A case of human behavior, part #1

[Ghost of the dead horse]

A man has problem with his eye and he goes to the doctor. A nurse recieves him, asks him a few questions, calls the doctor and chat for some time while waiting the doctor to arrive. The doctor arrives, gives the diagnosis, a prescription and some advice for treatment. The eye is severely inflammated with an extremely infectious strain of bacteria, but it will be ok. The man asks the doctor to write him some sick leave. Doctor grants it, asking some background information: what is your profession?

The man is a teacher. The reply has an effect on the two healthcare professionals. The doctor breaks eyecontact with the man, having looked at him for the whole time so far. The doctor turns her head 90 degrees, looks the nurse straight in the eyes with an expressionless face, looks back to the man and says something barely relevant to the conversation. The man gets his sick leave, and some parts of the treatment plan are repeated to him. Man thanks the doctor and the nurse and leaves.

 

[Lark]

I voted other because I dont think its possible to know any of those things with the information you have at hand, they are possible explanations, there is no way of telling beyond that.

 

[Ghost of the dead horse]

Now the interesting part: what would you have to know to answer the poll?

 

[prplchknz]

The health care administration had been looking for someone who's behind all these eye infections.

The two had just made a joke about teachers before meeting the man.

The doctor had a preconception about teachers, which just got confirmed.

those 3 most likely though we can't know because there's not enough info, so I don't want to say yes to any of them

 

[Totenkindly]

Now the interesting part: what would you have to know to answer the poll?

More context.

 

[á´…eparted]

More context.

This. I did not vote because I don't have nearly enough information.

 

[GarrotTheThief]

I can't vote because I can't believe for one second that anyone ever does something for one singular reason. Who was it that said there are always two reasons...oh yes...J.P. Morgan...

I mean we can talk about scientific studies, but just based on experience, and living - never met a person who did something for one reason - ever, unless they were lying to themselves or me.

 

[Totenkindly]

Well, my understanding of this thread is that this very question might be the point (versus the one people are focusing on).

Some people would read into the doctor's behavior.
Some will not.

What are some reasons people might read into it?
Do we do this in our daily lives?
Is our reading warranted / accurate, or is there a multiplicity of possibilities in a given social exchange?
What are the kinds of assumptions we make in these daily social exchanges?

What is the bare amount of information we need to acquire in a social exchange in order to actually make an accurate reading? What type of information provides enough context?

 

[Cellmold]

Instinct tells me to judge, or rather that I have already judged an answer as correct here without being fully conscious of my decision.

But foresight tells me to check it here, though perhaps I wouldn't always do so, because I am suspicious of the question. I also had an initial thought that goes beyond the ones outlined and comes under the heading of other, which is that the doctor had poor experience with teachers at school. But I dismissed it because it has as little basis as the others. I also realised my own bias means that I had bad experiences with teachers and am projecting that into the setting.

I'm curious, though, is the case of human behaviour about the hypothetical outlined here, or about how our answers reveal our human behaviour, as in we're the case? I certainly don't think there is a correct answer, at least...not to the one that appears in front of us. It's the other question you want an answer to.

 

[Qlip]

those 3 most likely though we can't know because there's not enough info, so I don't want to say yes to any of them

Agreed with prplz. I pay attention to this kind of thing all of the time, and I don't judge down to one possibility. I make a hazy cloud of of most-likely-to-be-trues.

 

[Cellmold]

I hope this doesn't turn out to be about lateral thinking.... Those little examples people come up with are such a load of shit.

If it does, I'm going to reach through the internet and punch you in the gender specific area.

 

[Ghost of the dead horse]

Why is anyone thinking there's a real answer?

Also, none of you would probably hesitate to answer the question if you were personally in the man's position. At least you would strongly prefer one interpretation over the other. I would - we do this all the time. It's called with a variety of names - perception, intuition, understanding, System 1, etc. Only when you become conscious of the setting do you begin to question the quality of your "automatic thinking".

But why hesitate? As one AI researcher so eloquently described, our brain handles at least 100 billion bits per second, whereas the conscious mind is capable of a data processing rate of about 100 bits / second. Enormous data compression and selection takes place before a bit of information enters the conscious mind. The selection process is mostly automated and partly trainable. We can prime ourselves to look for some factors, or the enviroment can do the priming for us.

So, the question made the most of you aware of your thoughts, but you are hesitant to acknowledge how your mind interpretates everything all the time on the scarcity of evidence.

And I thought I had provided a wealth of information in the case text. Less than 100 billion bits, yes, but much more than 100.

 

[Ghost of the dead horse]

p.s. It would be more accurate to say, why would you think I know the answer?

I've got interested of analysing people's behavior, and when I hear about some interesting situation I try to interview the eyewitness and find everything relevant about it. So, the case text shows what I know. I found it hard to interpret the doctor's behavior so I thought to take you in to this hobby of mine. Using the "wisdom of the crowds" might lead me to the right answer, as well.

 

[danseen]

Well, my understanding of this thread is that this very question might be the point (versus the one people are focusing on).

Some people would read into the doctor's behavior.
Some will not.

What are some reasons people might read into it?
Do we do this in our daily lives?
Is our reading warranted / accurate, or is there a multiplicity of possibilities in a given social exchange?
What are the kinds of assumptions we make in these daily social exchanges?

What is the bare amount of information we need to acquire in a social exchange in order to actually make an accurate reading? What type of information provides enough context?

I believe many do...

 

[Ghost of the dead horse]

My guess, the look the doctor made on the nurse was a sort of non-verbal question: "What is our opinion of this? " "Can you help me to form an opinion on this?"

So what the man said was surprising rather than something they expected.

So, why did the doctor need to form an opinion?

Whether a doctor grants a sick leave might depend on how the illness affects the work and how the work affects the illness. It's obvious that a teacher can't be allowed to work with an easily communicable disease, given the potential for a wider epidemic.

So, I'm guessing further:
-The man's eye might have looked really bad, and the doctor was suprised the man didn't come to see a doctor earlier. So the doctor looked at the nurse with the intent of asking, "is this true?"
-The man might have had a relatively mild case of infection, so they wouldn't grant a sick leave for anyone except with great infection risk. Hence the doctor needed to verify the man's story whether he worked at an occuption with a greater risk of transmitting the disease.
-Something else, something else.
-The man neglected to tell some parts of the story. He acted funny, seemed like he was on drugs, inebriated, seemed like a liar or there were some other parts in his story / behavior that were inconsistent. In that case, the healthcare professionals were probably most interested in deciding whether they believe the man.

 

[Gamine]

If I were in the position of the health care workers, I would have taken a moment to consider the impacts of a highly contagious disease being spread through the beautiful, little germ factories we call children. Maybe there were patients that same day or week with similar symptoms, or maybe the disease would be more detrimental to children because A. they're cute but gross and share all manner of bacteria/viruses or B. there's a disturbing trend of parents who have decided not to believe in science/vaccinations, thereby lowering herd immunity.

If I were responsible to assess appropriate sick-time for my (hypothetical) patients, I would want to assess the risk of the disease being transferred. Teachers, health care workers, living assistance aides, daycare workers....anyone around children or people with compromised immune systems, I would want people in these professions to be able to heal themselves without putting everyone in their immediate environment in danger.

I interpreted the look between the doctor and nurse as being an "oh %&*$, if a teacher has it, students probably do too. I hope this doesn't get to be as big of a problem in the schools at is has the potential to become," and really had nothing to do with a judgement about the man as an individual.

 

[Ghost of the dead horse]

Ok, so what kind of rate would you like for these human behavior study cases? Once per month, twice per month? I plan to do total of 8. I really dont know the exact answer for any cases I'll post. I'm just trying my best to introduce the whole variety of options, even options I won't believe in myself.

 

[Unionruler]

The first impression I got: the doctor thought that the man, being a teacher, wouldn't have much use for the sick leave as he'd likely have to go on and teach his classes nonetheless.

 

[Eilonwy]

Are the poll selections coming from you or the person being interviewed?

 

[Ghost of the dead horse]

Most of the options were created in collaboration during the interview, some were are suggested by the interviewee and some by me. Most have been rephrased somewhat in attempt of clarity. Two of the options are entirely from my imagination.