Now, many years later, for future observers, it seems important to note that the linked study probably didn’t survive the replication crisis, which makes this paragraph as it stands sadly one of the worst in the essay. I am not confident that this particular study didn’t replicate, since that would require substantially more time investment, but the vast majority of the studies around priming and associative reasoning were really badly flawed, and I expect the above to be no different, and I would advise great caution before taking any studies in its reference class to be worth any more than random anecdotes (and to be substantially less valuable than your own personal anecdotes or unbiased samples of anecdotes from your friends that you’ve bothered to vet and follow up on).
I haven’t been at all diligent about this “the outside view” vs “an outside view” reframing, but I’ll add my own personal anecdote that in general I’ve broadly found these sorts of reframings to be helpful, eg shifting to past tense to say “I’ve tended to be triggered by X” vs “I always get really triggered by X” as a way to feel a sense of self as changing rather than stuck. It generates a whole different meaning.
Now, many years later, for future observers, it seems important to note that the linked study probably didn’t survive the replication crisis, which makes this paragraph as it stands sadly one of the worst in the essay. I am not confident that this particular study didn’t replicate, since that would require substantially more time investment, but the vast majority of the studies around priming and associative reasoning were really badly flawed, and I expect the above to be no different, and I would advise great caution before taking any studies in its reference class to be worth any more than random anecdotes (and to be substantially less valuable than your own personal anecdotes or unbiased samples of anecdotes from your friends that you’ve bothered to vet and follow up on).
Appreciating this, and in general appreciating LW as a place where commenting on comments from 7y ago is considered good practice :)
I haven’t been at all diligent about this “the outside view” vs “an outside view” reframing, but I’ll add my own personal anecdote that in general I’ve broadly found these sorts of reframings to be helpful, eg shifting to past tense to say “I’ve tended to be triggered by X” vs “I always get really triggered by X” as a way to feel a sense of self as changing rather than stuck. It generates a whole different meaning.