Comments on: Are You a Cognitive Miser?

By: Zequez

Zequez — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:20:33 +0000

Nice, so, I’m smart =D xD

By: Raman HK

Raman HK — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 08:59:37 +0000

But cant Anne still be in a LIVE-IN relationship… Consider all the options.. So its C

By: Neal J. King

Neal J. King — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 07:58:20 +0000

#102, PeneErectus:

Well, I did choose A.

But I still think it’s an interesting question as to why many people chose C: It suggests some ideas about how people think.

You can learn something about a system from its failures, as well as from its successes…

By: PeneErectus

PeneErectus — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 23:39:44 +0000

All of you are trying to arguing about “What I choose C”… Next time only say, oh shit! is really A? and don’t try to autosatisfy yourselves saying to you “Eh eh, I have a Scientific reason to choose C”. Next time, simple say, nice game bro.

By: Dadude

Dadude — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 12:52:03 +0000

I thought C. I didn’t read all the posts, I’m too impatient. The reason for my choosing C was that we do not know where George is looking. He might be looking at his nails, himself, Jack. Hence we don’t have enough info to answer the question.

By: Blue

Blue — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 12:02:26 +0000

Nice one.

I got it (option C) wrong too, and like some of the above I looked at the answer too soon!!!

Also, I suspect Jack’s marriage is in trouble.

By: Arsenic

Arsenic — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:16:09 +0000

I, like several others, thought “C,” realized that it had to be a trick question, gave myself another 10 seconds of thought and got A for the right reasons.

This is obviously because of my training at recognizing and overanalyzing logic problems when I know I’ll feel particularly stupid if I get it wrong. What I wonder is: Would I have gotten the problem without training in tricky logic questions of this sort otherwise? Was the crucial thing about my past experience the training itself or the capacity to realize I needed to think longer?

By: Tina-cious.com

Tina-cious.com — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:49:06 +0000

Unless of course if Anne is gay then whether or not she’s married depends on what state she’s standing in at any given time.

By: chris

chris — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:15:29 +0000

>>if anne is a canary, then she isn’t married, so a married person is still looking at an unmarried person.

since when is a canary a person??

and for exactly this reason C is the correct answer – sorry SciAm.

(my math teacher in school had trick questions like this to teach us never to assume things that were not given. the canonical example goes like this: there are 4 children and 3 lollies. Anne, Bernard and Chris each ave one lolly. Does David have one? of course you can’t tell, since noone specified David was one of the four.)

By: ^^

^^ — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:30:58 +0000

i still dont get it…why is the answer not ???