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Comment by gottasayit | Hacker News Reader

Henrich’s work with the ultimatum game was an example of a small but growing countertrend in the social sciences, one in which researchers look straight at the question of how deeply culture shapes human cognition.

It's so sad that academics in the social sciences fields are terrified to ask honest questions that they might not like the answers to.

I guess that's the reason that social sciences get disrespected so heavily.

The funny thing is that the REAL question that these people don't want to face is "Are these differences more than just cultural? Are they genetic?"

They'd as soon ask that question as a Baptist congregation would seriously ponder Occam's Razor and a need to posit a deity.

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Please drop the stereotype of the social sciences. And yes, there's been plenty of studies on genetics in the social sciences.

I always find the hostility some HN members have towards the social sciences to be rather weird. Half of what HN is here for is firmly in the bailiwick of the social sciences. A/B testing? Better marketing? Understanding your employees better? Taking care of yourself so you don't burn out? All of this stuff is the much-maligned social sciences.

Some people have this stereotype that all psychologists are touchy-feely hippies, and they're really not.

Please drop the stereotype of the social sciences.

Did you read the article? These researchers were legitimately frightened at how their work would be received and in my opinion it's only heretical in a minor way... AND THEY'RE SOCIAL SCIENTISTS!

I always find the hostility some HN members have towards the social sciences

Yeah, that's why my original post (that in a computer analysis context wouldn't have raised an eyebrow) is being moderated into the dirt.

This comment breaks at least three of the HN guidelines: it's uncivil ("Did you read the article?"), uses all caps for emphasis, and complains about being downvoted.

Please don't do those things on Hacker News.

To be fair, social scientists are not the first to find this prospect troubling.

I am very much afraid that nature itself is only a first habit, just as habit is a second nature.

--Blaise Pascal

>The funny thing is that the REAL question that these people don't want to face is "Are these differences more than just cultural? Are they genetic?"

Only if you consider American to describe a particular set of genetics does this question even make sense.

edit: Western and American are not descriptions of genes. Unless Westerners or Americans cluster in their responses to a test based on how closely related they are, this "question that these people don't want to face" is code rather than honest question.

Only if you consider American to describe a particular set of genetics does this question even make sense.

It's not about having the exact same genetics.

For example, it might be about sets of genes or functionally equivalent sets of genes that function in a similar manner despite appearing in members of ostensibly different "races".

The article mentioned that students are chosen for these experiments. Maybe students self-select for having particular genetic sets so you end up with homogenous-enough results that are going to differ radically from the results obtained from genetically isolated groups in other parts of the world.

You start talking about genes, and people panic and worry that you're talking about race. Genes are more complex than that.

And BAM, there goes the moderation hammer for uncomfortable thoughts.

If we were talking about whether flaws in a computer system were because of the data fed in, the software running it, the hardware, or impurities in the silicon -- we'd all be very clinical and think about it rationally (minus a few Linux/Windows/Mac flames).

But when talking about analyzing basic differences in people, there are elements in the community that can't even hear the blasphemy.

Sadly, this is why the social sciences will never make progress. A fear of really looking in and doing the Science is why the social sciences will always resemble a cargo cult in its lack of real value.

Go ahead, mod me down until this text is one with the background. It won't improve or validate your religious-like belief system because it just isn't good Science.

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