Category: Wanderings

I know why the Daily Mail’s news sticks in our heads

Akshat RathiLeave a comment

If you are a reader of newspapers in the UK and are interested in reading science news then you will also know the Daily Mail (or the Daily Hate, as some people like to call it). The reason why it is famous is not because it does really great science news, but because it does exactly the opposite. To give you a taste of what some people think of it, here is a review:

The Daily Mail is an awful, awful paper. Will happily skew the facts to make Britain out to be a country swimming with knife-wielding immigrants, benefit cheats and general disorder, turning readers into frightened reactionaries. Regularly get pulled up by media watchdogs because of journalism that is anecdotal, twisted or just plain made up. I find it dictatorial in its opinions at others, I believe there’s no newspaper which has a more dangerous effect on British society.

But my point is not to defame the Daily Mail, there are many who do it and it still enjoys a really large readership. I want to tell you about a piece of research that I read about which might explain why the Daily Mail’s headlines (or even the content) stick in your head. The short answer is hard-to-read fonts.

Researchers from Princeton University found that ‘ideas published in hard-to-read fonts are difficult to learn but easier to remember’. Futurity reports:

In the first, 28 participants between the ages of 18 and 40 were brought to a lab at Princeton and asked to learn about extraterrestrials, to limit the amount of already known information that could influence the test.The material was presented in either easy or challenging fonts. The subjects were given 90 seconds to memorize information about the aliens, distracted for 15 minutes and then tested. Those who read about the aliens in an easy-to-read font (16-point Arial pure black) answered correctly 72.8 percent of the time, compared to 86.5 percent of those who reviewed the material in hard-to-read fonts (12-point Comic Sans MS or Bondoni MT in a lighter shade).

Apart from all the fear mongering tactics that the Daily Mail uses, these fonts might be one big reason why people tend to remember what the Mail said more that what the Times said!

PS: I am not the first person to think that they use difficult fonts, see this.

How I got over and done with this ridiculous concept of karma

Akshat Rathi10 Comments

My post on karma created quite a stir amongst many of the readers of this blog. I am also aware that there is much anticipation for the post that describes how I transformed my belief system. Not to disappoint anyone of you but my explanation is not based on any grand theories. As you will find out, our manifestation of karma, as it is perceived largely amongst the society, is because of a simple folly of human nature – our tendency to be affected by biases….

There is some evidence that our brains may be wired in such a way that we can never avoid certain mistakes. No, I am not kidding. In such cases, there is no learning curve such that you may learn to avoid them. We are certain to make a few of the same mistakes, over and over again. Yes, welcome to the world of biases!

What is a bias? A bias is a non-rational factor that systematically pushes one’s beliefs in some domain in one direction or very simply put, a bias refers to a specific, predictable error pattern in the human mind. All human beings suffer from many types of biases all the time.

Do you think the car you own is the best in its class of cars? Well that is because of the choice-supportive bias.

How many times have you thought that you will finish something in a certain amount time but have repeatedly failed to do so? Yeah, I know you have been there. It is because of the optimism bias or the planning fallacy.

In the Google age have you searched for something and then realised that it did not really help you but you would do it again anyway? or you have done a particular medical test even though you were told that it will not really benefit your diagnosis? Well that is because of the information bias.

Do you think you are a more rational person and less susceptible to these biases? Well that is because of the bias blind spot.

Do you think I am wrong and that you truly are less susceptible to biases? Well that is because of the confirmation bias.

I can go on and on with examples. Each one of you will have suffered from more than one of these biases (I suspect, many times) in your life. I am pointing out these biases only to make you aware that it’s a combination of these biases which have lead me to have a continued belief in karma as it is portrayed in the Indian society.

To be able to change my belief system, I had to take a step back and observe myself. I had to look at my daily activities, observe my reactions to events and analyse them as carefully as possible. I had to put in special efforts to rid myself of biases and once I was able to do that it was not hard to see what was wrong with my assumptions in the first place.

From my previous post you will see that my concept of karma wasn’t taught to me by reading some religious text but was passed down to me as an ideology. This kind of bandwagon effect or more exposure effect, which is the same that leads us Indians to believe in cricket as a religion rather than baseball or like Amitabh Bachchan much more than Sean Connery or Harrison Ford.

Then somewhere along the way I transformed my views of karma to suit my needs. I made it in to something that agreed with the kind of efforts-lead-to-good-results theory that we have all been exposed to through out our school education. Remember the story of Mahatma Gandhi or Bhagat Singh? I am not saying that these stories gave us any wrong ideas. As a matter of fact I am proud to have grown up reading about these great men but you can see why I would equate effort with karma points. And I’d class this as the result of choice-supportive bias.

And as this ideology pervaded my being, I was under the illusion of control. I thought about all the injustice in our society and started believing that karma will prevail and that the culprits will be punished. It made me a passive observer of all that around me, and if at all I was enraged, karma doused the fire within.

My choice of friends, clearly a confirmation bias. My reasons to keep believing in the theory and ignoring events that did not conform with my ideology, a status quo bias. And just like before, I can go on giving examples of how different biases played a role in my belief of karma. I think I have made my point. I am not trying to say that I was being affected by all these biases all the time. But it isn’t very easy to defeat an ideology like that of karma when there are so many biases that are bent on defeating you on your way out.

The success stories of our times

Akshat Rathi2 Comments

I’ve always loved reading the Readers’ Digest. Thanks to my mum and dad who have subscribed to it for the past twenty years. Apart from all the well-picked and topical articles, I always enjoyed reading their interviews. Recently, Suchitra sent me a link to an interview of Will Smith which was published in RD sometime ago. And after having read an RD interview after such a long time, I felt like reading more of them. I am sharing the most interesting bits of the interviews that I read:

Will Smith

RD: Have you ever thought about going back to college?
Smith: The things that have been most valuable to me I did not learn in school. Traditional education is based on facts and figures and passing tests — not on a comprehension of the material and its application to your life.

RD: Some would say there’s no reason to stay if a marriage isn’t good.
Smith: Once you say that, you’ve lost. With Jada, I stood up in front of God and my family and friends and said, “Till death do us part.”

RD: So getting to where you are is all just about running hard?
Smith: Most people you are going to be in competition with are not gonna give 100 percent.

RD: You work harder than the next guy?
Smith: I consider myself to be of basically average talent, right? What I have that other people do not have is a sick, obsessive, raw animal drive.

Jon Bon Jovi

RD: But then again you are always looking for new responsibilities.
JBJ: I never was one to rest on yesterday’s successes. I’m much more motivated to find new challenges.

RD: How do you feel today about your very first job selling women’s shoes? Is it something you’re ashamed of?
JBJ: Not at all

Michael J Fox

RD: You joke in your new book that you are fortunate to have married someone — actress Tracy Pollan — who is smarter and better looking than you. Do you think marital bliss boils down to that one choice: marrying the right person?
MJF:Obviously, that’s fundamental. But the key to our marriage is the capacity to give each other a break. And to realize that it’s not how our similarities work together; it’s how our differences work together. The least amount of judging we can do, the better off we are.

RD: Your last book, Always Looking Up, was about optimism. It’s the rare person who is as positive as you are. What’s your prescription for dealing with really negative, difficult people?
MJF: I think the scariest person in the world is the person with no sense of humor. I would say be patient with people who are negative, because they’re really having a hard time.

Hilary Swank

RD: Who instilled you with that belief in yourself?
Swank: My mom. She said, “You can do anything you want in life, Hilary, as long as you work hard enough. Don’t take no for an answer.” She didn’t want me to be afraid of taking life by the reins and making the most of it.

RD: There’s a lesson in that, right?
Swank: If you go into life with a good attitude, you’ll get more out of it.

Harrison Ford

RD: Your movies have grossed $3 billion. Is money all it’s cracked up to be?
Ford: Money is really only important if you don’t have any

Uma Thurman

Thurman: The purest relationship I have ever had, aside from with my children, is with my work. Whatever you give it, it gives you back double. That’s an unusual kind of relationship

RD: You’ve been at this for 20 years. Do you ever get tired of it?
Thurman: I’ve always approached work as a worker. Whatever it takes — endurance, discipline, practice, repetition, courage, working through it — I just have always been willing to pull myself up and try again. I’ve never taken success for granted.

Tom Cruise

RD: You’re lucky.
Cruise: I know.

Ok I admit these were all celebrity interviews. But I hope you enjoyed them nevertheless. 🙂