[xmca] established fact: x per cent of people are happy

I heard another one of those silly reports on the radio just
now. Never mind what it was about, but it reported that x%
of people who did y are happy, whilst of who didn't, only z%
are happy, and the reporter went on to refer to it as an
"established fact" that x made people happy. This
"established fact" was gained from people filling out survey
forms, "checking all the boxes" and returning them in the mail.

It is over 100 years, isn't it, since mainstream, positivist
science (let alone real science) rejected self-reporting of
mental states as a legitimate way of doing psychology. How
come it's still going on? Is this taught at universities, or
is it just marketing firms moving in on the territory?

Andy

-- 
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Andy Blunden http://www.erythrospress.com/
Classics in Activity Theory: Hegel, Leontyev, Meshcheryakov, 
Ilyenkov $20 ea
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