Throwing Darts at Intuition
Every now and then I come across an article which amazes me at what it doesn’t say or what it assumes. This article is a case in point. It comes from physorg.com. (subheading; science: physics : tech : nano : news) Apparently it refers to University of Missouri-Columbia Professor Laura King’s research into how mood and intuition can affect a person’s beliefs.
Now that, by itself, would be stirring stuff and have me up until all hours avidly reading and generally feeling good about myself. However, and alas!! It all turns out to be disappointing.
How about this for a sentence: “When you’re in a good mood and more intuitive, you’re open-minded, creative and engaged in what appears to be reality,” King said. “You make non-rational associations.”
Oooh! How can she tell what is reality? And what gives her the right anyway?
Ach!! I’m quibbling here.
After some practice dart throws where the participants were told that later they would be asked to throw at targets for money they were then presented with a baby’s face on the dartboard.
Surprisingly, few people actually hit the target. Those who were in an intuitive mood had the most difficulty.
Does anything about this strike you as odd? Or, to ask it another way…Does anything about this strike you as normal?
Let’s see, throwing darts at babies’ faces…..hmmm. Deciding who’s in an intuitive mood……hmmmm. Deciding what’s real….hmmm.
The last word to King… “It’s as if people believed that somewhere a baby was screaming because darts were hitting the baby in the face,” King said. Well, maybe there’s also some inbuilt prejudice about throwing stuff at small kids??? Maybe King was desperate to be published, get a grant, get home or whatever.
Whatever the real reason behind this strange setup, I can only say that trying to tag intuition into this mess may do wonders for a research grant, but it does very little at all for intuition.
I have come across some peculiar ideas at times, but there’s not much stranger than this.
But, don’t worry folks. It’s science so it must be OK.
Give me a break!
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