I kept my kids close & made sure that my husband & I were the biggest influence on their upbringing rather than the school or friends. I wanted adults that we liked (not only loved) & wanted to be around. That meant quantity & not just quality time together.
Christ knew a thing or two about SDB, as well as loving without lies. His closest friends told him they'd willingly be executed with him, and he replied, "nah, you'll all run away".
SDB is so prevalent, in fact, that writing books like "Open Borders" is functionally a useless endeavor.
Yet, you obviously pour your whole being and personaloty into concocting winsome arguments and a winning book.
If I suspected you of being a true Randian, I'd say you wrote the book simply to affirm your ego as the only guy on the planet capable of being reasonable.
But I suspect that's not what you really are. I suspect, deep down, you actually wish and expect humans to be won over by your book, despite the enormity of SDB. (Let's go retro for just a moment... it's not really SDB, it's hypocrisy).
Which probably makes you not a Randian, but a utopian dreamer.
When I was in the Boy Scouts, we were told that we were all to be leaders. That struck me as odd, for if everyone was to be a leader, who would be a follower? In hindsight, I see this as an example of SDB.
I suffered similar disenchantment with religion when I was a teen. I could not help but notice all of the older folks zoning out and sometimes even sleeping during a church service. Our (Presbyterian) church was, I'm sure, not as bad as some because it was situated next to Penn State and had a lot of intellectuals in the congregation. My mother, who was raised (Polish) Roman Catholic and was an intellectual herself (I recall her reading Kant, Nietzsche, and Toynbee when I was growing up) said that adult Sunday school was always fun. But not for me. When I was 16 I begged my father to let me stay home on Sundays because I could not stand the hypocrisy. He insisted on my attending church until I was 18, after which I could make my own choice. The day I turned 18, I stopped attending church.
Bryan, I am not sure if you realize the SDB has a very, very specific meaning in psychological assessment by self-report. Specifically, it is a claim that there is a general tendency for people to answer personality inventories in ways that they think make them look good rather than as they "really are." In my view, this has to be a variable on which people differ considerably because some people are obviously totally willing to affirm their neuroses and delinquent behaviors on personality inventories. In everyday life, I think SDB is also an individual differences variable, with some people on the extremes being absolutely evasive about their shortcomings and problems in the world and others, absolutely bluntly telling like it is, giving unvarnished accounts of themselves and the world as they see it. Like most traits, this one shows a bell-like curve, but probably skewed in the direction of Panglossianism.
Thanks Brian—great piece, and kudos for being willing to be “vulnerable” in full knowledge that some people will react negatively to what you’ve written. (I guess some of them are more affected than you by SDB?). One version of this that I practiced with my children when they came home from middle school complaining about how a particular teacher was stupid, was to tell them that what they could learn from that person and in her class was how to work with less intelligent people, who, by the way, constitute the majority.
Was Caplan born without the gene that enables one to distinguish exhortation from description? :)
As for priests and petitioners not being aware of the disconnect between their actual behavior and that demanded by our Lord, there are at least six places in the Mass in which one acknowledges one’s sins, seven* (much better theological number) counting the “amen” after the priest says “May the Lord have mercy on us, forgive us our sins …”.
*Father Gerard P Transformer, III found five and I found two more.
Before reading this essay I had never heard the term Social Desirability Bias. What's not clear to me is why it's called a bias. I've thought of the phenomenon as simply part of human nature. Because your GCA is well above my own, Bryan, I am not as quick as you, but your essays always help me catch up. I first read Ayn Rand in high school. It didn't take a real hold, though, until I'd finished grad school and worked with bureaucrats for 10 years.
There are some concepts so advanced that they fly right over my head. "Intersectionality" is one of them. Every explanation I read is just blather which I forget 5 seconds later.
And now SDB. I understand this post, it's about social hypocrisy for want of a more articulate phrase, but SDB? I don't have a clue what anyone means by it.
Bryan sincerely believes he’s smarter than his fellowman. Or is he braver? Or just more honest? Maybe some combination of all three? At any rate, he genuinely believes that he sees farther and more clearly and acts with more integrity than others. That was my takeaway from this essay. Not sure if that was the message he intended…
Let's use Bayesian thinking to get some probabilities whether your propositions are likely to be true or false. How likely is it that he is more smarter/braver/honest than, let's say, the median person in the USA/world?
Well, ⅔ of the essay are Bryan's teenage readings. I don't know about you, but as a teenager I did think I was smarter or more clever than anyone my age, and than most adults.
I think I'd have valued reading this piece more if there was some more self reflection in it.
I kept my kids close & made sure that my husband & I were the biggest influence on their upbringing rather than the school or friends. I wanted adults that we liked (not only loved) & wanted to be around. That meant quantity & not just quality time together.
Christ knew a thing or two about SDB, as well as loving without lies. His closest friends told him they'd willingly be executed with him, and he replied, "nah, you'll all run away".
SDB is so prevalent, in fact, that writing books like "Open Borders" is functionally a useless endeavor.
Yet, you obviously pour your whole being and personaloty into concocting winsome arguments and a winning book.
If I suspected you of being a true Randian, I'd say you wrote the book simply to affirm your ego as the only guy on the planet capable of being reasonable.
But I suspect that's not what you really are. I suspect, deep down, you actually wish and expect humans to be won over by your book, despite the enormity of SDB. (Let's go retro for just a moment... it's not really SDB, it's hypocrisy).
Which probably makes you not a Randian, but a utopian dreamer.
When I was in the Boy Scouts, we were told that we were all to be leaders. That struck me as odd, for if everyone was to be a leader, who would be a follower? In hindsight, I see this as an example of SDB.
I suffered similar disenchantment with religion when I was a teen. I could not help but notice all of the older folks zoning out and sometimes even sleeping during a church service. Our (Presbyterian) church was, I'm sure, not as bad as some because it was situated next to Penn State and had a lot of intellectuals in the congregation. My mother, who was raised (Polish) Roman Catholic and was an intellectual herself (I recall her reading Kant, Nietzsche, and Toynbee when I was growing up) said that adult Sunday school was always fun. But not for me. When I was 16 I begged my father to let me stay home on Sundays because I could not stand the hypocrisy. He insisted on my attending church until I was 18, after which I could make my own choice. The day I turned 18, I stopped attending church.
Bryan, I am not sure if you realize the SDB has a very, very specific meaning in psychological assessment by self-report. Specifically, it is a claim that there is a general tendency for people to answer personality inventories in ways that they think make them look good rather than as they "really are." In my view, this has to be a variable on which people differ considerably because some people are obviously totally willing to affirm their neuroses and delinquent behaviors on personality inventories. In everyday life, I think SDB is also an individual differences variable, with some people on the extremes being absolutely evasive about their shortcomings and problems in the world and others, absolutely bluntly telling like it is, giving unvarnished accounts of themselves and the world as they see it. Like most traits, this one shows a bell-like curve, but probably skewed in the direction of Panglossianism.
Thanks Brian—great piece, and kudos for being willing to be “vulnerable” in full knowledge that some people will react negatively to what you’ve written. (I guess some of them are more affected than you by SDB?). One version of this that I practiced with my children when they came home from middle school complaining about how a particular teacher was stupid, was to tell them that what they could learn from that person and in her class was how to work with less intelligent people, who, by the way, constitute the majority.
Was Caplan born without the gene that enables one to distinguish exhortation from description? :)
As for priests and petitioners not being aware of the disconnect between their actual behavior and that demanded by our Lord, there are at least six places in the Mass in which one acknowledges one’s sins, seven* (much better theological number) counting the “amen” after the priest says “May the Lord have mercy on us, forgive us our sins …”.
*Father Gerard P Transformer, III found five and I found two more.
Before reading this essay I had never heard the term Social Desirability Bias. What's not clear to me is why it's called a bias. I've thought of the phenomenon as simply part of human nature. Because your GCA is well above my own, Bryan, I am not as quick as you, but your essays always help me catch up. I first read Ayn Rand in high school. It didn't take a real hold, though, until I'd finished grad school and worked with bureaucrats for 10 years.
It's called a bias because is an statistical issue.
There are some concepts so advanced that they fly right over my head. "Intersectionality" is one of them. Every explanation I read is just blather which I forget 5 seconds later.
And now SDB. I understand this post, it's about social hypocrisy for want of a more articulate phrase, but SDB? I don't have a clue what anyone means by it.
Maybe we should stop navel gazing and look outwards at reality.
Bryan sincerely believes he’s smarter than his fellowman. Or is he braver? Or just more honest? Maybe some combination of all three? At any rate, he genuinely believes that he sees farther and more clearly and acts with more integrity than others. That was my takeaway from this essay. Not sure if that was the message he intended…
Let's use Bayesian thinking to get some probabilities whether your propositions are likely to be true or false. How likely is it that he is more smarter/braver/honest than, let's say, the median person in the USA/world?
Uh, likely ... By 2 standard deviations or more.
Judged by this medial American.
Well, ⅔ of the essay are Bryan's teenage readings. I don't know about you, but as a teenager I did think I was smarter or more clever than anyone my age, and than most adults.