Of course, we can test this empirically and without cars!
Watch the following video that tells bicyclists how to position
their bikes on the road (and by extension, one's car if one
is not too busy arguing with others about who is right
in order to maintain one's status, power, and authority
as well as engaging in a confirmation bias ;-):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj-mNB6dLkk
So, one can look for the tar circles/squares and see if
putting (a) a bike, (b) a car, or (c) a metal trash can in
them to see if it changes the light.
Since localities vary in how they implement such things,
it would also be wise to contact one's local dept of transportation
and ask where such inductive loop detectors are located.
High traffic areas probably work off a timer while low traffic
areas probably work off inductive loop detectors or some
other vehicle detector process.
So, today's lesson is:
When wondering about an empirical phenomenon, avoid
arguing from authority to settle it and try to use data instead.
Remember: Data talks, B.S. walks! ;-)
-Mike Palij
New York University
m...@nyu.edu
P.S. The other lesson is that the interweb can be a useful tool
if one knows how to use it. Might save one some time from
pointless arguing. ;-)
On Sun, 01 Feb 2015 04:38:47 -0800, Miguel Roig wrote:
Michael, I think your son is right. Check this out:
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/car-driving-safety/safety-regulatory-devices/question234.htm
________________________________________
From: Michael Britt [mich...@thepsychfiles.com]
Sent: Sunday, February 01, 2015 7:25 AM
To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)
Subject: [tips] Confirmation Bias
My son and I were having a little "argument" the other day. As is
typical with
teenagers, he didn't think he convinced me and I didn't think I
convinced him.
Anyway, the issue had to do with those traffic intersections that use
what are
called "demand-actuated" traffic signals
He's convinced that these wires are used just about everywhere (I think
they're
not) so if you drive up to a red light and stop and you wait a long
time, you
must be too far away from these wires. How do you know the wires are
there?
Well, you simply move closer to the light and suddenly it turns green!
I tried
to impress upon him that the more likely scenario is that there are no
such
wires under the ground at most intersections and that the reason the
light
appears to turn green when you creep up closer to it is that more time
has
passed and the timer that actually controls the light is now closer to
changing
the light green. Also, I mentioned that you probably don't notice or
remember
the times when you creep up slowly to the light and it does NOT turn
green.
You probably dismiss those times as simply a time either when a) the
wires are
broke, b) your car is still not close enough to the wires. This last
excuse
sounds like a "you didn't believe hard enough" explanation for psychic
phenomenon. Anyway, I'm going to discuss this in class this week as an
example
of confirmation bias.
---
You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@mail-archive.com.
To unsubscribe click here:
http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=41793
or send a blank email to
leave-41793-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
