saturn comments on Inferring Our Desires - Less Wrong

37 Post author: lukeprog 24 May 2011 05:33AM

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Comment author: saturn 24 May 2011 07:41:35AM 16 points [-]

It strikes me that, in addition to the face-value interpretations given by the researchers, the subjects of some of these experiments could also be seen as rationally responding to incentives not to reveal their desires. The face attractiveness subjects might be afraid of embarrassing an authority figure or "messing up" the experiment. The split-brain patient might (rightly) think a truthful "I don't know" would be interpreted as evasive or hostile. The children might reason that being seen doing a rewarded activity "for free" would remove the basis for any future rewards.

The priming results don't seem to fit this pattern, though.

Comment author: novalis 24 May 2011 04:50:24PM *  4 points [-]

Change blindness is a known phenomenon. People simply don't notice many changes that they're not paying attention to.

Comment author: cwillu 25 May 2011 06:48:45AM 1 point [-]