Comment on Social Presuppositions

Sat, 04 Dec 2010 10:24:24 GMT

Edit: Actually, on thinking about it, I realize I'm being a doofus. You almost undoubtedly meant, not inferring A from G when A is more common in G than in the general population, but inferring A from G when A is more common than -A in G, which is a far more unreasonable thing to be upset about. My apologies.

It's very interesting that you made this mistake (and I didn't notice it until you pointed it out, and would maybe have made the same).

It seems that the human mind doesn't make a sufficiently good distinction between the two, between "blacks are more likely than non-blacks to have a criminal record" and "blacks are more likely than not to have a criminal record". Maybe by default the non-verbal part of the brain stores the simpler version (the second one), and uses that part to constrain expectations and behavior.

Discuss