You can find the most popular boys names given in the US at: http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/
I don't have a lot of time so I just went with 1950, 1955, 1960, 1965, 1970, 1975--years when I think many tipsters were born and only on the 5's to save time. Michael was almost always Number 1, once number 2, and once number 4. So maybe the coincidence isn't all that great. I suspect there are more Michaels than anyone else on the list and the base rate needs to be accounted for. Hmm, very Bayesian of me, given that I'm not a statistician. Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 619-260-4006 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---- Original message ---- >Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2008 02:33:01 -0400 >From: Allen Esterson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Re:[tips] Philosophical differences? >To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <[email protected]> > >Re synchronicity: > >TIPSters will have noticed that, out of the several hundreds of >possibilities, the first three respondees on this topic were all of the >same name. > >I expect Jung would have had an explanation of why this should be the case >when the topic just happens to be "synchronicity". Or rather, I suspect he >might have said that this was most likely a "meaningful" event. > >Dredging up my recollection of basic probability theory, on the assumption >there are 50 active TIPSters of whom 5 are called Michael, I make the >probability of this occurring 0.001. > >Incidentally, when Jung decided a coincidence of events was an example of >synchronicity, is there any way to refute his contention? Or is it just a >matter of personal preference: I rather like that explanation, so I'll >believe it to be so. > >Allen Esterson >Former lecturer, Science Department >Southwark College, London >http://www.esterson.org > >--- >To make changes to your subscription contact: > >Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
