Michael Blowhard writes:

Dear Blowhards --

* I've been putting up some postings recently rejoicing in what I take to be the fact that various groups have certain characteristics. (Here, here, here.) Some recent research suggests that I may be all wet.

* Tatyana -- who's into design with a professional's knowledge and passion -- shares her reactions to some of New York's fanciest.

* In so many ways a hard-headed skeptic, Razib 'fesses up to what he really believes in.

* Are celebrities deliberately embarassing themselves with amateur sex tapes these days? (NSFW)

* Whisky Prajer has been on a blogging rampage recently. (A "blogpage"? Does that work?) Here he responds to my recent drivelings about Christianity by linking to a number of his own religion-informed postings. Here he muses about James Bond. And he raves about crime novelist George Pelecanos and graphic-novel genius Frank Miller here.

* The Communicatrix shares some hard-won (and, as always with Colleen, funny) wisdom about online dating.

* Neil Kramer thinks that he's owed a refund for his college education.

* Charles Siegel imagines what might result if Frank Gehry were invited to re-design D.C.

* Thanks to Tyler Cowen, who points out a fascinating q&a with this year's Nobel winner, the game-theorist/behavioral-economist Thomas Schelling. Game theory and behavioral econ together? How is that possible?

* Jill wonders why she feels the way she does about her man's roving eyes.

* Judging from Total Film's list of the 50 best horror films, I have some major catching-up to do.

Best,

Michael

Caution:
I clicked on the "trip to the zoo" link and a notice popped up from my virus protector saying that a trojan horse had been detected.

Posted by: Peter on October 15, 2005 09:21 PM

Yikes, apologies. I'll kill that link right away. Thanks.

Posted by: Michael Blowhard on October 16, 2005 12:53 AM

Done.

Posted by: Michael Blowhard on October 16, 2005 12:54 AM

You're not necessarily 'all wet' on vive la differance. Neo-Pi-R is a self-rating system where you rate tha accuracy of various statements like "Often feel blue" or Get angry easily". To grab the stereotypes, we would expect Russians to run a little higher than normal on that first category, and Irish to run high on the second.

However, if you ask a Russian to appraise himself, his 'comparison set' will be other Russians - "Do I often feel blue? Well, relative to those I know, no." Same with the Irishman. If the stereotypes are real, then the answers to the questions would be pre-adjusted for those stereotypes. If they aren't, then both groups use the same baseline. In either event, the effect won't show up in the test.

The problem is one of how often is 'often' or how easy is 'easily'. Our norms will be our own peer set, not some universal mean. So the cultural/personal differences across ethnic groups will wash out of the rankings.

Posted by: rvman on October 20, 2005 11:08 AM






Post a comment

Name:


Email Address:


URL:


Comments:


Remember your info?