Politics and math don't mix

[jakefromstatefarm]

(08-27-2015, 05:22 PM)xxlt Wrote: Not sure this proves what you or others may think - not sure what the thread title means.

It seems to me what the study shows is that people who didn't understand math didn't understand math period, in any context. People who understood math understood it in any context. But, the more they understood it the more likely they were to consider the context and reason accordingly.

That's not accurate:

More specifically, the study finds that people who are otherwise very good at math may totally flunk a problem that they would otherwise probably be able to solve, simply because giving the right answer goes against their political beliefs.

Most strikingly, highly numerate liberal Democrats did almost perfectly when the right answer was that the concealed weapons ban does indeed work to decrease crime (version C of the experiment) — an outcome that favors their pro-gun-control predilections. But they did much worse when the correct answer was that crime increases in cities that enact the ban (version D of the experiment).

The opposite was true for highly numerate conservative Republicans: They did just great when the right answer was that the ban didn’t work (version D), but poorly when the right answer was that it did (version C).