Bayesian analysis of ego-depletion studies favours null hypothesis
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Bayesian analysis of ego-depletion studies favours null hypothesis
1–10 of 89 posts
Re: Bayesian analysis of ego-depletion studies favours null hypothesis
#2ELI5?
Re: Bayesian analysis of ego-depletion studies favours null hypothesis
#3It's disappointing to see links to the abstracts on the front page of HN (given the paper itself is behind a paywall).
In this case, the find some non-zero effect, but call it zero because the difference was not statistically significant.
That's likely a reflection of their small sample size rather than evidence for the null hypothesis as the title suggests.
But it's hard to know, or even have an intelligent discussion about it, since the paper itself is behind a paywall.
Re: Bayesian analysis of ego-depletion studies favours null hypothesis
#4ELI5?
Ego depletion refers to the idea that self-control or willpower draws upon a limited pool of mental resources that can be used up [1]. Previous studies have found that it is real. This study did a complex statistical analysis and found that they didn't have enough evidence to prove that it is real.
Re: Bayesian analysis of ego-depletion studies favours null hypothesis
#5ELI5?
Basically, there was a theory that exercising self-control would "deplete" ones "self-control reserves". The idea was that exercising your self-control, to say avoid a junk food, would temporarily decrease your ability to resist that temptation again.
This paper reports that not only were they unable to verify any of the prior research into this so called "ego depletion" effect, but they found more persuasive evidence suggesting that the theory is false.
Re: Bayesian analysis of ego-depletion studies favours null hypothesis
#6ELI5?
Ego depletion isn't real.
Re: Bayesian analysis of ego-depletion studies favours null hypothesis
#7It feels like the fact that this is a bayesian-favoured study is some kind of sign that people (i.e. people that are upvoting, not necessarily the researchers) are actually taking that silly bayesian vs frequentist political war thing seriously. (Which I don't think is advisable.)
Re: Bayesian analysis of ego-depletion studies favours null hypothesis
#8ELI5?
ego depletion is the idea that the more you stop yourself from doing things, the harder it gets to stop yourself. It sounds like they looked at a bunch of studies on this effect and concluded that it is not likely by doing some math on those studies.
Re: Bayesian analysis of ego-depletion studies favours null hypothesis
#9ELI5?
Ego depletion refers to the idea that self-control or willpower draws upon a limited pool of mental resources that can be used up [1]. Previous studies have found that it is real. This study did a complex statistical analysis and found that they didn't have enough evidence to prove that it is real. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ego_depletion
To give some extra context: this is another study confirming the "replication crisis"[1] in psychology and social psychology (and other sciences as well, but these are the most prominent fields) where longstanding results that were thought to be rock-solid are falling like dominoes. Basically, the science backing, like, half of all TED talks and most episodes of Radiolab is crumbling before our eyes.
Re: Bayesian analysis of ego-depletion studies favours null hypothesis
#10It feels like the fact that this is a bayesian-favoured study is some kind of sign that people (i.e. people that are upvoting, not necessarily the researchers) are actually taking that silly bayesian vs frequentist political war thing seriously. (Which I don't think is advisable.)
I agree, there is no reason to mention "bayesian" in the title other than using it as a hype term like "blockchain" or "deep learning".
Also, the real difference is whether they test a "null hypothesis" vs testing an "actual hypothesis". Like almost all psych, this falls in the first category.