Many people seem unable to quantify data from everyday life -should there be a name for this phenomenon?

Question

There is a term 'innumeracy', defined as "the inability to deal with simple mathematical concepts". Yet it doesn't seem to describe what I am observing.

Example 1:
- A recent debate on the health effects of soda pop - my opponent claimed an exaggerated diuretic effect from caffeine.
- Regardless of your views on soda pop, my point is that my opponent only had two modes of quantification: 100% and 0%.
- My rejoinder: to understand the effects of caffeine, you need to *quantify* their effects on the human body, something he apparently was incapable of contemplating.

Example 2:
- I posed a question "how much does x affect y in today's society". The responses were from two camps: 1) x has no effect on y, and 2) x completely controls y. No middle ground, i.e. no quantification.

Briefly: some can't quantify observations. And perhaps they don't belive in predictability of the universe - the core of math.

If this phenomenon is worth discussing, we need a pithy term - what should it be?

d64d64 - I'd have to say that the Soviets did approximately 70% of the beating, while the Western Allies did the remaining 30% of it.

Scientificboy_3434 - It is true that most people prefer to spit out an answer without thinking, but I believe this is a related but separate phenomenon.

In particular, I belive that your and my ability to use qutification in everyday life reflects an outlook on life we have acquired from math training, which the artsy folks (or GWB, for example) frequently lack.

Mr Jared - thanks for the compliment. Yes, the quality of answers here is poor, but
1) Phrasing the question itself helps me think more about the issue, and

2) Viewing some of the more thoughtless answers here helps me phrase the question better when I speaking to people whom I care about, and

3) Occasionally I actually learn something here!

BTW, the context of my original question was thinking about how much value math classes really adds to most people's lives.

In daily life, few of us utilize, for example, trigonometry, but some of us learn a different way of thinking. That way of thinking involves using, among other skills, the quantification ability apparently lacking in many of us.

Given that most of us have forgotten our school-learned math by our mid twenties, it would seem more practical to reduce math training, for most people, to provide the quantification skill I am discussing, along with a few other skills. And, of course, basic arithmetic for day-to-day life.

Moblet - wow, that's a great answer. And by the way, I am extremely envious of you being able to work in OR. I hope your managers respect the results of your work!

Answer 1

When I started working in operations research I was given a paper that someone had written about the differences in world view between managers and scientists. One statement I'll never forget was "Scientists recognise every value of probability except 0 and 1. Managers recognise no values of probability except 0 and 1."

Most people on the street think that mathematics is entirely black and white, because at school they were always "right" or "wrong". So when they invoke mathematics in an argument they can only switch between one pole and another. They don't grasp that mathematics is the only language we have for uncertainty, so mathematics is the last place they would look (and the last thing they would believe) when faced with uncertainty.

When you make a statement like "predictability of the universe" a lot of people interpret that to mean that "x controls y controls z", not "z is influenced by a myriad of factors in different ways".

There's also the reluctance to engage with complexity, reflected in trends in the media for the "one-liner".

My suggestion is "polar disorder".

Answer 2

Hahaha, thanks Tom, this is an excellent question. You may have chosen a poor place to ask it however, if your end goal is to elicit even a modicum of competent, insightful responses. But if you must use Y!A, you may want to consider trying your luck under "Psychology".

And if I had to make a stab at an answer myself, I'd have to say the closest phrase we have to describe this phenomenon is "blatant naivete", though it is obviously a much broader term than that of your seeking.

Let me know if any psychologists have a word for this though, it'd be great to know. (Suppose I *could* ask the ol' sis who has a PhD in cognitive psych, but... meh.)

Answer 3

"cynic", because that people doesn't really think about the question, they care only to answer as fast as possible to pass to the next question.

I think that this is not a problem of some people, it's just that some people doesn't think. You know that 9% of Americans doesn't understand "Take 2 pills 2 times a day." They just take 2 pills.

Answer 4

Who beat nazi Germany in ww2? The western allies or the soviets? You have to choose.

Maybe there should be a term.

Answer 5

Republicans or Democrats.

Answer 6

How about....Imadumbass syndrome!