Off Tangent Comix

DSM-V Update
 
Leave a comment.
 
See continuing updates on the APA, DSM, and the upcoming DSM Fifth Edition (DSM-V).
 
See our Annotated List of DSM-related news, research reports, analyses, and opinion pieces.
 
Visit the TS-Si Article Archive for reports on science, medicine, government, society, and other topics.
Chad A. Mirkin, Northwestern University, George B. Rathmann Professor of Chemistry in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. Photo by Bill Arsenault. 

DNA Blueprints Guide The Construction Of Specific Human Structures

Chad Mirkin discusses using DNA to build a three-dimensional structure out of gold, likening the process to building a house. Starting with basic materials such as bricks, wood, siding, stone and shingles, a construction team can build many different types of houses out of the same building blocks.
 
The article includes an audio recording of the full interview. Photo courtesy of the UCSD School of Medicine.
The Ignorant Gain Power By Controlling Public Information Print E-mail
Living - The Dialogue
TS-Si News Service   
Tuesday, 25 March 2008 17:00
The Ignorant Gain Power By Controlling Public Information.
Detour, falsehood ahead.
Information Manipulation Theory (IMT) looks at a unique part of the interpersonal communication process. It deals with the way information packages (in the form of messages) are put together when being transmitted from a sender to a receiver in order to give an impression that is false from the perspective of the sender.
Certain facts are placed in the message from an available amount of information while other facts are omitted, altered or falsified entirely.
Deceit is the act of trying to get someone to believe something which is not true. The type of communication that is created as a result of such deceitful intent is called a deceptive message.
IMT is primarily concerned with the content of the deceptive messages, the situational contexts that bring them about, the degree to which the detection of such a message affects perception of deception and the relational consequences associated with deceptive messages.
Information manipulation is the management of false information by a sender to provide a receiver with a distorted perception of that same information.To persuade or deceive, a person deliberately breaks one of the four conversational maxims:
•Quantity. Information given will be full (as per expected by the listener) and without omission.
•Quality. Information given will be truthful and correct.
•Relation. Information will be relevant to the subject matter of the conversation in hand.
•Manner. Information will be presented in a way that enables others to understand and align with non-verbal language cues.
Santa Monica, CA, USA. Information theory is devoted to the discovery and exploration of mathematical laws that govern the behavior of data as it is transferred, stored, or retrieved. Human language is subject to the vagaries of contextual nuance. When applied to the language of interpersonal communication, the theory becomes more approximate in its results but can be a useful way to structure discussion of such issues as relevance, sincerity, influence, and manipulation.
 
The classic economic model of information manipulation figures that the key to influence is based on knowing more than anybody else. As a challenge to these assumptions, economists have presented a situation — commonly observed in real life — in which all parties have access to the same information, but one party still manages to control public opinion.
 

Influence through ignorance. Isabelle Brocas, Juan D. Carrillo. The RAND Journal of Economics 38 (4), 931–947. doi: 10.1111 / j.0741-6261.2007.00119.x

 
 
Isabelle Brocas and Juan D. Carrillo give the example of a pharmaceutical company such as Merck. The company may be obliged to make public the findings of all studies related to a new drug. Preliminary trials may indicate no short-term side effects, and the company may elect not to perform follow-up trials before releasing the drug on the market.
 
“Optimally, you want to provide enough information so the other party reaches a certain level of confidence, but stop once you reach that level,” Brocas explained. “Otherwise, it may be the case that more information causes the confidence level to go down.”
 
The study by Brocas and Carrillo examines situations in which power comes from controlling the flow of public information, as opposed to the possession of private information. Their findings appear in The RAND Journal of Economics.
 
As the authors explain, there are secrets — facts that are deliberately withheld — and there are facts that are not known to anybody. “It’s not necessary to have extra information,” Brocas said. “You can induce people to do what you want just by stopping the flow of information or continuing it. That’s enough.” Notably, the party manipulating the flow of information must deliberately choose to remain uninformed as well — which can backfire.
 
In Merck’s case, a study released five years after the drug was introduced on the market showed that taking Vioxx significantly increased the risk of heart attacks. Merck funded the study, which had been intended to see if the painkiller was also effective against colon polyps. 
 
Now, embroiled in a $4.85 billion settlement, the company claims that Vioxx poses no statistically significant long-term risk to the heart once it is no longer taken. This claim is disputed: Merck stopped monitoring patients after only a year, discontinuing the study once the drug was taken off the market.
 
Similarly, the researchers explain, the head of a council may terminate discussion and introduction of new evidence about, say, whether to continue searching for weapons of mass destruction. Calling for a vote when sentiment seems biased in a certain direction effectively curtails how much all members, including the chairperson, know about the issue at stake.
 
“Overall, the ability of to control the flow of news and remain publicly ignorant gives the leader some power, which is used to influence the actions of the follower,” the researchers wrote. “Our result suggests that the chairperson, the President and media can bias the decision of the committee, electorate and public by strategically restricting the flow of information.”
 
Brocas and Carrillo are in the midst of a follow-up to the study that gauges how well individuals intuitively understand the “influence through ignorance” phenomenon: “We’re interested in whether people understand their ability to manipulate information and if they do it optimally,” Brocas said.
 
The paper also provide implications for several important variants, such as how public opinion is affected when there is more than one source of information available to everyone and it is not excessively costly to obtain.
 
Competition, supported by media diversity and public sources of research funding, not only induces outlets to release more information but also causes the “influence through ignorance” effect to diminish — and under certain circumstances to vanish — the researchers found.
 

Influence through ignorance. Isabelle Brocas, Juan D. Carrillo. The RAND Journal of Economics 38 (4), 931–947. doi: 10.1111 / j.0741-6261.2007.00119.x

 
 
Abstract. An individual (the leader) with free access to information decides how much public evidence to collect. Conditional on this information, another individual with conflicting preferences (the follower) undertakes an action that affects the payoff of both players. In this game of incomplete but symmetric information, we characterize the rents obtained by the leader as a result of his control of the generation of public information. These rents capture the degree of influence exerted by a chairman on a committee from his capacity to keep discussions alive or call a vote. Similar insights are obtained if the leader decides first how much private information he collects, and then how much verifiable information he transmits to the follower.
 
TS-Si News ServiceThe TS-Si News Service is a collaborative effort by TS-Si.org editors, contributors, and corresponding institutions. The sources can include the cited individuals and organizations, as well as TS-Si.org staff contributions. Articles and news reports do not necessarily convey official positions of TS-Si, its partners, or affiliates. We welcome your comments. Use the form below to leave a public comment or send private correspondence via the TS-Si Contact Page. We will not divulge any personal details or place you on a mailing list without your permission.
 
Comments (3)Add Comment
feedSubscribe to this comment's feed
min/maxShow/Hide comments
..., We can apply the findings to a lot of situations, c
26 March 2008     
You beat me to the next step. , The research
26 March 2008     
..., A certain former President from Arkansas was famous
27 March 2008     

Write comment
feedShow/Hide comment form

security code
Write the displayed characters


busy
< Prev   Next >
Last Updated on Wednesday, 11 June 2008 18:18