Re:How Swedes were fooled by the book “Surrounded by Idiots”
by oefrha on Thursday January 16, 2020 @10:38AM
(#22065477)
Hah, this reminds me of zodiac signs, which every single non-scientist female friend of mine seems to take very seriously (not sure about male friends since this topic seems to never come up). No wonder it sells.
Re:How Swedes were fooled by the book “Surrounded by Idiots”
by epx on Thursday January 16, 2020 @01:31PM
(#22067387)
And the zodiac signs are also divided in 4 groups (air, fire, earth, water) so it seems the idea of dividing people in 4 quadrants is pretty old.
Re:How Swedes were fooled by the book “Surrounded by Idiots”
by SuoDuanDao on Thursday January 16, 2020 @02:50PM
(#22068167)
I've seen an analysis of the phenomenon where the four elements correspond to 4 major neurotransmitters, with the traits associated with having a lot of one element being pretty close to having a lot of the corresponding neurotransmitter. Maybe there really is a potentially useful means of categorizing people there.
Re:How Swedes were fooled by the book “Surrounded by Idiots”
by type0 on Thursday January 16, 2020 @02:20PM
(#22067865)
What idiot-colors do you think it would corresponds to?
fire - red
water - blue
earth - green
air - yellow
pretty sure it's "scientific"
Re:How Swedes were fooled by the book “Surrounded by Idiots”
by epx on Thursday January 16, 2020 @02:48PM
(#22068144)
I don't know, the only thing I remember is water ~= Pisces ~= melancholic ~= <some color>
Re:How Swedes were fooled by the book “Surrounded by Idiots”
by flingo on Thursday January 16, 2020 @01:44PM
(#22067534)
Have you tried to be a scientist yourself and getting some numbers to test your hypothesis?
Re:How Swedes were fooled by the book “Surrounded by Idiots”
by oefrha on Thursday January 16, 2020 @01:59PM
(#22067683)
I am a scientist myself but unfortunately I have neither the time nor interest to test every little hypothesis of mine, especially outside my field of expertise.
Re:How Swedes were fooled by the book “Surrounded by Idiots”
by tim333 on Thursday January 16, 2020 @10:51PM
(#22071696)
Unlike zodiac signs there probably is some reality to catogrising people as say people oriented or analytic in their typical behaviour in the manner of the Idiots book.
Re:How Swedes were fooled by the book “Surrounded by Idiots”
by netsharc on Thursday January 16, 2020 @09:44AM
(#22064932)
AKA confirmation bias: https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-a-confirmation-bias-279...
Fascinating how it's the same thing "mediums" use to say there's some person speaking to them from beyond the grave, with a message for someone whose name begin with M...
Re:How Swedes were fooled by the book “Surrounded by Idiots”
by coliveira on Thursday January 16, 2020 @11:01AM
(#22065736)
This is also very similar to the horoscope.
Re:How Swedes were fooled by the book “Surrounded by Idiots”
by ajscanlan on Thursday January 16, 2020 @12:00PM
(#22066389)
I believe that's the Barnum effect.
Re:How Swedes were fooled by the book “Surrounded by Idiots”
by n4r9 on Thursday January 16, 2020 @12:29PM
(#22066715)
The UK mentalist Derren Brown has a brilliant example passage of this in his 2007 book "Tricks of the Mind". It was all about what you felt like as a child and your relationship to your parents. Very clever. I remember showing it to a friend at university who became extremely emotional and couldn't believe it wasn't tailored to them.
Re:How Swedes were fooled by the book “Surrounded by Idiots”
by raverbashing on Thursday January 16, 2020 @10:15AM
(#22065239)
Doesn't look too different from most "self-help" books out there.
Re:How Swedes were fooled by the book “Surrounded by Idiots”
by achow on Thursday January 16, 2020 @11:48AM
(#22066242)
Really bizarre that I now only see 26 ratings in the Amazon page, as opposed to 113 that I saw earlier. https://www.amazon.com/Surrounded-Idiots-Behaviour-Understan...
Anyone know what is happening?
Is that the sudden burst of traffic from HN triggered some kind of Amazon's fake review analysis and they took down bunch of reviews?
Re:How Swedes were fooled by the book “Surrounded by Idiots”
by RubberMullet on Thursday January 16, 2020 @03:59PM
(#22068856)
115 when logged in, 25 when logged out.
Re:How Swedes were fooled by the book “Surrounded by Idiots”
by DonaldFisk on Thursday January 16, 2020 @01:55PM
(#22067642)
For me, I get 117 ratings on amazon.co.uk and 26 ratings on amazon.com
Re:How Swedes were fooled by the book “Surrounded by Idiots”
by tim333 on Thursday January 16, 2020 @10:47PM
(#22071680)
I get 117 on .co.uk and 115 on com. I think I'm logged in on both so maybe that's the thing. Going incognito its 117 and 26.
Re:How Swedes were fooled by the book “Surrounded by Idiots”
by polynomial on Thursday January 16, 2020 @12:36PM
(#22066794)
I see 115.
Re:How Swedes were fooled by the book “Surrounded by Idiots”
by dkdklk on Thursday January 16, 2020 @09:59AM
(#22065077)
> Looks like it is not only Sweden but other places as well.
As an American it’s a little reassuring to know that despite some economic advantages, the Swedes are also just a bunch of easily impressionable idiots.
Re:How Swedes were fooled by the book “Surrounded by Idiots”
by type0 on Thursday January 16, 2020 @02:23PM
(#22067886)
It has to be true then, the book author did state that he was surrounded by such.
Re:How Swedes were fooled by the book “Surrounded by Idiots”
by qnsi on Thursday January 16, 2020 @04:37PM
(#22069232)
Yeah, I dont understand the title. Does he think green people are idiots? Because I agree
https://www.amazon.com/Surrounded-Idiots-Behavior-Effectivel...
Excerpt from one of the top review..
The book really helps you to understand why 'blues' ask 100 questions, want to problem solve all the time, always ask for more information, and can be cold and distant instead of being emotional creatures. Yellows on the other hand are always day dreaming, coming up with broad ideas, trying to plan social gatherings and always seemingly have their 'head in the clouds' (this is totally me). Reds can seem really aggressive, very dominant, demanding, and short with those around you, and frankly they can't help it, and greens are very amiable. They agree to everything, but are often afraid to speak their mind.
Looks like it is not only Sweden but other places as well. Seems like easily relatable and digestible like those on Sun Signs and Personality and hence a 'good seller', if not a best seller.