Master_Pedant
Rocky Anderson for President!
Joined: Mar 15, 2009
Posts: 4707
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 Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 11:16 pm Post subject: Ecological Fallacy & Politics |
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Interesting concept....
| Quote: | An ecological fallacy (or ecological inference fallacy, also referred to as the fallacy of division[1][2][3][4][5]) is a logical fallacy in the interpretation of statistical data in an ecological study, whereby inferences about the nature of individuals are based solely upon aggregate statistics collected for the group to which those individuals belong. In epidemiology, the ecological fallacy is committed when a correlation observed at the population level is assumed to apply at the individual level.[6] This fallacy assumes that individual members of a group have the average characteristics of the group at large. However, statistics that accurately describe group characteristics do not necessarily apply to individuals within that group. For a mathematical explanation of this see how variability of individuals is much greater than the variability of their mean.
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In the United States presidential elections of 2000, 2004, and 2008, wealthier states (states with higher per capita incomes) tended to vote Democratic and poorer states tended to vote Republican. Yet wealthier voters tended to vote Republican and poorer voters tended to vote Democratic. For example, in 2004, the Republican candidate, George W. Bush, won the fifteen poorest states, and the Democratic candidate, John Kerry, won 9 of the 11 wealthiest states. Yet 62% of voters with annual incomes over $200,000 voted for Bush, but only 36% of voters with annual incomes of $15,000 or less voted for Bush.[7] |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecological_fallacy
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Joker
Sinn Fein
Joined: Mar 20, 2011
Age: 24
Posts: 7593
Location: North Carolina The Tar Heel State :)
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| Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 11:26 pm Post subject: |
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| America is a huge mystery to me. |
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Master_Pedant
Rocky Anderson for President!
Joined: Mar 15, 2009
Posts: 4707
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John_Browning
ON A LIST SOMEWHERE
Joined: Mar 23, 2009
Posts: 4456
Location: The shooting range
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| Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2012 12:39 am Post subject: |
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The fallacy is assuming that everyone votes to pad their wallet.
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"Gun control is like trying to reduce drunk driving by making it tougher for sober people to own cars."
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"A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity."
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naturalplastic
Phoenix
Joined: Aug 27, 2010
Posts: 4588
Location: mid atlantic coast usa
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| Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2012 7:30 am Post subject: |
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Statistically - the average American has one breast, and one testicle.
But youre saying that we shouldnt expect every individual American that we meet to be built that way.
What a shocking revelation! |
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