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julian
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I'm keen on the idea of groupthink. I have read that psychologists find (as do I) that when people think as a group they go stupid...
...here is an recent example I have encountered.
Say you buy a box of 7 doughnuts every Friday morning with the intention of eating one doughnut every noon, starting with noon Friday.
But say one week you get greedy and eat an extra doughnut some days so as to have none left to eat on the Wednesday. Then the question is how many noon times did I eat two doughnuts instead of one?
To answer the question I just write out a representative log, e.g.,
Friday noon....I eat 1 doughnut
Saturday noon... I eat 2 doughnuts (+1)
Sunday noon... I eat 1 doughnut
Monday noon...I eat 2 doughnuts (+1)
Tuesday noon...I eat 1 doughnut
(Total doughnuts eaten = 7)
Wednesday none left! eeek.
So as far as I know the answer to the question is I ate an extra doughnut on TWO occasions.
Now comes the stupid part. This group says the answer is really THREE...erh? Their argument is this: noon Wednesday is three days earlier than noon Friday (which is when I was supposed to start the next box of 7 doughnuts) therefore I must have eaten an extra doughnut on THREE occasions and not TWO.
I ask how is noon Wednesday three days earlier than noon Friday and they said it is because they can count a Wednesday, a Thursday and a Friday. I try telling them that would be like saying 5:30pm is three hours earlier than 7:30pm because you can count a 5, a 6, and a 7...but they don't understand that that would be stupid and still think THEIR argument works.
And all this despite the FACT that my answer (i.e the simple log above) is demonstrably correct - i.e. they add up to 7 doughnuts!
p.s. in an earlier thread I mentioned that these same people called themselves "Einstein"...which indicates delusions of grandeur...another symptom of groupthink.
...here is an recent example I have encountered.
Say you buy a box of 7 doughnuts every Friday morning with the intention of eating one doughnut every noon, starting with noon Friday.
But say one week you get greedy and eat an extra doughnut some days so as to have none left to eat on the Wednesday. Then the question is how many noon times did I eat two doughnuts instead of one?
To answer the question I just write out a representative log, e.g.,
Friday noon....I eat 1 doughnut
Saturday noon... I eat 2 doughnuts (+1)
Sunday noon... I eat 1 doughnut
Monday noon...I eat 2 doughnuts (+1)
Tuesday noon...I eat 1 doughnut
(Total doughnuts eaten = 7)
Wednesday none left! eeek.
So as far as I know the answer to the question is I ate an extra doughnut on TWO occasions.
Now comes the stupid part. This group says the answer is really THREE...erh? Their argument is this: noon Wednesday is three days earlier than noon Friday (which is when I was supposed to start the next box of 7 doughnuts) therefore I must have eaten an extra doughnut on THREE occasions and not TWO.
I ask how is noon Wednesday three days earlier than noon Friday and they said it is because they can count a Wednesday, a Thursday and a Friday. I try telling them that would be like saying 5:30pm is three hours earlier than 7:30pm because you can count a 5, a 6, and a 7...but they don't understand that that would be stupid and still think THEIR argument works.
And all this despite the FACT that my answer (i.e the simple log above) is demonstrably correct - i.e. they add up to 7 doughnuts!
p.s. in an earlier thread I mentioned that these same people called themselves "Einstein"...which indicates delusions of grandeur...another symptom of groupthink.
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