This is an educational blog for a Social Psychology class at Penn State University, Fayette. The purpose is to provide a forum for all students to express views and insight on a variety of topics covered in class and textbook.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Are People Idiots?
Answer the header's question. The pic to the left is just a representative sample to help get you started :)
932126165: I believe people are idiots but they are also free. If somebody wants to drink Coco-Cola all day every day then that's their choice, however I think they should at least know the risks. The article describes the overdose as a "substantial factor", meaning there could be other unknown factors to her death. The article later describes that she had a history of ill health, so she probably knew she was going to die at some point soon, so she gave up hope and did whatever she wanted. Besides the article, I believe people are still idiots. I work in retail and I would say about 80% to 90% of the people are jerks and idiots. A lot of the customers act like they never used a credit card or even shopped before.
932126165 Sorry, even though people act like idiots, they aren't like that by nature. It's "innate" to be an idiot. We see and notice idiots more because it's a less common occurrence, it's eventful, making it memorable, that's the Availability Heuristic.
you had the perfect answer until you said "It's innate to be an idiot." Huh? No. Wrong. On trivial things people are cognitive misers, and surer make poor decisions, but on important matters people make pretty good decisions. But you nailed the availability heuristic part of the answer.
I do not believe it is appropriate to call people "idiots" but rather call them something like morons, dingbats, goofballs and such. After just reading the title of that article I do believe that people are definitely morons. Just about everyone on Earth should know that soda is not a healthy drink. Doctors will even tell you that it is not healthy. If somewhere were to drink 10 liters of soda a day that is almost 30 cans of soda because there is about 5 and a half cans of soda per 2 liter bottle. That alone sounds super unhealthy and just not safe for your body. I do not know why someone would want to drink that much soda knowing it would have negative outcomes. Drinking an excessive amount of soda will also make you gain weight which no one likes to do of course. So yes, people are total morons for drinking that much soda in one day.
I am changing my answer to no because of the availability heuristics. The availability heuristics show people what's more noticeable. A person will judge something automatically just by seeing it for the first time. A person does not think when it is a trivial decisions therefore they make assumptions.
900891014: People are judged based on the decisions that they make, especially the bad decisions that some individuals tend to make. Some people do not use common sense when making decisions, which often end in bad results. As a society we often frown upon the bad decisions they make and will sometimes make fun of them. I do not believe that people are idiots, we just all make bad decisions that will all regret.
900891014: As I stated before, people are not idiots. According to the Availability Heuristic, we judge based on the likelihood by case which relevant instances come to mind. Meaning that we make stupid decisions on trivial topics and not important life decisions.
you mention the availability heuristic but you actually explain the representative heuristic. You had to explain how the availability heuristic explains why people might thing that people are "idiots"
953147772 Some people in this world are in fact idiots. At some point, warning labels were conceived because someone somewhere decided to do something incredibly stupid with a company’s product and got seriously hurt from it. To prove it, coffee cups at fast food joints now have to have the “CAUTION HOT” sign on it. To be honest though, I believe us to be all idiots. We come up with our idea that to us may be good, but some one else out there definitely thinks your idea is stupid. Everyone thought Thomas Edison to be an idiot in his childhood because he asked questions, next thing you know he’s changing the world.
998194042 Honestly, I believe this answer depends. I feel that there are people on this world that are absolute idiots that have no idea what they're doing. They're just kind of here. I believe that a lot of people lack common sense and don't think about things before they do them. However, just because there are so many people in this world that could be considered "idiots," I don't feel that the human population as a whole should be considered "idiots." Everyone is smart and unique in their own ways, but some people you meet in your lifetime, just make you lose hope for humanity. Those people are the ones I would consider to be "idiots." (Especially the lady in the photo- like who does that?!)
998194042 After discussing this topic in class, my previous answer stating yes people are idiots is from the availability heuristic. People are not really idiots. When it comes to important decisions, truth is we are very capable of making the right decision and doing it in a sane manor.
explain the availability heuristic. Saying it and not explain how this explains anything doesn't convince you understand how people might believe that people are idiots. Manor? You mean manner.
922121514 - When it comes to my own opinion I think that people can be idiots. I am twenty years old and in those twenty years I have met people who truly make me question if the educational system is doing its job. It is not perfect, and I have met people who are a testament to that. I do not expect everyone to be a genius, but I expect some level of higher brain activity in everyone I meet.
#966292420 I would argue that people in general aren't idiots and that truly only a few are and that those few aren't representative of the population as a whole. With that being said, I think the thumbnail of the article shows that as if people were truly idiots then these types of stories would be much more frequent and then stop becoming news altogether. Moreover, these types of people also are not reflective of people in general as these people are considered those of "abnormal" mental health - which suggests/states that they are not the typical and in fact are the atypical person, once again showing that people, generally speaking, are not in fact idiots.
966292420 My original assessment was mostly correct in that in general people are not stupid. Expanding on that however, generally people only do "stupid" things for trivial matters in which they don't put much time and effort into more than likely due to people being cognitive misers. However, in important matters, people tend to choose the right decision and put much more effort into their actions.
960835143 People are not idiots. When it comes to making decisions, people normally do not think things through and in return they make bad decisions. So, because people make bad life decisions their health or body can suffer from it. Like the lady in the article who drank 10 liters of cola a day which her death was linked to.
916105999: People are not idiots, though we do make predictable errors. This stems from us being cognitive misers and using heuristics as shortcuts. The errors made are normally not that serious. On trivial events we use heuristics and automatic processing which can lead to more errors, BUT on important events we use conscious processing and make better decisions, reducing the amount of errors. Cognitive errors can be reduced by debiasing.
953147772 People are not idiots. Since we’re cognitive misers, we like to the availability heuristic to fill in the blanks. For instance, there are a lot smarter moves done by people than “stupid” things people do. Since the “stupid” things are reported more often we assume a lot of people are just idiots. This is an anomaly; however, the heuristic says otherwise.
you didn't answer why people aren't idiots or why you you said the lady who drank that much coke was an idiot - availability heuristic (you were supposed to explain this), and explain that for trivial things we are cognitive misers so we make poor choices, but with important decisions we tend to not be idiots.
Don't forget to START with your student ID# first! Did you remember to check your spelling and grammar? Lastly, don't submit two comments for the same post, I will only count one. Really lastly, make sure you answer all the questions in the post!
932126165: I believe people are idiots but they are also free. If somebody wants to drink Coco-Cola all day every day then that's their choice, however I think they should at least know the risks. The article describes the overdose as a "substantial factor", meaning there could be other unknown factors to her death. The article later describes that she had a history of ill health, so she probably knew she was going to die at some point soon, so she gave up hope and did whatever she wanted. Besides the article, I believe people are still idiots. I work in retail and I would say about 80% to 90% of the people are jerks and idiots. A lot of the customers act like they never used a credit card or even shopped before.
ReplyDelete932126165 Sorry, even though people act like idiots, they aren't like that by nature. It's "innate" to be an idiot. We see and notice idiots more because it's a less common occurrence, it's eventful, making it memorable, that's the Availability Heuristic.
Deleteyou had the perfect answer until you said "It's innate to be an idiot." Huh? No. Wrong. On trivial things people are cognitive misers, and surer make poor decisions, but on important matters people make pretty good decisions. But you nailed the availability heuristic part of the answer.
Deletekmr6152
ReplyDeleteI do not believe it is appropriate to call people "idiots" but rather call them something like morons, dingbats, goofballs and such. After just reading the title of that article I do believe that people are definitely morons. Just about everyone on Earth should know that soda is not a healthy drink. Doctors will even tell you that it is not healthy. If somewhere were to drink 10 liters of soda a day that is almost 30 cans of soda because there is about 5 and a half cans of soda per 2 liter bottle. That alone sounds super unhealthy and just not safe for your body. I do not know why someone would want to drink that much soda knowing it would have negative outcomes. Drinking an excessive amount of soda will also make you gain weight which no one likes to do of course. So yes, people are total morons for drinking that much soda in one day.
kmr6152
DeleteI am changing my answer to no because of the availability heuristics. The availability heuristics show people what's more noticeable. A person will judge something automatically just by seeing it for the first time. A person does not think when it is a trivial decisions therefore they make assumptions.
900891014: People are judged based on the decisions that they make, especially the bad decisions that some individuals tend to make. Some people do not use common sense when making decisions, which often end in bad results. As a society we often frown upon the bad decisions they make and will sometimes make fun of them. I do not believe that people are idiots, we just all make bad decisions that will all regret.
ReplyDelete900891014: As I stated before, people are not idiots. According to the Availability Heuristic, we judge based on the likelihood by case which relevant instances come to mind. Meaning that we make stupid decisions on trivial topics and not important life decisions.
Deleteyou mention the availability heuristic but you actually explain the representative heuristic. You had to explain how the availability heuristic explains why people might thing that people are "idiots"
Delete953147772
ReplyDeleteSome people in this world are in fact idiots. At some point, warning labels were conceived because someone somewhere decided to do something incredibly stupid with a company’s product and got seriously hurt from it. To prove it, coffee cups at fast food joints now have to have the “CAUTION HOT” sign on it. To be honest though, I believe us to be all idiots. We come up with our idea that to us may be good, but some one else out there definitely thinks your idea is stupid. Everyone thought Thomas Edison to be an idiot in his childhood because he asked questions, next thing you know he’s changing the world.
998194042 Honestly, I believe this answer depends. I feel that there are people on this world that are absolute idiots that have no idea what they're doing. They're just kind of here. I believe that a lot of people lack common sense and don't think about things before they do them. However, just because there are so many people in this world that could be considered "idiots," I don't feel that the human population as a whole should be considered "idiots." Everyone is smart and unique in their own ways, but some people you meet in your lifetime, just make you lose hope for humanity. Those people are the ones I would consider to be "idiots." (Especially the lady in the photo- like who does that?!)
ReplyDelete998194042 After discussing this topic in class, my previous answer stating yes people are idiots is from the availability heuristic. People are not really idiots. When it comes to important decisions, truth is we are very capable of making the right decision and doing it in a sane manor.
Deleteexplain the availability heuristic. Saying it and not explain how this explains anything doesn't convince you understand how people might believe that people are idiots. Manor? You mean manner.
Delete922121514 - When it comes to my own opinion I think that people can be idiots. I am twenty years old and in those twenty years I have met people who truly make me question if the educational system is doing its job. It is not perfect, and I have met people who are a testament to that. I do not expect everyone to be a genius, but I expect some level of higher brain activity in everyone I meet.
ReplyDelete#966292420
ReplyDeleteI would argue that people in general aren't idiots and that truly only a few are and that those few aren't representative of the population as a whole. With that being said, I think the thumbnail of the article shows that as if people were truly idiots then these types of stories would be much more frequent and then stop becoming news altogether. Moreover, these types of people also are not reflective of people in general as these people are considered those of "abnormal" mental health - which suggests/states that they are not the typical and in fact are the atypical person, once again showing that people, generally speaking, are not in fact idiots.
966292420
DeleteMy original assessment was mostly correct in that in general people are not stupid. Expanding on that however, generally people only do "stupid" things for trivial matters in which they don't put much time and effort into more than likely due to people being cognitive misers. However, in important matters, people tend to choose the right decision and put much more effort into their actions.
you have to mention the availability heuristic.
Delete960835143
ReplyDeletePeople are not idiots. When it comes to making decisions, people normally do not think things through and in return they make bad decisions. So, because people make bad life decisions their health or body can suffer from it. Like the lady in the article who drank 10 liters of cola a day which her death was linked to.
916105999: People are not idiots, though we do make predictable errors. This stems from us being cognitive misers and using heuristics as shortcuts. The errors made are normally not that serious. On trivial events we use heuristics and automatic processing which can lead to more errors, BUT on important events we use conscious processing and make better decisions, reducing the amount of errors. Cognitive errors can be reduced by debiasing.
ReplyDelete953147772
ReplyDeletePeople are not idiots. Since we’re cognitive misers, we like to the availability heuristic to fill in the blanks. For instance, there are a lot smarter moves done by people than “stupid” things people do. Since the “stupid” things are reported more often we assume a lot of people are just idiots. This is an anomaly; however, the heuristic says otherwise.
you didn't answer why people aren't idiots or why you you said the lady who drank that much coke was an idiot - availability heuristic (you were supposed to explain this), and explain that for trivial things we are cognitive misers so we make poor choices, but with important decisions we tend to not be idiots.
ReplyDelete