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Where the stuff on this blog is something i created it is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License so there are no requirements to attribute - but if you want to mention me as the source that would be nice :¬)

Wednesday 10 October 2012

critical thinking no.5: the gambler's fallacy




script by mike mcrae and james hutson, recording and music by audrey studios, animated and directed by James Hutson, produced by Bridge 8found via brainpickings 

in summary

- if you watch a coin flip 9 times - it comes up heads 2 times and tails 7 times

- what is going to come up next?

- as tails has been having a good run maybe that will continue - or because of that maybe it is time for heads?

- our brains are very good at recognising patterns - sometime when they are not there

- in fact there is a 50% chance of heads or tails every time the coin is flipped - it doesn't matter what came before and luck doesn't come into it at all

- but it is hard to shake the idea that there is a pattern in there somewhere - maybe we just need to look hard enough - this is known as the gambler's fallacy (our assumption that probability changes as a result of past events)

- we are wired to see things as if they are related 

- so for example - people take pills and feel better - but a lot of logic and probability is needed to determine whether the pills were truly responsible

- just because one thing follows another it does not mean they are linked - there could be other factors or it could just be coincidence

- to know for sure you have to test the circumstances again and again  - to look for those other factors that could disprove the link-  this reinforces confidence that your pattern is true

- our brains may see patterns - and this is often useful - but it takes science to prove that those patterns are real












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