Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Relevant News: Societal Elites Are Over-Confident


There is a significant body of scholarship demonstrating that experts typically are over-confident regarding their knowledge. 

New research shows that people who are from higher socio-economic classes are more likely to be over-confident but, tragically for us all, their over-confidence is too often interpreted as competence by the rest of us:
Murphy, Heather. (2019, May ).Why High-Class People Get Away With Incompetence. The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/20/science/social-class-confidence.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_190521
In several experiments, they [researchers] found that people who came from a higher social class were more likely to have an inflated sense of their skills — even when tests proved that they were average. This unmerited overconfidence, they found, was interpreted by strangers as competence. The findings highlight yet another way that family wealth and parents’ education — two of a number of factors used to assess social class in the study — affect a person’s experience as they move through the world.

“With this research, we now have reason to think that coming from a higher social class confers yet another advantage,” said Jessica A. Kennedy, a professor of management at Vanderbilt University, who was not involved in the study….

“But what they do very consistently show is that social class is tied to overconfidence,” she said. Other studies have also shown that people who are overconfident are perceived as more competent.

6 comments:

  1. Good article and Blog post. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. How about the Major Flooding on the arakansas river, that is close to flooding a rotten old nuclear reactor that had a major fire 3 years ago.
    Jeffrey St. Clair
    @JSCCounterPunch
    Follow
    No coverage that I can find on the risks this historic flooding poses to the already treacherous Arkansas One Nuclear plant… thv11.com/article/weathe…
    11:59 AM – 23 May 2019
    Arkansas expected to face worst flooding in 29 years, officials say
    “…it’s coming to Arkansas. We know it’s coming.” Flood levels are expected to exceed levels that the area has seen in almost 3 decades.
    THV11 THV11 @THV11
    Mike Zaccardi, CFA, CMT Mike Zaccardi, CFA, CMT
    @MikeZaccardi
    1h
    Replying to @JSCCounterPunch
    please keep us posted if you hear anything about Ark Nuke risks
    View conversation ·
    Dianne Woodward Dianne Woodward
    @WoodwarddianneJ
    1h
    Replying to @JSCCounterPunch
    The precedent is the Fukoshima disaster japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/03/2…
    View conversation ·

    Like


    https://mobile.twitter.com/JSCCounterPunch/status/1131635722333564928?p=v

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. https://mobile.twitter.com/NucSafetyUCS


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      EdwinLyman
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      EdwinLyman
      @NucSafetyUCS
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      Remember NuScale? The #nuclear reactor that is supposed to be so safe it could be located just about anywhere? Today
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      EdwinLyman
      @NucSafetyUCS
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      #SouthKorea news: The #nuclear regulator has launched a police investigation of a May 10 safety violation at the Hanbit 1 reactor. Power unexpectedly increased during startup, but operators violated rules and didn't shut the reactor down for 12 hours.

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    2. Holtec Should not be allowed to do any High Level Nuclear Waste Parking in New Mexico or Do any Business in the United States period. Tax Cheats and Frauds. A foreign Owned Company

      http://www.beyondnuclear.org/home/2019/5/23/holtec-in-even-more-hot-water.html

      »
      Holtec in (even more) hot water
      A big expose about corruption at Holtec on ProPublica today. Here's the headline:

      A False Anwer, A Big Political Connection and $260 Million In Tax Breaks.

      Holtec International gave false answer in a 2014 New Jersey tax break application connected to political boss George E. Norcross III, a Holtec board member. Five days after WNYC and ProPublica asked about it, lawyers called it "inadvertent" and asked the state to correct it.

      And here is the lead:

      "A company that won the second-largest tax break in New Jersey history gave a false answer about being prohibited from working with a federal agency in sworn statements made to win $260 million in taxpayer assistance for a new plant in Camden.

      "A review by WNYC and ProPublica found that Holtec International CEO Kris Singh responded “no” on certified forms submitted to the state in 2014 that asked if the applicant had ever been barred from doing business with a state or federal agency. The forms were submitted to the New Jersey Economic Development Authority as part of the company’s successful application for tax breaks.

      "In fact, the international nuclear parts manufacturer was caught up in a contracting investigation at the federally owned Tennessee Valley Authority. In 2010, Holtec was barred for 60 days from doing any federal business and paid a $2 million administrative fine to the TVA, according to an agency report. Holtec’s debarment marked the first time the agency had taken such action against a contractor.

      Read the full story.



      DateMay 23, 2019

      Delete
    3. Another Genetic Engineering flimflam

      Stuart Newman
      @sanewman1
      ·
      5h
      Bioentrepreneurs who pushed 3-person embryo construction convinced the U.K. Human Fertilisation and Embryo Authority and Parliament that mitochondria were fully swappable between different women's eggs, like "changing batteries." This new study shows they were just making it up.
      Quote Tweet

      Genome Sequencing
      @GenomeSequence1
      · 11h
      Germline selection shapes human mitochondrial DNA diversity - Science Magazine #genomesequencing (link: https://genomesequencing.com/germline-selection-shapes-human-mitochondrial-dna-diversity-science-magazine/) genomesequencing.com/germline-selec…

      Delete

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