While it’s probably justified to correct for the sampling bias in prevalence statistics, it’s worth pointing out that sexual partners are not sampled uniformly: the prevalence of a given STD will potentially be higher in the population of likely partners than in the general population.
That’s a good point, and probably applies to Mark Manson’s guide too. It’s similar to the well-known point that your friends are probably more popular than you are, because popular people have more friends.
and of course this is another case of ‘just because you hired the top 1% of the CVs you got, doesn’t mean that those you hired are in the top 1% of programmers’. Less good programmers are more often looking for a job.
I think it’s called “selection bias”, though most people don’t realize just how pervasive it is. Maybe we need subcategories. Another example is that the the neighboring lane in a traffic jam often moves faster than the lane you’re in, because higher speed ⇒ larger gaps between cars ⇒ fewer cars ⇒ higher chance of finding yourself in the slow lane. (I have no idea if that reasoning is correct, but it sounds fun!)
While it’s probably justified to correct for the sampling bias in prevalence statistics, it’s worth pointing out that sexual partners are not sampled uniformly: the prevalence of a given STD will potentially be higher in the population of likely partners than in the general population.
That’s a good point, and probably applies to Mark Manson’s guide too. It’s similar to the well-known point that your friends are probably more popular than you are, because popular people have more friends.
and of course this is another case of ‘just because you hired the top 1% of the CVs you got, doesn’t mean that those you hired are in the top 1% of programmers’. Less good programmers are more often looking for a job.
Is there a name for this pattern?
Adverse selection.
I think it’s called “selection bias”, though most people don’t realize just how pervasive it is. Maybe we need subcategories. Another example is that the the neighboring lane in a traffic jam often moves faster than the lane you’re in, because higher speed ⇒ larger gaps between cars ⇒ fewer cars ⇒ higher chance of finding yourself in the slow lane. (I have no idea if that reasoning is correct, but it sounds fun!)