Comments on: Swine Flu and Ethics http://www.compliancebuilding.com/2009/04/30/swine-flu-and-ethics/ Doug Cornelius on compliance and business ethics for private equity real estate Sun, 12 Feb 2012 13:01:08 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: What Swine Flu Hysteria Tells Us About Cognitive Contracting Errors | Contract Alchemy http://www.compliancebuilding.com/2009/04/30/swine-flu-and-ethics/comment-page-1/#comment-4579 What Swine Flu Hysteria Tells Us About Cognitive Contracting Errors | Contract Alchemy Sun, 07 Feb 2010 23:09:40 +0000 http://www.compliancebuilding.com/?p=2702#comment-4579 [...] out of proportion with the actual number of deaths (however sad these individual cases may be).  Apparently, during the 1990s approximately 36,000 people died each year due to the flu in the United States.  [...] [...] out of proportion with the actual number of deaths (however sad these individual cases may be).  Apparently, during the 1990s approximately 36,000 people died each year due to the flu in the United States.  [...]

]]> By: WhichDraft.com » Blog Archive » What Swine Flu Hysteria Tells Us About Contracting Errors http://www.compliancebuilding.com/2009/04/30/swine-flu-and-ethics/comment-page-1/#comment-730 WhichDraft.com » Blog Archive » What Swine Flu Hysteria Tells Us About Contracting Errors Fri, 01 May 2009 19:56:52 +0000 http://www.compliancebuilding.com/?p=2702#comment-730 [...] out of proportion with the actual number of deaths (however sad these individual cases may be).  Apparently, during the 1990s approximately 36,000 people died each year due to the flu in the United States.  [...] [...] out of proportion with the actual number of deaths (however sad these individual cases may be).  Apparently, during the 1990s approximately 36,000 people died each year due to the flu in the United States.  [...]

]]> By: Doug Cornelius http://www.compliancebuilding.com/2009/04/30/swine-flu-and-ethics/comment-page-1/#comment-729 Doug Cornelius Fri, 01 May 2009 19:34:10 +0000 http://www.compliancebuilding.com/?p=2702#comment-729 Jason - I personally blame the media and Joe Biden for the reaction. People walking around in masks and schools closing out of fear make for good visuals on the evening news. This seems to create a positive feedback loop for overreaction. Yes, we want to stay aware for a possible pandemic. But this current iteration of the Swine Flu does not seems to be overly contagious or deadly. Someone should point this out to Joe Biden before he tells people to stay off airplanes. Jason -

I personally blame the media and Joe Biden for the reaction. People walking around in masks and schools closing out of fear make for good visuals on the evening news. This seems to create a positive feedback loop for overreaction.

Yes, we want to stay aware for a possible pandemic. But this current iteration of the Swine Flu does not seems to be overly contagious or deadly.

Someone should point this out to Joe Biden before he tells people to stay off airplanes.

]]> By: Jason Mark Anderman http://www.compliancebuilding.com/2009/04/30/swine-flu-and-ethics/comment-page-1/#comment-727 Jason Mark Anderman Fri, 01 May 2009 19:09:05 +0000 http://www.compliancebuilding.com/?p=2702#comment-727 Your points are well taken. In particular, the tremendous fear and publicity for the Swine Flu is out of proportion with the actual number of deaths (however sad these individual cases may be). They make me think about the nature of human cognition, and how it can lead us to not be objective. In particular, we employ the fallacies of "Contrast," which makes us perceive an event as being more important or less important, not on its merits, but based on contrasting the even with what we've seen around it. Seeing reports about the horrific 1918 pandemic, for instance, triggers this contrast problem. Another problem is "Self Confirmation," where we ignore data that does not support our fear, and only embrace data that does back our contentions. A good example would be the failure to think about the much greater number of people who die from the normal flu outbreaks each year instead of the swine flu. Finally, we often engage in "Confirmity," meaning that we go along with what everyone else is concerned about, following along with the mass hysteria as part of the chain reaction. Listening to nonstop reports about swine flu is certainly causing this confirmity error. http://www.cognitive-edge.com/blogs/dave/2009/04/we_are_not_good_at_being_objec.php Your points are well taken. In particular, the tremendous fear and publicity for the Swine Flu is out of proportion with the actual number of deaths (however sad these individual cases may be). They make me think about the nature of human cognition, and how it can lead us to not be objective. In particular, we employ the fallacies of “Contrast,” which makes us perceive an event as being more important or less important, not on its merits, but based on contrasting the even with what we’ve seen around it. Seeing reports about the horrific 1918 pandemic, for instance, triggers this contrast problem. Another problem is “Self Confirmation,” where we ignore data that does not support our fear, and only embrace data that does back our contentions. A good example would be the failure to think about the much greater number of people who die from the normal flu outbreaks each year instead of the swine flu. Finally, we often engage in “Confirmity,” meaning that we go along with what everyone else is concerned about, following along with the mass hysteria as part of the chain reaction. Listening to nonstop reports about swine flu is certainly causing this confirmity error.

http://www.cognitive-edge.com/blogs/dave/2009/04/we_are_not_good_at_being_objec.php

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