What are examples of counterintuitive? This is the so-called Simpson's . COPYRIGHT 2005-2023 Cracked is published by Literally media Ltd., How Hugh Grant Found New Life in Guy Ritchie Action-Comedies, Jeff Bridges Dude-est Roles That Arent The Dude, Best Retired South Park Characters And If They Should Return, 15 Riveting Items of Trivia That Fell Into Our Laps This Week, 34 COUNTERINTUITIVE FACTS FROM THE WORLD OF SCIENCE, 15 Incredible Inventions That Were, Technically, Gigantic Failures, 5 Elaborate Mysterious Projects Carried Out Literally Underground, 15 Trivia Tidbits About Trailer Park Boys, 15 Bits Of Trivia So Powerful, They Would Have Instantly Vaporized Our Ancestors, Every Purposefully Corny Joke from Norm Macdonalds Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget, Ranked, I Was the Bowling Consultant on The Big Lebowski. Yet many psychological studies have reported findings that are absolutely counterintuitive and that seem illogical. 10. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Does putting water in a smoothie count as water intake? Somehow, gum made out of tree bark is still softer than Bazooka. Most students will correctly say that to freeze a liquid, you need to cool it. 'Skydiving' is a pastime and while the main event is 'jumping out of a perfectly good aeroplane' it also includes the bit where you and some friends sit around on the ground and decide to charter that very plane. Because chances are very good that they did. I agree that exceptions to good goes with good are often interesting, but not necessarily because they are counterintuitive. Be wary of scientific "facts" that are untrue (unlike the very real 34 on just this list). Reference-frame invariance of the speed of light. Bad news that cult recovery group just might be a cult, Theres a little bit of The Dude in a lot of Jeff Bridges performances, The English actor found the good side of being bad. It can be loosely stated that the particle that looped around and came back is not the "same particle" that left, since they have different topological character. Counterintuitive is one reason. So, the temperature stays constant. Attributing any disaster to a century-long trend is very hard to prove. Part of the problem is the mismatch between scientific terms and their common use. But in social and personality psychology we study phenomena that regular people reflect on and speculate about too. You don't say who you're target audience is, so it's hard to tell. But big scientific discoveries are by nature counterintuitive and sometimes shocking. Counterintuitive, right? There are no "machine values.". You need some fancy equipment, like a thing that makes a cohesive beam of photons and a thing that splits a cohesive beam of photons, but other than that its not impossible to do in your home lab. Ultimately, everything in the universe will drift farther and farther apart until the universe is uniformly cold and desolate. A number of experimental psychology studies have found support for Boyer's hypothesis. When treating someone badly makes him like you more instead of less, this is an example of something that is counterintuitive. Posts should be pertinent, meme-free, and generate a discussion about physics. Here's a 1974 example from the American Philosophical Quarterly in which "counterintuitive" describes a dubious situation: "The formulas offered by Day lead to results so counter-intuitive that they had best be called simply false.". The Bible gives a good general principle: Test all things; hold fast what is good (I Thessalonians 5:21). Cognitive science. So let me get this straight: you're writing a report in which you are breaking the news to your clients that their goals have been wrong, and you wish to soften this news with some examples of how other people have been wrong? to ask them what their predictions would be about our main study in our 2008 paper (Vazire & Mehl, JPSP). The concept of extinction took a while to sink in. Environmental activists and vegans want to reduce the impact of beef production. Ask a student to pour a little cold water over the flask and read the resulting temperature. Something that is counter-intuitive does not happen in the way you would expect it to: 2. Even as an adult, I am constantly confronted with new scientific advancements and discoveries that don't always line up with my preconceived notions. First of all, you need to understand what does counterintuitive mean. Our feeble minds can barely scratch the surface of existence, the cosmos, and . Are counterintuitive findings more valuable? It's just something that's easy to observe in a real experiment because the enthalpy of fusion is much greater than the enthalpy of heating (for a lack of a better term). Counterintuitive means contrary to what seems intuitively right or correct. information, these science educators strategically resort to examples and problems designed to defy students' intuitive thinking. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Ritual sacrifice is described in the Bible, Greek mythology and the Norse sagas, and the Romans accused many of the people they conquered of engaging in ritual sacrifice, but the evidence was thin. Then you should sit for an hour - Zen proverb. A counterintuitive proposition is one that does not seem likely to be true when assessed using intuition or gut feelings. This is easy to work out with Bernoulli's principle, but you also need to make use of the continuity equation to work it out, which states: A_1v_1= A_2v_2 A1v1 = A2v2. It has long been believed by the medical and scientific community that the gender identity of . This article and paper from the USDA Forest Service argues that wildfires and droughts have always been a part of California ecology, and that prescribed burns and forest thinning are best for preventing bark beetle damage that contributes to out-of-control fires. (Military) intelligence collected about enemy espionage. Read our privacy policy. There again is the problem of unknowns, and of unknown unknowns. Today, according to many biologists, were in the midst of a sixth great extinction. There's that Galileo who said heavy things don't fall faster than light things. But big scientific discoveries are by nature counterintuitive and sometimes shocking. Mating decisions are based partly on smell. Ask students for their theories about melting, freezing and boiling. ~45 kJ/mol vs ~.08 kJ/molK (~8 kJ/mol to get from boiling point to freezing point at STP). In 1948, the Framingham Heart Study enrolled more than 5,000 residents of Framingham, Massachusetts, to participate in a long-term study of risk factors for heart disease. Anyone can plainly see that the Sun and stars rise in the east, sweep across the sky and set in the west; the Earth feels stable and stationary. It takes honesty and courage to report findings that dont make sense or go against common knowledge.. Concubines were sacrificed in China to be eternal companions; certain Indian sects required human sacrifices. There is enough DNA in the average person's body to stretch from the sun to Pluto and back 17 times. Third year of physics, and the first time I heard that, it boggled my mind, still kinda does, but I'm more used to it now. Is this theoretical or can one make an experiment to show this effect? A graphical representation of the unified trust distribution mechanism is shown in Fig. The temperature will stay constant while the liquid solidifies. Of course, it does not have to be thatway. The aim of /r/Physics is to build a subreddit frequented by physicists, scientists, and those with a passion for physics. What if we talked about p-hacking the way we talk about experimentereffects? But you set it up in such a way that you can throw away the information about which slit the photon went through. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Brokers love to use this one to their advantage. Every once in a while, a dolt drops a gem. In social and personality psychology that isthe majority of what we are studying. If you are willing to push through a bit of added stress in the short term . Here are 13 counterintuitive business truths I've come to know, even if I can't exactly explain why they make sense. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Counterintuitive definition: Contrary to what intuition or common sense would indicate. Information about your use of this website will be shared with Google and other third parties. MiigPT 7 yr. ago. that warm water will freeze faster than cold water. 1. It must be curtailed! Simple, yet counterintuitive mathematics | Why numbers don't always mean what you think youtu.be/xHjQhliXUB0. It leaves little room in the public consciousness for social scientific work that is incremental, for work that shores up and teases apart, for work that complicates, for work on the boundary conditionsthose fragile social and mental habitats upon which decisions turn. But if, after the experiment, you go back and erase the information about which slit each photon went through, then the interference pattern magically appears on the screen. Special relativity, then, is a perfectly reasonable and elegent way to formalize this notion. Cultures as diverse as the Babylonians, Han Dynasty China, and the Maya each developed sophisticated belief systems and mathematics to divine the purported influence of the planets and stars on people's personalities and events on Earth ( Boxer, 2020 ). So the "intuitive" in counterintuitive could refer to the intuitions of experts. Natural disasters like hurricanes and wildfires are often attributed by the media to global warming. Scientific method involves proposing a theory, and then testing its validity by experiment. What prevents the temperature dropping further until the liquid is completely frozen? Here you can ask any question you have about being a scientist, what's new in a field, what's going to happen in a field, or are curious about how we got to this point. Half fill a funnel with small ice cubes or crushed ice. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. Laura Helmuth Read the temperature; a little below 100oC, so the water has stopped boiling. Trigger freezing by stirring, or seeding with a small ice fragment. One can win or lose for the wrong reason. What is the most surprising and counterintuitive finding in science that you can think of? Simine Vazire has a great post contemplating how we should evaluate counterintuitive claims. This is experimentally shown. Bond formation releases energy, counteracting the energy removed by the iced water. To reach their conclusions, the team carried out a life cycle analysis of five types of bags to evaluate the environmental impacts associated with their production, distribution, transportation, waste collection, treatment, and end-of-life disposal. I guess I never really thought about the first one, but it is really weird. Something that came up in another thread, the Mpemba effect i.e. It does not store any personal data. CEH has not analyzed the conclusions of Gnter Kampf in this Letter to PNAS. Counterintuitive claim: Prices are determined by supply and demand. Testing hypotheses by experiment is supposed to be the hallmark of science. The world will end in a whimper. Here are just a few of those craziest facts out there! The world is round but the universe is flat. By: Shea September 09, 2020. . For example, with 1,000 variables, there are almost half a million (1,000x999/2) potential pairs of variables that might appear correlated by pure chance alone. You can accomplish more if you work less and sleep more. In a final example of counterintuitive findings, Live Science now claims that brain size didn't . In front of your students, half fill the flask with tap water. But who would have thought that rain moves mountains? Why dont we ask our colleaguesto back up their claims of being counterintuitive with data? But if, after the experiment, you go back and erase the information about which slit each photon went through, then the interference pattern magically appears on the screen. The human genome (the genetic code in each human cell) contains 23 DNA molecules . In this article, the author explores how tackling concepts from an . Dont trust your intuitions. A couple of coins for the ferryman? There is general agreement that it refers to a violation of previously held knowledge, but the precise definition seems to vary with every author and study. Antibiotics and vaccines have saved millions of lives; without these wonders of modern medicine, many of us would have died in childhood of polio, mumps or smallpox. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGXqFOO8utA. The ability to appreciate and understand nature is just the sort of thing that is supposed to make us special, but instead it allowed us to realize that were merely a recent variation on the primate body plan. Our finding highlights the mathematical inexactness of ZT . Although if you didn't enjoy science classes at school, it's difficult not to be astonished by scientific facts as an adult. A look at a few examples of counter-intuitive conclusions will illustrate these problems. What?!? Was the double-slit experiment counterintuitive? Frequency: The definition of counterintuitive is something that goes against what you believe would be logical, or something that goes against common sense. NTU Singapore scientists report that plastic bags could be eco-friendlier than paper and cotton bags in cities like Singapore, Removal of dairy cows may reduce essential nutrient supply with little effect on greenhouse gas emissions, Thinning and prescribed fire treatments reduce tree mortality, Protective effect of mandatory face masks in the publicrelevant variables with likely impact on outcome were not considered, Ground-breaking discovery finally proves rain really can move mountains, The Bible gives a good general principle: Test all things; hold fast what is good (. And when you are talking about something that (a)people reflect on and wonder about and (b) is not already well settled, then chances are pretty good that people have had multiple, potentially contradictory ideas about it. In my opinion, quantum mechanics by far. Explanations may be beyond most at age 1114, but the experiments can still be fun. The trigger words exciting breakthrough should signal caution. Things that taste good are bad for you. A look at a few examples of counter-intuitive conclusions will illustrate these problems. Im not at all surprised you thought of this before I did. Starting Early: The Benefits of Teaching Counterintuitive Concepts in Childhood. These ideas, be it physics or biology . If you detect which slit the photons go through, you dont get any interference pattern. After all, we are the field that specializes in measuring and explaining peoples intuitions. This website uses cookies and similar technologies to deliver its services, to analyse and improve performance and to provide personalised content and advertising. There have been mass extinctions in the past, and were probably in one now. (of an idea, proposal, etc) seemingly contrary to common sense. Contrary to most students expectations, the temperature will drop. If something is counterintuitive it means it's the opposite of "intuitive" in other words, it's not easily understood in an instinctive, unconscious way. There are millions of examples that pop into my mind about this theory. A recent accumulation of archaeological findings from around the world shows that it was surprisingly common for people to ritually killand sometimes eatother people. How many (and whose) lives would you bet on yourtheory? Running Amazon away in the name of poor people seems, To the couples and friends gathered for a night out under the glitter of a giant disco ball, this may seem, Taking a probiotic with supper or a bigger meal may appear to be, Post the Definition of counterintuitive to Facebook, Share the Definition of counterintuitive on Twitter. Plastic waste is a global shame. There are human values, which are reliant on soft skills. I'm not saying that we need to teach the undergrads QFT to make them understand, but you can give them a little, "if you take QFT you'll see how spin pops out of the classical theory of fields before you even make them quantum!" So when we started reading about these "facts" that are supposedly counterintuitive, we just couldn't believe them. Say youre about to die and are packing some supplies for the afterlife. As Simine points out, many people in psychology say that counterintuitive findings are more valuable so clearly there is an incentive to frame things that way. One must not just take the word of a powerful consensus. Paleontologists have identified five points in Earths history when, for whatever reason (asteroid impact, volcanic eruptions and atmospheric changes are the main suspects), mass extinctions eliminated many or most species. Terms of Use counterintuitive events is an effective way of engaging students in exploring science; such events motivate and involve students in solving problems with a high degree of creativity and critical thinking. How to use counterintuitive in a sentence. The Big Bang was a quantum event and the universe at one time was as tiny as a quantum particle. In any case, Sowey's characterization of striking examples groups together "counterintuitive" examples (such as example 3 in his Section 4.2) and "intuitive" examples/analogies (such as example 6a in Section 4.6 or example 1 in Section 4.5). And here's an example from the April 1979 issue of Scientific American that describes a factual . However in the Kondo effect you see the opposite, the resistivity actually starting going up as you get colder. Charles Darwinstarted life as a creationistand only gradually came to realize the significance of the variation he observed in his travels aboard theBeagle. But being counterintuitive for counterintuitives sake? Many interesting behind-the-scenes bits have happened during the 20 years of telling tales about our favorite trailer-park residents. The universe might be uncaused. Part of the problem is the mismatch between scientific terms and their common use. Bad news that cult recovery group just might be a cult. Sure, some tasty things are healthyblueberries, snow peas, nuts and maybe even (oh, please) red wine. It is because that 2-Points and 3-Points have different weights in the two players' stats, so a direct comparison cannot be made. I hate it and will tell you why in 5 minutes. When the Coen Brothers needed someone to show The Dude how to really roll, they could turn to only one man: Hall of Fame professional bowler Barry Asher, Below you, an entire other world operates. For me, its got to be the delayed choice quantum eraser experiment. Did the funder lean on the researchers to get a favorable result for dairy farmers? Since these researchers are moyboys, readers should take that into account. No one can explain why anything happens down there, and there might not be an answer. Once recorded on the screen it is no longer in superposition. And not only expanding, but expanding faster and faster. For present purposes, suffice it to say that he believes some of the scientists pushing mandatory face masks overlooked some relevant factors. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Accountable replications at Royal Society Open Science: A model for scientificpublishing, The replication price-drop in socialpsychology, Reflections on SIPS (guest post by Neil Lewis,Jr.), Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science. Counterintuitive. Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/counterintuitive. It has been said that the path to hell is paved with good intentions. And there's the first part of Newton's very first law: Bodies in motion remain in m. This is a simple demonstration, but even post-16 students often struggle to explain the results. Our analysis reveals that student success in arriving at counter-intuitive . 2 What is another word for counterintuitive? Removing energy from the surroundings causes cooling, so the temperature drops. The definition of counterintuitive is something that goes against what you believe would be logical, or something that goes against common sense. Removal of dairy cows may reduce essential nutrient supply with little effect on greenhouse gas emissions (Phys.org). Check out these facts that are just plain counterintuitive you'll be surprised at some of the things people do every day! The waters temperature is now above its new, lower boiling point, so it boils again. The temperature drops as expected, but the water unexpectedly boils again for a while. Clamp the funnel above a beaker. 2.In Fig. Are they just keeping silent about conflicts of interest? Every once in a while, a dolt drops a gem. 0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic. 2. Something that is counter-intuitive does not happen in the way you would expect it to: 2. Beyond the reach of formal theory, scientists develop educated guesses, hunches, and speculations based on their knowledge and experience. From the decisions we make to the way we deal with people, life is full of lessons that are completely counterintuitive. Ever since the late 19th century, physicists have known about a counterintuitive property of some electric circuits called negative resistance. To address this issue, this study examines high school students . "If we want to know how the brain makes memory and uses memory, we need to make people do things like learn stuff and then remember it. 1. The research team found that the global warming potential of a single-use kraft paper bag was the highest, over 80 times that of reusable plastic bags. Normally things contract, which makes intuitive sense. Answer (1 of 2): Counterintuitive scientific theories? The meaning of COUNTERINTUITIVE is contrary to what one would intuitively expect. Mastering a new skill means more stress now but more happiness later. Things can get worse before getting better, or vice versa. This is your Brain on Psychology This is your Psychology on Brain (a guest post by RobChavez), Data analysis is thinking, data analysis istheorizing. The paper in the Journal of Dairy Science says that Research was supported by Dairy Management Inc. (Rosemont, IL) and asserts that The authors have not stated any conflicts of interest. What does that mean? Re: What are the most surprising and counterintuitive findings in science? Cookie Policy This might occur in instances where intuition changes with knowledge. For example, it would sound odd to say some event in the Andromeda Galaxy caused a car to crash. The purpose of this study was to develop a theoretical model for the use of counterintuitive examples in the introductory non-calculus-based statistics course at the college level. They performed experiments on bags. Professor White added, Production of some essential nutrients, such as calcium and many vitamins, decreased under all reallocation scenarios that decreased greenhouse gas emissions, making the dairy removal scenarios suboptimal for feeding the US population.. In fact, there are a lot of things that people do every day that defy all logic. Likewise, a series of short arti-cles on counter intuitive problems can be found This doesn't really belong in this thread with the hard science examples, but I think it's a nice little verbal/logic trick to drop on people at a dinner party. how we should evaluate counterintuitive claims. Plot temperature against time. Steak, salty French fries, eggs Benedict, triple-fudge brownies with whipped creamturns out theyre killers. Are some things just better left unknown? This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Science seems to always challenge our intuitive understanding of the world. Below you, an entire other world operates, Many interesting behind-the-scenes bits have happened during the 20 years of telling tales about our favorite trailer-park residents. Learn more. What is the most surprising and counterintuitive finding in science that you can think of? This points out the need to test the statements of scientists. Maybe; maybe not. Common sense does not always follow this route, and may include social biases, assumptions, and even a lack of facts. Place the clamp stand and inverted flask in a sink or trough. Student cognition in response to intuitive and counterintuitive stimuli in the school science curriculum is not well understood. Example: "What do you eggheads mean this wall is mostly empty space at a molecular level. The mechanics of climate change arent that complex: we burn fossil fuels; a byproduct of that burning is carbon dioxide; it enters the atmosphere and traps heat, warming the surface of the planet. A heavier object does fall faster. So true! University of Chicago cosmologist Michael S. Turner ranks dark energy as the most profound mystery in all of science.. What possible sources of error can you identify? Im reminded of the description of Steven Levitt as a rogue economist, a characterization that seems inappropriate to me, given that he received his Ph.D. from MIT, holds the title of Alvin H. Baum Professor at the University of Chicago, and has served as editor of the completely mainstream Journal of Political Economy. At lower pressures, liquids boil at lower temperatures. IE throughout learning undergraduate quantum mechanics you hear "spin is a completely quantum mechanical phenomenon that doesn't exist outside of quantum mechanics." Which includes ourselves, since social and personality psychologists are all human beings too. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. counterintuitive counterintuitive Add to list Share. When thats your multiplier, you dont need much massa smidgen of plutonium is plentyto create enough energy to destroy a city. You're not alone! The mass-independent pendulum's period of oscillation is a consequence of the same pull from the force of gravity to every object regardless of its mass. If I walk into it's solid, and I can't see through it. counterintuitive. It's like trying to plunge your hand into a (hypothetical) fluid in liquid state and one that is starting to freeze and get denser. Bobs never bought Christmas seals he told me he wouldnt know what to feed them. . Suppose Im promoting a research idea. Wtf is going on down there!? But our love affair comes at a cost. Very few scholars saw it as a real description of the universe.. Science seems to always challenge our intuitive understanding of the world. The first truth actually relates to that very subject: the how and why of . The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". When it comes to QM, however, I agree completely. Some temperature changes are counter-intuitive, as can be shown by simple investigations. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. In our day-to-day lives we often speak of cause and effect as if there was a distance constraint. Get the best of Cracked sent directly to your inbox! The screen does not change. Science itself is counterintuitive. At room temperature, the thiosulfate is a supercooled liquid it is below its freezing point, but has remained liquid. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. When a liquid solidifies, bonds form between the particles (in this case, cyclohexane molecules). Don't be surprised if none of them want the spotl One goose, two geese. There are many other examples of counterintuitive occurrences in nature and science. The gauge shift comes from the particle looping around a topological defect (the magnetic field threading the plane, effectively making the space into a punctured plane), in effect changes the topological quantum number (electric/magnetic charge) of the particle, since the punctured plane is not homotopically trivial.