I was going through awesome book, The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobeli a must read for everyone of understanding what makes us tick. The title is Does Harvard Make You Smarter? It recounts a funny anecdote regarding the now famous Nassim Taleb concerned with his weight decided to do something about it.
He signed up at local swimming pool after contemplating on taking up various sports, His belief was simple since swimmers appeared to him with their well built and streamlined bodies. He also decided to work hard twice a week to have swimmer's body.
After sometime it dawned upon him that he had succumbed to an illusion. Professional swimmers dont have perfect bodies because they train extensively. Rather they are good swimmers because of their physiques. How their bodies are designed is a factor for selection and not the result of their activities. Similarly female models advertise for cosmetics and thus many consumers believe that these products makes you beautiful. To put it straight these models are born attractive and hence they are candidates for advertising. Hence beauty is a factor for selection and not the result.
Whenever we confuse selection factors with results, we fall prey to what is called Swimmer's body Illusion. Without this illusion half of advertising campaigns would not work. But this bias has to do with more than just the pursuit of cheekbones or chests. Similarly lets consider Harvard which has a reputation of being a top university and many successful people have studied there, Does this mean that Harvard is a good school? We don't know. Perhaps the school is terrible but it attracts bright minds from around the globe. I personally experienced this phenomenon at Amity Global Business School? Its parent school Amity Business School is said to be amongst the top 10 Business Schools in India, but the lessons i received were mediocre. Though many of its graduates are successful, The reasons behind is unknown.
Across India MBA schools lure candidates with statistics regarding future income. This simple calculation is supposed to show that the horrendously high tuition fees pay for themselves after a short period of time. Many students even join these schools based upon thinking on the same lines. I must suggest that these so called placement record statements should not be taken on its face value. The pay differs amongst those who are MBA and those who are not an MBA. We see the Swimmer's body at work. So my advice to friends out there is that if you are considering further study please do it for reasons other than pay cheque.
The swimmer's body illusion is a self illusion at best. Let's look at self help books, they are good for reading and almost contains some powerful tools/ideas for self transformation/ personal development. But for lot of people these advices are less likely to help. That is why for self help books and tips prescribed in it needs to be given a wide berth.
In conclusion one must be careful as to what they are pursuing be it a toned physique or higher salary or even happiness coz there you would see swimmer's body illusion at work.
He signed up at local swimming pool after contemplating on taking up various sports, His belief was simple since swimmers appeared to him with their well built and streamlined bodies. He also decided to work hard twice a week to have swimmer's body.
After sometime it dawned upon him that he had succumbed to an illusion. Professional swimmers dont have perfect bodies because they train extensively. Rather they are good swimmers because of their physiques. How their bodies are designed is a factor for selection and not the result of their activities. Similarly female models advertise for cosmetics and thus many consumers believe that these products makes you beautiful. To put it straight these models are born attractive and hence they are candidates for advertising. Hence beauty is a factor for selection and not the result.
Whenever we confuse selection factors with results, we fall prey to what is called Swimmer's body Illusion. Without this illusion half of advertising campaigns would not work. But this bias has to do with more than just the pursuit of cheekbones or chests. Similarly lets consider Harvard which has a reputation of being a top university and many successful people have studied there, Does this mean that Harvard is a good school? We don't know. Perhaps the school is terrible but it attracts bright minds from around the globe. I personally experienced this phenomenon at Amity Global Business School? Its parent school Amity Business School is said to be amongst the top 10 Business Schools in India, but the lessons i received were mediocre. Though many of its graduates are successful, The reasons behind is unknown.
Across India MBA schools lure candidates with statistics regarding future income. This simple calculation is supposed to show that the horrendously high tuition fees pay for themselves after a short period of time. Many students even join these schools based upon thinking on the same lines. I must suggest that these so called placement record statements should not be taken on its face value. The pay differs amongst those who are MBA and those who are not an MBA. We see the Swimmer's body at work. So my advice to friends out there is that if you are considering further study please do it for reasons other than pay cheque.
The swimmer's body illusion is a self illusion at best. Let's look at self help books, they are good for reading and almost contains some powerful tools/ideas for self transformation/ personal development. But for lot of people these advices are less likely to help. That is why for self help books and tips prescribed in it needs to be given a wide berth.
In conclusion one must be careful as to what they are pursuing be it a toned physique or higher salary or even happiness coz there you would see swimmer's body illusion at work.
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