Implausible Beliefs

Implausible Beliefs PDF Author: Allan Mazur
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351513214
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
Why do people accept ideas that are contradicted by science or logic? In Implausible Beliefs, Allan Mazur offers a comparative look at the nature of irrational belief systems, their social roots, and their cultural and political impact. He begins by providing standards for judging beliefs implausible and assessing the impact of such belief systems onpolitics and social policy in the US. Mazur describes and defends commonsense criteria for establishing that certain views should not be sustained in the face of present-day understanding. He presents a statistical portrait of implausible beliefs rampant in the US, and who tends to accept them.Mazur applies criteria for implausibility to the Bible, astrology, and visitation to Earth of intelligent beings from other worlds. Pointing out that everyone "knows" the Bible but few actually read it, the author scrolls through the first five books of the text, noting points that undermine the scripture's natural history and moral guidance. Working on the assumption that implausible religious views are fundamentally no different from implausible secular views, he critiques secular beliefs in astrology and UFOs. Mazur concludes the volume with an attempt to explain why most people accept implausibility?some more than others?despite evidence and logic that refute them.Looking to mainstream sociology and psychology, Mazur shows how children are socialized into such beliefs, and how adults are influenced by spouses and friends. Personality is also a factor, sometimes abetted by stressful or lonely life situations. Lucidly written, this is a provocative and informative contribution to social psychology, sociology, religion, political science, and American studies.

Implausible Beliefs

Implausible Beliefs PDF Author: Allan Mazur
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351513214
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 249

Get Book Here

Book Description
Why do people accept ideas that are contradicted by science or logic? In Implausible Beliefs, Allan Mazur offers a comparative look at the nature of irrational belief systems, their social roots, and their cultural and political impact. He begins by providing standards for judging beliefs implausible and assessing the impact of such belief systems onpolitics and social policy in the US. Mazur describes and defends commonsense criteria for establishing that certain views should not be sustained in the face of present-day understanding. He presents a statistical portrait of implausible beliefs rampant in the US, and who tends to accept them.Mazur applies criteria for implausibility to the Bible, astrology, and visitation to Earth of intelligent beings from other worlds. Pointing out that everyone "knows" the Bible but few actually read it, the author scrolls through the first five books of the text, noting points that undermine the scripture's natural history and moral guidance. Working on the assumption that implausible religious views are fundamentally no different from implausible secular views, he critiques secular beliefs in astrology and UFOs. Mazur concludes the volume with an attempt to explain why most people accept implausibility?some more than others?despite evidence and logic that refute them.Looking to mainstream sociology and psychology, Mazur shows how children are socialized into such beliefs, and how adults are influenced by spouses and friends. Personality is also a factor, sometimes abetted by stressful or lonely life situations. Lucidly written, this is a provocative and informative contribution to social psychology, sociology, religion, political science, and American studies.

Nonplussed!

Nonplussed! PDF Author: Julian Havil
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400837383
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 213

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Book Description
Math—the application of reasonable logic to reasonable assumptions—usually produces reasonable results. But sometimes math generates astonishing paradoxes—conclusions that seem completely unreasonable or just plain impossible but that are nevertheless demonstrably true. Did you know that a losing sports team can become a winning one by adding worse players than its opponents? Or that the thirteenth of the month is more likely to be a Friday than any other day? Or that cones can roll unaided uphill? In Nonplussed!—a delightfully eclectic collection of paradoxes from many different areas of math—popular-math writer Julian Havil reveals the math that shows the truth of these and many other unbelievable ideas. Nonplussed! pays special attention to problems from probability and statistics, areas where intuition can easily be wrong. These problems include the vagaries of tennis scoring, what can be deduced from tossing a needle, and disadvantageous games that form winning combinations. Other chapters address everything from the historically important Torricelli's Trumpet to the mind-warping implications of objects that live on high dimensions. Readers learn about the colorful history and people associated with many of these problems in addition to their mathematical proofs. Nonplussed! will appeal to anyone with a calculus background who enjoys popular math books or puzzles.

Introduction to Statistics and Data Analysis

Introduction to Statistics and Data Analysis PDF Author: Robert S. Lockhart
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780716729747
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 680

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Book Description
In Introduction to Statistics and Data Analysis, Bob Lockhart emphasizes the link between statistical techniques and scientific discovery by focusing on evaluation and comparison of models. It is an intuitive view of statistics that views all methods as variants on a basic theme (evaluating models). Lockhart's realistic approach enables students to examine and question the methods and goals of statistics and to draw clear connections between statistical methods and the research process.

Model Validation and Uncertainty Quantification, Volume 3

Model Validation and Uncertainty Quantification, Volume 3 PDF Author: Robert Barthorpe
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319747932
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 303

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Book Description
Model Validation and Uncertainty Quantification, Volume 3: Proceedings of the 36th IMAC, A Conference and Exposition on Structural Dynamics, 2018, the third volume of nine from the Conference brings together contributions to this important area of research and engineering. The collection presents early findings and case studies on fundamental and applied aspects of Model Validation and Uncertainty Quantification, including papers on: Uncertainty Quantification in Material Models Uncertainty Propagation in Structural Dynamics Practical Applications of MVUQ Advances in Model Validation & Uncertainty Quantification: Model Updating Model Validation & Uncertainty Quantification: Industrial Applications Controlling Uncertainty Uncertainty in Early Stage Design Modeling of Musical Instruments Overview of Model Validation and Uncertainty

The Oxford Handbook of Eye Movements

The Oxford Handbook of Eye Movements PDF Author: Simon Liversedge
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191626619
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 1048

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Book Description
In the past few years, there has been an explosion of eye movement research in cognitive science and neuroscience. This has been due to the availability of 'off the shelf' eye trackers, along with software to allow the easy acquisition and analysis of eye movement data. Accompanying this has been a realisation that eye movement data can be informative about many different aspects of perceptual and cognitive processing. Eye movements have been used to examine the visual and cognitive processes underpinning a much broader range of human activities, including, language production, dialogue, human computer interaction, driving behaviour, sporting performance, and emotional states. Finally, in the past thirty years, there have been real advances in our understanding of the neural processes that underpin eye movement behaviour. The Oxford Handbook of Eye Movements provides the first comprehensive review of the entire field of eye movement research. In over fifty chapters, it reviews the developments that have so far taken place, the areas actively being researched, and looks at how the field is likely to devlop in the coming years. The first section considers historical and background material, before moving onto section 2 on the neural basis of eye movements. The third and fourth sections looks at visual cognition and eye movements and eye movement pathology and development. The final sections consider eye movements and reading and language processing and eye movements. Bringing together cutting edge research from and international team of leading psychologists, neuroscientists, and vision researchers, this book is the definitive reference work in this field.

Case Studies in Bayesian Statistics

Case Studies in Bayesian Statistics PDF Author: Constantine Gatsonis
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461222907
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 483

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Book Description
This third volume of case studies presents detailed applications of Bayesian statistical analysis, emphasising the scientific context. The papers were presented and discussed at a workshop held at Carnegie-Mellon University, and this volume - dedicated to the memory of Morrie Groot-reproduces six invited papers, each with accompanying invited discussion, and nine contributed papers with the focus on econometric applications.

Jesus Under Fire

Jesus Under Fire PDF Author: Zondervan,
Publisher: Zondervan Academic
ISBN: 031087713X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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Book Description
Who is Jesus? What did he do? What did he say? -Are the traditional answer to these questions still to be trusted? - Did the early church and tradition "Christianize" Jesus? - Was Christianity built on clever conceptions of the church, or on the character and actions of an actual person? These and similar questions have come under scrutiny by a forum of biblical scholars called the Jesus Seminar. Their conclusions have been widely publicized in magazines such as Time and Newsweek. Jesus Under Fire challenges the methodology and findings of the Jesus Seminar, which generally clash with the biblical records. It examines the authenticity of the words, actions, miracles, and resurrection of Jesus, and presents compelling evidence for the traditional biblical teachings. Combining accessibility with scholarly depth, Jesus Under Fire helps readers judge for themselves whether the Jesus of the Bible is the Jesus of history, and whether the gospels' claim is valid that he is the only way to God.

The Trial Process

The Trial Process PDF Author: Bruce Dennis Sales
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1468437674
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 515

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Book Description
As noted in the Preface to Volume 1 in this series, the goal of Perspectives in Law and Psychology is to provide a forum for books aimed at systemati cally interfacing the two disciplines. Toward this end, Volume 1 pre sented a collection of original writings focused on the criminal justice system that grew out of a conference held at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. Because that volume was based on conference proceedings, however, an attempt was not made to provide thorough coverage of all law-psychology issues in the criminal justice system; rather, it highlight ed a select few issues that were currently being investigated by some of the outstanding people in the field. This volume differs substantially from the first in that it attempts to bring together those psycholegal scholars who are doing the major re search on the trial process today and provides broad coverage of critical research on the trial. Thus, the chapters not only provide an extensive review of existing literature in this field but also present new contribu tions by these scholars.

The Empire of Cnut the Great

The Empire of Cnut the Great PDF Author: Timothy Bolton
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 900416670X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
Drawing on a wide range of types of evidence this book offers a fresh impression of the a ~empirea (TM) built by King Cnut (1016a "1035) in England and Scandinavia, and offers insights into contemporary developments in the conceptions of this new dominion.

Scientific and Technological Thinking

Scientific and Technological Thinking PDF Author: Michael E. Gorman
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 1135625115
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
At the turn of the 21st century, the most valuable commodity in society is knowledge--particularly new knowledge that may give a culture, company, or laboratory an adaptive advantage. Knowledge about the cognitive processes that lead to discovery and invention can enhance the probability of making valuable new discoveries and inventions. Such knowledge needs to be made widely available to ensure that no particular interest group "corners the market" on techno-scientific creativity. Knowledge can also facilitate the development of business strategies and social policies based on a genuine understanding of the creative process. Furthermore, through an understanding of principles underlying the cognitive processes related to discovery, educators can utilize these principles to teach students effective problem-solving strategies as part of their education as future scientists. This book takes the reader out onto the cutting edge of research in scientific and technological thinking. The editors advocate a multiple-method approach; chapters include detailed case studies of contemporary and historical practices, experiments, computational simulations, and innovative theoretical analyses. The editors attempt a provocative synthesis of this work at the end. In order to achieve true scientific and technological progress, an understanding of the process by which species are transforming the world is needed. This book makes an important step in that direction by leading to breakthroughs in the understanding of discovery and invention.