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The less Americans know about Ukraine’s location, the more they want ...

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Re: The less Americans know about Ukraine’s location, the more they want ...

#71

Post by ganeumann »

insuffi wrote: post #35
ganeumann wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, these people were asked for their opinion--it was an opinion survey; it's not like they're walking around volunteering it. Saying they shouldn't say anything when asked is a bit odd. 99.9% of the Americans I talk to every day are refraining from commenting about whether the US should intervene in the Ukraine. But, then, I'm not asking.

I didn't think about the "pressure" of the survey, I must admit. Fair point. However, does the fact that if you don't know where the country in question is located, and out of war|no war, you choose war, not strike you as somewhat weird? I'd like to think most people would always choose no war over war ESPECIALLY if they're uneducated about the situation.

I think when you're 6'6" and 250 lbs of muscle you may be more inclined to step in when someone is threatening a defenseless innocent.

Not that that's what's going on here, but I think that's the image that many Americans have of America's place in the world. It's not especially enlightened, but I don't think the people are warmongers, they probably honestly think it's just the right thing to do and that it would have very little in the way of consequences for anyone. It's the latter part that probably correlates with not knowing much about the world outside America's borders.

Re: The less Americans know about Ukraine’s location, the more they want ...

#72

Post by ganeumann »

sentenza wrote: post #66
FatalLogic wrote: post #37

This seems to be a textbook example of the Dunning-Kruger effect: the people who know least are the most willing to take action, because their ignorance blinds them to the impracticality and potential consequences of that action. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect

Is there a name for when you get progressively more depressed about an issue the more you learn about it? The Ukraine conflict might very well also qualify for that.

> Is there a name for when you get progressively more depressed about an issue the more you learn about it?

Experience.

Re: The less Americans know about Ukraine’s location, the more they want ...

#73

Post by badman_ting »

sentenza wrote: post #66
FatalLogic wrote: post #37

This seems to be a textbook example of the Dunning-Kruger effect: the people who know least are the most willing to take action, because their ignorance blinds them to the impracticality and potential consequences of that action. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect

Is there a name for when you get progressively more depressed about an issue the more you learn about it? The Ukraine conflict might very well also qualify for that.

The Dunning-Kruger Effect Effect.

Re: The less Americans know about Ukraine’s location, the more they want ...

#75

Post by dragonwriter »

rcthompson wrote: post #46
AJ007 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This would correlate with 'I have no idea what I'm doing' "In general, younger Americans tended to provide more accurate responses than their older counterparts: 27 percent of 18-24 year olds correctly identified Ukraine, compared with 14 percent of 65+ year-olds." 65+ year olds spent a big chunk of their lives in the cold war. Presumably they would know more about the geographical breakup of the Soviet Union than 18…

No, people who were in primary school before the breakup of the Soviet Union would probably have never seen the Ukraine on a map, since all they would see is a big red area labeled "Soviet Union". I doubt Soviet internal geography & politics were taught regularly. Younger people may not even know that the Soviet Union ever existed, but they have a much better chance of seeing Ukraine on a map in school.

> No, people who were in primary school before the breakup of the Soviet Union would probably have never seen the Ukraine on a map, since all they would see is a big red area labeled "Soviet Union".

Many of the maps I remember seeing (in school and otherwise) as a kid in the 1980s labelled the constituent republics of the USSR.

Re: The less Americans know about Ukraine’s location, the more they want ...

#76

Post by agapos »

dmckeon wrote: post #41
bad_alloc wrote: post #2

How did they ask people to locate Ukraine? Some of these points look like somebody accidentally clicked on a random spot of a map. For example, the dot below New Zealand is in the middle of the ocean (approx. -55.000000,176.000000). Some even located it within the US (Florida seems to be a popular guess). Have they found really misinformed people or is this noise in the data?

There seems to be a sharp drop-off line running north/south just west of Mongolia & east of Novosibirsk. I wonder if that is from a side-scrolling artifact or drag/drop interface in the sampling (wild speculation there) or from an unconscious pruning algorithm, among people who are unaware of Ukraine's proximity to the Black Sea, roughly: "hmmh, Ukraine, medium-to-small country, former Soviet, I'll look further east,…

"There seems to be a sharp drop-off line running north/south just west of Mongolia & east of Novosibirsk."

That line is too sharp for a 'Hey, that's China!' stop. Besides, it's unlikely that many of them could locate China correctly, due to the generic lack of geological, geographical and topographic studies in US schools.

I think they got an America (as in: continent) centred map, something like this [1], with the small difference of being cut somewhere at the eastern parts of India, instead of the eastern borders of Iran.

[1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/White_Wo...

Re: The less Americans know about Ukraine’s location, the more they want ...

#77

Post by _ea1k »

insuffi wrote: post #61
_ea1k wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since you said "Many" (even 1% could be many by some definitions) it is hard to dispute your assertion. Nevertheless, I think the # of Americans that can point out the US on a world map is well over 90%. I don't see any definitive data to the contrary.

I think you might want to rethink that assumption. No definitive data, to be fair, but this: http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/05/02/geog.test/ "Inside the United States, "half or fewer of young men and women 18-24 can identify the states of New York or Ohio on a map [50 percent and 43 percent, respectively]," the study said." I don't think it's that far fetched.

The article that you referenced says that 7/10 can find China on a map. I'd be willing to bet that a far larger number can find the US on a map.

I'm pretty sure the poster that I was responding to was taken in by a fake study. The overwhelming majority of Americans can find the US on a map.

Re: The less Americans know about Ukraine’s location, the more they want ...

#78

Post by azinman2 »

_ea1k wrote: post #50
azinman2 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not surprising to me. Many Americans can't find America on a global map, including those in the military (confirmed by my shocked army friends).

Since you said "Many" (even 1% could be many by some definitions) it is hard to dispute your assertion. Nevertheless, I think the # of Americans that can point out the US on a world map is well over 90%. I don't see any definitive data to the contrary.

37% can't according to this Gallup poll [1] from 2008. I've seen other polls with similar or worse results.

[1] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steven-shehori/poll-37-of-amer...

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