcl]

Thirded.

[whoasksfinds]

interesting post.

[hikarugenji]

Scary! Good thing there aren't any recent Supreme Court decisions that let rich people funnel unlimited amounts of money into political campaign ads!

[peristaltor]

Who says I'm fighting? Just sharing. Awareness is good and all that.

Guys, when you go into the doctors for a prostate exam, don't be surprised by the finger-y thing shoved up your ass . . . even if both his hands are on your shoulders.