/oss/taxonomy/term/5055/all en /oss/article/critical-thinking-general-science/when-numbers-get-politicized <p>Do political beliefs affect our ability to crunch numbers?</p> <p>Our brain is not straightforward. The past few years have served as a wake-up call for people who had not realized that believing weird things is quite common. From the rise of QAnon to the politicized debates over mask-wearing and the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines, it has become abundantly transparent that our thinking easily zigs and zags according to our preconceptions. But what about math?</p> Wed, 21 Apr 2021 16:56:17 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 8709 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking/dunning-kruger-effect-probably-not-real <p>I want the Dunning-Kruger effect to be real. First described in<a href="https://doi.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2F0022-3514.77.6.1121"> a seminal 1999 paper</a> by David Dunning and Justin Kruger, this effect has been the darling of journalists who want to explain why dumb people don’t know they’re dumb. There’s even<a href="https://youtu.be/BdnH19KsVVc"> video of a fantastic pastiche</a> of Turandot’s famous aria, <i>Nessun dorma,</i> explaining the Dunning-Kruger effect. “They don’t know,” the opera singer belts out at the climax, “that they don’t know.”</p> Fri, 25 Dec 2020 17:00:00 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 8538 at /oss