Ha ha. Yes I'm quite confident that the Google suggested autocomplete sentences have nothing to do with the search on a particular computer. In fact, I'm pretty sure I've never in my life typed these words (e.g., "women should not...") into the Google search engine on this computer. I imagine these are the search terms from all searches? Also, you get completely different autocomplete terms if you start by typing "women should not ...." as opposed to "women shouldn't ...". In any case, I agree with Alan that you have to look a the links that are actually offered which are often arguing against why women should not speak in church and men should not wear flip flops! Marie
Marie Helweg-Larsen, Ph.D. Associate Professor l Department of Psychology Kaufman 168 l Dickinson College Phone 717.245.1562 l Fax 717.245.1971 http://users.dickinson.edu/~helwegm/index.html -----Original Message----- From: rfro...@jbu.edu [mailto:rfro...@jbu.edu] Sent: Tuesday, November 05, 2013 8:40 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: RE: [tips] Google autocomplete & psychology Ken Steele wrote: "It would seem that the results obtained from such a search using Google autocomplete is an insight into the search history of the person who uses that computer." and Marie Helweg-Larsen found: "Women shouldn't... -work -be in combat -be cops -vote -got to college." I'm guessing this psychodynamic analysis will be quite a revelation to Marie. :) Rick Dr. Rick Froman, Chair Division of Humanities and Social Sciences Box 3519 x7295 rfro...@jbu.edu http://bit.ly/DrFroman Proverbs 14:15 "A simple man believes anything, but a prudent man gives thought to his steps." -----Original Message----- From: Ken Steele [mailto:steel...@appstate.edu] Sent: Monday, November 04, 2013 7:01 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] Google autocomplete & psychology One of the issues here is that Google autocomplete is geared to the search history that exists for the computer on which the search is run. So when I enter the word "proper" then the autocomplete for me is to a restaurant in Boone, NC. (The restaurant serves local, Southern-history food to constitute a proper meal. If you think collard greens are a good side dish, and I agree, then this is your place.) It would seem that the results obtained from such a search using Google autocomplete is an insight into the search history of the person who uses that computer. Ken -- --------------------------------------------------------------- Kenneth M. Steele, Ph.D. steel...@appstate.edu Professor Department of Psychology http://www.psych.appstate.edu Appalachian State University Boone, NC 28608 USA --------------------------------------------------------------- On 11/4/2013 5:51 PM, rfro...@jbu.edu wrote: > > > > I think Google autocomplete is fairly unreplicable in many cases. > I don't doubt that putting "women should" into a Google search in > Dubai might turn up those suggestions (the UN ad agency was in > Dubai), but I wasn't able to replicate it here. > > I don't begrudge someone advertising for a good cause to use a > current trend like Google autocomplete to make a dramatic ad that > makes a good point but I don't think it is a sociological IAT (or > even a Rorschach). When I put in "women", mine says: > > women seeking men > > women of faith > > women living well > > women of the bible > > When you put in "women should", it starts to go negative. And > what would you expect? What sentence that starts out saying that > a whole class of humanity "should" or "shouldn't" do anything is > going to end well? > > There was an interesting non-disclaimer disclaimer in the > Guardian article: "The world as seen through the lens of > autocomplete is a weird and not always wonderful place. It's a > place where David Cameron "is a lizard", Obama is "a Muslim", > Putin is a "badass" and Miley Cyrus, predictably, is "still > twerking". But despite the suggestions that have been skewed by a > popular blogpost or meme and are clearly bonkers, there is still > much to be gleaned from them about our deep-seated > discriminations." Really? Much to be gleaned? I doubt it. > > For "psychology is", I got > > psychology is > > psychology is defined as > > psychology is the study of > > psychology is best defined as > > psychology is not a science > > Certainly there are some people who don't believe it is a science > but I don't think 1/4 autocomplete recommendations is very > disheartening. I would think someone was tampering with it if > there was nothing negative at all. > > Rick > > Dr. Rick Froman, Chair > > Division of Humanities and Social Sciences > > Professor of Psychology > > Box 3519 > > John Brown University > > 2000 W. University Siloam Springs, AR 72761 > > rfro...@jbu.edu > > (479) 524-7295 > > http://bit.ly/DrFroman > > "The LORD detests both Type I and Type II errors." Proverbs 17:15 > > -----Original Message----- > From: Christopher Green [mailto:chri...@yorku.ca] > Sent: Monday, November 04, 2013 4:05 PM > To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) > Cc: Ian Davidson > Subject: [tips] Google autocomplete & psychology > > You may have seen, recently, that it has become a kind of > informal method for discovering popular social trends to enter > the beginning of a sentence into a Google search box and see how > the engine completes the expression. The idea is that Google will > come up with the most likely completions based on its "knowledge" > of what people generally intend when they start a search expression. > > This method was used very effectively in an ad campaign by UN > Women a few weeks ago when they entered phrases like "women > should" and "women need to" and got horrible completions like > "stay at home," "be slaves," and "be in the kitchen." Here's a > Guardian article about that experiment. > > http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/22/google-autocomplete-un-women-ad-discrimination-algorithms > > So, I decided to try the same thing with "psychology is". You > should give it whirl. I don't think you'll find the results to be > all that surprising, but they are a bit disheartening nevertheless. > > Regards, > > Chris > > ....... > > Christopher D Green > > Department of Psychology > > York University > > Toronto, ON M6C 1G4 > > chri...@yorku.ca <mailto:chri...@yorku.ca> > > http://www.yorku.ca/christo > > --- > > You are currently subscribed to tips as: rfro...@jbu.edu > <mailto:rfro...@jbu.edu>. > > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13039.37a56d458b5e856d05bcfb3322db5f8a&n=T&l=tips&o=29768 > > or send a blank email to > leave-29768-13039.37a56d458b5e856d05bcfb3322db5...@fsulist.frostburg.edu > <mailto:leave-29768-13039.37a56d458b5e856d05bcfb3322db5...@fsulist.frostburg.edu> > > > --- > > You are currently subscribed to tips as: steel...@appstate.edu > <mailto:steel...@appstate.edu>. > > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13524.94845a3ed9806f1cef14973830dd8c39&n=T&l=tips&o=29772 > > (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line > is broken) > > or send a blank email to > leave-29772-13524.94845a3ed9806f1cef14973830dd8...@fsulist.frostburg.edu > <mailto:leave-29772-13524.94845a3ed9806f1cef14973830dd8...@fsulist.frostburg.edu> > > > --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: rfro...@jbu.edu. 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