Day 271:Do we all like what we think we like? Science behind Choice Manipulation

 

“”If you are doubtful, consider a brilliant study of music downloads. Sociologist Matthew Salganik and his coauthors conclude that there is a lot of serendipity in which music succeeds and which fails, and that small differences in early popularity make a major difference in ultimate success. In business, many people are aware of this point— but not nearly aware enough. They underrate the extent to which success or failure depends on what happens shortly after launch and frequently overrate the contributions of intrinsic merit.

Lev Muchnik, a professor at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and his colleagues carried out an ingenious experiment on a website that displays a diverse array of stories and allows people to post comments, which can in turn be voted up or down. With respect to the posted comments, the website compiles an aggregate score, which comes from subtracting the number of down- votes from the number of up- votes. To put a metric on the effects of social influences, the researchers explored three conditions: (1) “ up- treated,” in which a comment, when it appeared, was automatically and artificially given an immediate up- vote; (2) “ down- treated,” in which a comment, when it appeared, was automatically and artificially given an immediate down- vote; and (3) “control,” in which comments did not receive any artificial initial signal. Millions of site visitors were randomly assigned to one of the three conditions. The question: What would be the ultimate effect of an initial up- vote or down- vote?

You might well think that after so many visitors (and hundreds of thousands of ratings), a single initial vote could not possibly matter. Some comments are good, and some comments are bad, and in the end, quality will win out. It’s a sensible thought, but if you thought it, you would be wrong. After seeing an initial up- vote (and recall that it was entirely artificial), the next viewer became 32 percent more likely also to give an up- vote. What’s more, this effect persisted over time. After five months, a single positive initial vote artificially increased the mean rating of comments by a whopping 25 percent! It also significantly increased turnout (the total number of ratings).””

http://www.salon.com/2015/01/19/you_dont_like_what_you_think_you_like_bad_taste_manipulated_choices_and_the_new_science_of_decision_making/

We like to follow. Since birth we learn how to copy behavior from other humans. We imitate things in our surrounding as we grow up, from learning how to crawl to learning how to walk and talk. And that is still with us till the day we die.

Looking at the research done here we can see what a mayor impact a single upvote can have on a video or an article or even a comment, where an upvote means that the next person will most likely upvote the article or video or comment simply because somebody else did. And funny enough – big business knows this about us and exploits it, yet we ourselves are not even aware of it. How many artists and songs that were and are popular got there based simply on successful early Artificial popularity boost?

This means that the things we like and upvote in life and on the internet is not just because we actually like it, but because somebody ( or something ) else liked it and simply followed. This brings to question just how many of our choices in our lives are truly independent – truly our own? Do I really like this or do I like it because somebody else did?

Bestseller “ Boy who came from heaven” – admits he made it all up…

 

Alex Malarkey was in a car accident that left him paralyzed and in a 2 month long coma when he was 6 years old. The book he wrote with his father is the “true story” of events that unfolded during that time where he went to heaven.

In an open letter for the Pulpit and Pen blog, the now teenaged Alex stated, “I did not die. I did not go to Heaven. I said I went to heaven because I thought it would get me attention. When I made the claims that I did, I had never read the Bible. People have profited from lies, and continue to. They should read the Bible, which is enough. The Bible is the only source of truth. Anything written by man cannot be infallible.” I will not go into the fact that the bible was also written by man.

A great deal of profit was made from this book and others like it – what Alex experienced is something called “heavenly tourism” and the Christian industry is cashing it in. People find this very interesting and with good reason, because nobody knows what happens when we die and to read about brings comfort. But even if you did believe this account of Alex’s story to be the absolute truth – it should not be a surprise that it was a lie. Alex was a 6 years old kid and suffered major brain trauma.

From salon article:

“…Pulpit and Pen has posted emails suggesting that LifeWay president Thom Rainer received direct information months ago that “Alex does not support this book.” Note that Alex’s mother Beth – who is now divorced from his father — wrote last April that “Alex was a kid with major brain trauma which alone should raise questions as to validity,” and that “Alex’s name and identity are being used against his wishes (I have spoken before and posted about it that Alex has tried to publicly speak out against the book), on something that he is opposed to and knows to be in error according to the Bible.”” –

http://www.salon.com/2015/01/16/boy_who_came_back_from_heaven_he_didnt_go_to_heaven_after_all/

I am not going to go into the delusion of religion – my main point here in this blog is that here you have a Christian publishing industry exploiting a child and then trying to keep the poor kid from coming clean – all for the profit motive. People made allot of money using this child by exploiting people’s beliefs even though they knew the book was a lie. As long as the book sells it’s all that matters.

The writer of the salon article ended with a very cool question:

“And if heaven were real, I’d question today who, in the very lucrative and dubious world of Christian celestial tourism, would actually deserve a ticket to it — and who would be turned away.”

2015 “Sia – Elastic Heart” Video is NOT perverted – no need to apologize

 

While I was browsing the web I came across a post titled “Sia has nothing to apologize for: Her “Elastic Heart” video isn’t perverted”.  What I found when I finally watched the video was something I did not expect.

It seems the Internet did what the Internet does (blow things out of proportion) and people complained that Sia’s new music video is about pedophilia. I watched the video and it has absolutely nothing to do with pedophilia. Sia took to twitter and apologized for “those who felt triggered” to the video. I agree with article above – she has nothing to apologize for.

The Music video actually has a good message. Let’s compare it with the usual popular videos of today – for example Anaconda. I did not see the Internet go crazy and complaining about half naked women shaking their asses to a song about a Penis and an Ass.

Sia’s Music video is one of the good ones. I'm not really into the “arty fartsy” stuff, but when I watched this video I was truly surprised. In the Video you have the scruffy and adult and the child in a big cage. This cage represents the Limitations we place within ourselves. You can say that this cage, the adult and the child are in one person’s mind.

The child represents the freedom and innocence, the limitless childlike expression. In the video the child is not bound by the cage, she is free to leave the cage. What is interesting is that the adult is also easily able to leave the cage, but believes he is forever stuck in this cage. And that is what the child is trying to show the adult.

There is sad part in the end (yes, spoiler) where the kid takes the hand of the adult and leads him to leave this self-created cage of limitation – showing the potential of change, but he then gives up and chooses to stay trapped in this cage.

How many of us go through a similar experience? We are at a point of change within ourselves but then at the last moment decide to give up and not change? Or how many of us have been at a point that required just a little more pushing to get through it, but then stayed trapped in the cage we created. This cage is not real – that part of ourselves – the childlike expression that is free of limitation is still within us.

Don’t get stuck in this cage – realize the potential of change and that you do have the power to push through and realize that this cage of limitation within us that keeps us from changing – it’s not real.

Don’t give up – Break the limitations

Born into Music - Projecting Your Desires onto your Children

 

I read a blog called “ how to create a child prodigy” that is about what choice children have for themselves to choose a life direction in a very young age. For example some parents force their children into taking lessons for an instrument at the age of 3. The movie “ SHINE” is an example of a parent who wanted his son to be a master pianist and pushed him into it his whole life. In these cases it is the parents projecting their desires onto their children.

This all led me to question – why am I a Musician?

My mother played the piano her whole – she played it when she was young and throughout the years. She played while she was pregnant with me and when I was born she played it still. There was always that link between my mother and the piano so I was naturally inclined to the piano as my first instrument. And I really liked playing the piano. I was never forced into it, It was not like I went for lessons at a young age or forced to sit and practice for hours and hours on end, I liked playing it and wanted to learn more. I was always quick to learn and people always said I was talented.

Back then I did not understand the reason why I liked it, but now when I look back at the reason it was because I wanted to be appreciated/valued. Every time I played for people they would cheer me on and say how good I am so that was my primary motivation – to be liked.

So for me the reason why I became a musician was because I was born into it, It made people appreciate me and it reminded me of my mother and that’s the reason I liked playing the piano.

Within all this I would say I’m lucky, because I have met people in my life who were forced to become better and better with a particular instrument and who had to practice many hours all to fulfill the parents dreams and ambitions. I did not have to deal with all that crap.

Music is self-expression. Something you do because you truly enjoy it. It is not something you should force onto a child. Too many parents want to shape their children according to the parent’s desires. The parents made mistakes in life or regretted not doing something and thus want to try and live through their children. Here is a quote from the blog above:

“A child should have the opportunity to explore and investigate and experience as much as possible so that they can find out what it is they do like - in this way the child has the best opportunity to make an informed decision for themselves. - See more at: http://activistsjourneytolife.blogspot.com/2014/09/day-591-how-to-create-child-prodigy.html#sthash.2u6n0m5t.dpuf’’

Word.