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Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics in the news and in life

Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics in the news and in life.

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More or Less: Does Politics Make us Get our Sums Wrong?

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'The thinker'

09/11/2013

Does Politics Make us Get our Sums Wrong?

BBC World Service - More or Less, Does Politics Make us Get our Sums Wrong?

How researchers have measured the extent to which personal opinions cloud our judgement

Researchers have measured how much personal opinions cloud our judgement. The study suggests maths ability plummets when we are looking at data which clashes with our worldview.

To what degree do our personal opinions cloud our judgement? Yale University researchers have attempted to detect and measure how our political beliefs affect our ability to make rational decisions. The study suggests that our ability to do maths plummets when we’re looking at data which clashes with our worldview. Ruth Alexander and Ben Carter consider Professor Dan Kahan’s findings.

(Image: 'The Thinker' by French sculptor Auguste Rodin. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

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