I’ve been approaching that view myself, more and more, but I don’t think I’ve seen this talked about much here (not directly, anyway; a lot of the “Dark Arts” / manipulation discussions are applicable, though). I think it would be cool if you wrote a post or two about your thoughts on this issue. (And/or linked to any related blog posts you might have, if you’re willing.)
Note: the post talks about priming research. I made the following comment there:
The research on walking slower was not reproduced in a double-blind study; so they tried to reproduce it with a non-double-blind study and succeeded. In other words, the evidence suggests it was purely a matter of experimenter expectations, not the old-associated words at all.
This doesn’t invalidate your conclusions, but I just wanted to let you know.
In general, a lot of research on priming is statistically dubious. There are a few robust findings, but there’s also a lot of stuff that doesn’t hold up under closer examination.
Hm, well, it seems that I agree with the recommendations in the post; I use AdBlock (and get rather angry when certain websites try to guilt-trip me about doing so), and I don’t watch commercials on TV (by not watching shows on TV at all). (Here’s a question: does anyone know of a way to get rid of ads in Youtube videos?)
Of course, living in a city, it’s difficult to avoid advertisements entirely. Billboards are all over the place.
What I’d like to see are discussions about the ethics of advertisement — that is, is it just unethical for companies to use these techniques? (And if so, what forms of advertisement are ok?) Is it unethical to advertise at all? My intuitions say “yes” to the former and “no” to the latter, but I haven’t examined said intuitions very deeply.
Aha — it seems the extension you suggested is Adblock Plus (lowercase b), whereas I had been using an unrelated one called AdBlock (capital B, no “Plus”). I’ve now switched and the YouTube ads seem to be gone!
Click me!
Welcome to LW. :)
Note: the post talks about priming research. I made the following comment there:
In general, a lot of research on priming is statistically dubious. There are a few robust findings, but there’s also a lot of stuff that doesn’t hold up under closer examination.
Thanks!
Hm, well, it seems that I agree with the recommendations in the post; I use AdBlock (and get rather angry when certain websites try to guilt-trip me about doing so), and I don’t watch commercials on TV (by not watching shows on TV at all). (Here’s a question: does anyone know of a way to get rid of ads in Youtube videos?)
Of course, living in a city, it’s difficult to avoid advertisements entirely. Billboards are all over the place.
What I’d like to see are discussions about the ethics of advertisement — that is, is it just unethical for companies to use these techniques? (And if so, what forms of advertisement are ok?) Is it unethical to advertise at all? My intuitions say “yes” to the former and “no” to the latter, but I haven’t examined said intuitions very deeply.
Aha — it seems the extension you suggested is Adblock Plus (lowercase b), whereas I had been using an unrelated one called AdBlock (capital B, no “Plus”). I’ve now switched and the YouTube ads seem to be gone!