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

[Andy Blunden <ablunden@mira.net>]

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

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

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