Political math A recent study by Yale professors found that people's ability to do mathematics computations got worse when the result went against the person's political ideology.
This was based on a randomized experiment in which people were given the same basic computation, but some were given the question in a politically neutral context and others were given the same computation in a context in which the correct answer went against their political ideology. The difference between the proportion of people who got the question wrong in a neutral' context and those who got the question wrong in a political' context was reported to be statistically significant.
a. Briefly explain what statistically significant means in this context.
b. Would it be appropriate for the news media to report that the political context caused the poor computational results? Explain.
Question 2
Gun control Two friends who strongly disagree on whether there should be stricter regulation of guns in this country want to conduct a poll of the students in their school to see which side most students agree with.
Each came back with a different version of the question they want to ask.
Version 1: Do you think the government should respect our 2nd Amendment rights and allow lawabiding citizens to own guns?
Version 2: In the wake of recent mass shootings, should laws be passed to keep guns out of the hands of people with a history of violence?
a. Which version would make it seem like people oppose stricter gun regulation? What kind of bias is this?
b. Is the version you did not pick in part a less biased?
c. Is it reasonable for a person to respond yes' to both questions?
Cognitive behaviour involves problem-solving ability.
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