You don’t say!

Posted on February 2, 2014 by KG

croc2DM0603_428x269_to_468x312 STUDY: People slow to react more likely to die prematurely…

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

15 Responses to You don’t say!

  1. Differ says:
    February 2, 2014 at 23:37

    Either the article has an error or, more likely, I think their use of statistics is wildly inaccurate – which is unsurprising for social scientists using statistics.
    Assuming normal distribution, for a test population of 5134, four standard deviations (4 sigma) covers 99.994% of the group, leaving just 0.006% with faster or slower reaction times… of which half are on the slow side. This equates to less than one person! Even 3 sigma is only 8 people (rounding up) and that is not statistically significant enough to support the claim…the best that they could say is that for those in the 1 sigma and 2 sigma below average groups is that they exhibit a x% and y% greater mortality rate than average. They’d need to test >20000 subjects to be able to make that claim for the 3 sigma low group.
    I suspect the mortality rate is not normally distributed, so to roundly state 25% per SD is strange. What about the up-side; those with faster than average reactions? Did they show a corresponding reduction in mortality rates? – they ought to if the mortality correlates with reaction and is normally distributed…. Why nothing about the benefits of fast reaction times?
    What about Obamacare? Will this become a litmus test for treatment….”sorry sir, your reaction times are too quick, you clearly aren’t likely to be sick enough to need help…go home and take an asprin; we need to enforce health-equality here….”
    We’ll be hearing of reaction time redistribution next….
    Social Scientists…..Social anything; just replace Social with Non- and it’d be more accurate!
    Differ

    • Differ says:
      February 3, 2014 at 00:09

      Aaaargh – I read the LA Times article and jumped to a wrong conclusion – I just read the study report and nowhere does it say anything more than 1SD below the mean; nothing about 4 sigma etc….The dim reporter didn’t do her homework and wrote for effect.
      A$$hat reporters.
      The study seems sound – although obvious!

  2. KG says:
    February 3, 2014 at 01:25

    :mrgreen: G’day Differ. The fact that the article about the study was written by an L.A.Times reporter should have rung a bell…. :lol:
    Anyway, the post was really just to poke fun at such a statement of the obvious.

    “Why nothing about the benefits of fast reaction times?” is an interesting question. I’ve often wondered if they’re associated in some way with a high metabolic rate, but been too damn lazy to find out. :roll:

  3. Darin says:
    February 3, 2014 at 02:26

    Quick reflexes are no guarantee of sucess as evidenced by a full five minutes of fail :mrgreen:
    http://youtu.be/q_ZdsUp4Vb8

    The two skydiving planes are :shock: :shock: :shock:

  4. Seneca III says:
    February 3, 2014 at 09:30

    For those of you unfamiliar with the jargon of statistics ‘standard deviants’ is the phrase used to describe those of us who will, given the chance, shoot Muslims on sight rather than waiting to see if they are ‘moderates’ or not and we like call it ‘serious social work’ in order to keep the multicultural wonks from getting too upset.

    P.S. I’m well into my eighth decade and thus a perfect example of how theory transfers into real life experience when applied by those who are in possession of a decent set of reflexes. And it’s fun to boothttp://falfn.com/CrusaderRabbit/wp-content/plugins/wp-monalisa/icons/wpml_cool.gif

  5. KG says:
    February 3, 2014 at 09:37

    “.. ‘standard deviants’ is the phrase used to describe those of us who will, given the chance, shoot Muslims on sight rather than waiting to see if they are ‘moderates’..”
    http://falfn.com/CrusaderRabbit/wp-content/plugins/wp-monalisa/icons/wpml_yahoo.gifhttp://falfn.com/CrusaderRabbit/wp-content/plugins/wp-monalisa/icons/wpml_good.gif

  6. Darin says:
    February 3, 2014 at 12:41

    High Vodka consumption shortens the life expectancy of Russian men”

    http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-vodka-russian-men-20140130,0,2473214.story#axzz2sDsYCoIc

    Well DUH! Of course it probably has more to do with the stupid stuff they do while drunk :mrgreen:

  7. KG says:
    February 3, 2014 at 13:06

    There’s irrefutable evidence that breathing air causes non-accidental deaths, too.
    And mashed potato has a case to answer–every person I’ve known who is now dead ate mashed potato.
    We need a grant to study this in more depth.

  8. mawm says:
    February 3, 2014 at 14:20

    Who cares anyway because 67.8% of what people say when they talk about statistics is sucked out of their thumb. :roll: :mrgreen: