What I take from this article is that social interaction is extremely important to ones health, and it's something that we largely taken for granted. In the age of computers and secluded work environments, I think we need to be aware of the effect that even casual interaction has on our mental and physical health. I have some personal/anecdotal experience which back this research up and affirms my belief that communication and interaction with others is vital.
I've been working from home for a number of years. During this time I've on average spoken with and interacted with 1 person every day - my wife.
I occasionally go out, occasionally see family members, but the majority of my day-to-day work is quiet, alone, working at a computer.
- I have been more sick in recent years than ever before in my life. This is even compared to previously living in a major city and taking public transportation.
- I have been experiencing sharp mental decline especially in the last year. Solving complex problems is much more challenging.
- My memory is suffering. Even my wife has begun to notice, I forget little things and have developed an "aloof professor" disposition that wasn't natural to me.
- I now find social interaction more difficult. I'm more akward, and find myself over-thinking previously natural interactions.
- Lastly ... I'm far more depressed. I just don't enjoy much these days. I wake up, work, don't talk to many people.
The TLDR here is that I urge everyone to tend to their social garden. I let mine decay for too long, and I'm paying the price now. I am beginning the process of restoring connections, and getting out more, and I'm already noticing an improved mood.
Oh and I should mention - I'm naturally an introvert so this reclusive lifestyle was all too comfortable for me.
I went from very brutal environments (massively stressful jobs in algorithmic trading, generally sitting on loud trading floors with late hours, weekends, etc) to working remotely and found almost the opposite.
Instead of being sick several times a year- we would literally watch colds and other illnesses work their way up and down the rows, I instead got sick maybe once a year.
Solving problems in a nice quiet room with no coworker conversations around me improved my ability to concentrate and do the hard things 10x.
Social interaction is a mixed bag. My last two jobs I was surrounded by a bunch of people who hated their work, and we only really bonded over the fact that we would rather be literally anywhere else. My remote coworkers all get along great, and it would be nice to spend more face time with them, but I have an active personal social life so that helps.
I think you are missing a big piece here though- and that's activity. I take my dog on long walks and generally like to bike around town (I live in a city) but it requires much more of an active effort. Luckily I eat a lot better and much less than I used to. I don't keep junk food or really any prepared foods in the house.
I have suspected for some time that my problems were due to social isolation, but I have been too apathetic to make an effort to do anything. You've just given me the motivation to change that. Thank you!
You mention that this is anecdotal, anyway, but stress to yourself that it is anecdotal.
You sound depressed and you mention that social interaction might be the cause, but is it not possible that you are finding your work unfulfilling, that's causing depression and the rest follows?
I only say this because I've worked long stretches more or less alone with limited social interaction (didn't have a wife around) and didn't suffer any of those symptoms, but that's an anecdote for you. I did suffer those symptoms when depressed, though, and that didn't take solitude.
Some people are very happy with solitude and there's no hard rule that it affects everyone the same.
Its not too late! Socialize more, exercise everyday, and take something for depression! Learn new things, I had a rough spell a few years ago which took its toll. Now what I find is I have to walk the razors edge everyday. Make sure I sleep enough, eat right (low carb and fasting), exercise twice a day. If I dont I start to lose the edge.
In the last six months I've moved to a new apartment in another part of town, I changed jobs, and I graduated from grad school. My social life has been severely disrupted! The change in work was maybe the most dramatic since I moved from a highly social environment to being isolated in an office by myself (and on a floor with taciturn colleagues). It's only been a few months, but I already see some mild forms of the symptoms described in the parent comment.
Now, being in grad school, working full time and having a toddler did a lot of the work in atrophying my social connections over the last three years, but this spring delivered a knock-out blow. Luckily, I'm attentive to my mental health and generally a proactive person, so I've outlined steps to try and at least get into another job (Cracking the Coding Interview... groan). I've also started scouring the internet looking for ideas to start developing my community ties:
- Our local YMCA has programs for families that we'll be taking advantage of, including free babysitting once a month(!!!)
- There's a local collective of volunteer "civic hackers" that I'll start hanging out with after summer's over.
- I just saw, somewhere above in this comment thread, a mention of meetup.com. It's now open in another tab.
- I'm even leaving comments on the internet, such as this!
I had this exact same experience. It was detrimental to every aspect of my life. Moving back to office work was one of the best decisions that I've ever made. If not the best one.
Before I started working from home I used to consider myself an introvert, who was good with/preferred being alone. But that was always against a back-drop of living a relatively social work and home-life. Once I started working from home my tendencies towards introspection, and insulation, which were tempered by my social life, became dominant and I ended up becoming insidiously depressed without even noticing it.
Change your job/workplace man, it'll change your life.
After college, I had a NEET period of roughly 6 months. I would see friends maybe once every other week because I was somewhat depressed about not being able to find a job and had to be dragged out of the house, and the only people I spoke to regularly in person were my parents. I went to my first meetup (for programming) towards the end of that period before getting my first job, and I felt all of the stuff you described.
It was really jarring, but I knew what was going on, so I didn't freak out. I'd read about how solitary confinement affects peoples' intelligence, especially their ability to formulate speech, and I figured I had a diminished version of that which only took effect when talking to strangers. It took about a week of work and interacting with people other than my parents on a regular basis for me to feel normal again.
Do you exercise on a regular basis? I think I've learnt from Coursera's Learning How to Learn that interaction with people and exercise have similar effect to our brain cells, that both will help generate new cells (I don't know the details, but you probably get the idea).
So that's what I figure how to keep myself sane if I would enter a period of almost-to-none daily interaction with people.
The one probably can't replace the other, but I'm curious if you would still have those symptoms with regular exercise.
It's frightening how accurate this describes my situation as well. Went 3+ years working at a startup where essentially we were one giant family, everyone hung out after work, and I rarely had time to myself. Everything technical was super easy to digest, I was exercising every other day, and I was on top of my game.
Now most of my days are spent working from home, and the only human interaction are the cashiers at the grocery store. I'm tired all the time, focusing is difficult for me now, and I feel like I've become slower with anything that requires mental effort.
What's the solution here? Don't work from home? Hang out more?
I often come across similar comments and they scare me. I share a lot of similarities and I am only in my early twenties. I decided to take a gap year and take part of an exchange program abroad.
Thanks for the heads up. This is something that I've wondered about with working from home. I think I'd like 1 or 2 days per week at home and rest in the office for ideal ratio.
Yikes. I'm just about to start a new job working from home fulltime. My wife's been expressing her concern that the lack of social interaction might be difficult for me, I guess I better heed her and join up with some sort of social group (was thinking musical theatre)
By spending most of your time at home, your immune system probably dials down.
I noticed I was falling sick when I took a short break from work and was mostly home. Everything returned to normal once I resumed my normal work schedule.
Working from home messes you up in more ways than you notice. One is that you tend to eat more and the other thing is it can stress you your will power bencause ther are so many distractions. One last thing is you move walk around as much as you do, your brain needs blood flowing, oxygen. Ever heard of drowning causing brain damage? Extreme analogy but that's because of lack of oxygen, I'm sure less than optimal oxygen can't be as good
Just like children's IQ and foot size are strongly correlated the answer in their and in your case can be just attributed to age (you said "I've been working from home for a number of years").
Not saying that's the solution but I'm glad you said it's an "anecdotal experience".
I'm having the same experience. I have been working on my thesis for the last year. My university is in a different city, and everyone working on something related is in another country. This made it hard for me to make progress and this has had the effect of me isolating myself even more (I haven't made enough progress to have a beer with friends and not feel bad about myself).
Although I have never been sick for the last year, I recognize all the other symptoms to some degree. For an assessment, I took an IQ test a while ago. I used to be really good at number sequences, acing them or at least getting 95% right. I think I got about half of them this time, which was quite shocking.
Once I finish this thesis (my supervisor keeps trying to convince me to postpone my graduation - a student working on a very similar problem has spent more than 2.5 years now, and has not graduated yet) I want to spend more time on my social life again.
I find this perfectly credible because almost exactly the same conclusions were stated by Putnam in the classic _Bowling Alone_ [1]. A couple of pull-quotes from that,
> Dozens of painstaking studies... have established beyond reasonable doubt that ... [t]he more integrated we are with our community, the less likely we are to experience colds, heart attacks, strokes, cancer, depression and premature death of all sorts...
> ... the positive contributions to health made by social integration and social support rival in strength the detrimental contributions of ... risk factors like ... smoking, obesity, elevated blood pressure, and physical inactivity.
> ...as a rough rule of thumb, if you belong to no groups but decide to join one, you cut your risk of dying over the next year in half.
Putnam was surveying a large number of studies, not just the Harvard one.
I've got a simple hack I employ when in a new city. All through my twenties, I moved basically every year or two. Most of the time I had a network of family or associates to drawn upon before arrival. But often, I'd find myself a complete stranger, knowing not a single soul.
What I'd do is this: find a local diner, not a touristy place, but a real local institution and landmark. And then eat dinner there every single night at the same time. If constrained budget wise, look for the early bird dinner specials. Become a regular. Trade gossip with the wait-staff, complement the cooks on their sublime creations, chat up the little old ladies, engage the workmen about their craft. After a few weeks you'll find yourself invited to birthday parties and have the opportunity to give back your own time and energy, shovelling a driveway or helping out at a food drive.
A summer time variant: farmers markets. They typically have the same vendors every week and will remember you if you purchase a quart of organic honey and ask with genuine interest questions about their practise. Offer to get them started on Facebook / Shopify. Pretty soon, word spreads and you're no longer a stranger in town!
This also works in places like gas stations (try to visit the same ones), grocery stores if you go 1+ times a week, and sometimes coffee shops and fast food joints, especially in smaller towns.
It takes a little longer, but a popular walking path can grant good results as well. Basically anything routine where you are likely to run into the same folks over and over.
Sand Volleyball and volleyball classes for anyone remotely coordinated. Best way to meet young and healthy people with plenty of the opposite sex as well.
I don't know the nuances of this study but I am curious about the role of personality. I have lived much of my life with large groups of caring family and friends and I was miserable. I have lived parts of my life as relatively isolated and reclusive and was enormously happy. Have any related studies accounted for personality? 5,10,20% of the population might be the exact opposite?
Seems like you fit the study's findings quite well actually:
"The surprising finding is that our relationships and how happy we are in our relationships has a powerful influence on our health."
You can be surrounded by "caring" family and friends that you don't have a lot in common with, and that can be miserable. Getting determined but bad/outdated advice from parents is a classic and widespread example. It's not that the parents don't want the best for their now-adult kid, it's just that they're simply ignorant of the best way forward. But they're convinced that they're right and that creates friction despite good intentions.
If you like this you may also enjoy "The Village Effect" by Susan Pinker[1]. In the book the author documents various ways in which social connectedness impacts our well being.
As this article and book say "loneliness kills", but what does that mean for those of us who want to live long and healthy lives? Do we need to start scheduling social time alongside gym time? Will a hug a day keep the doctor away? Should we join organized religions or get married strictly for the health benefits?
Note that what they reportedly found is a stronger positive correlation between relationships and happiness than between money and fame and happiness (just based on the article):
"Close relationships, more than money or fame, are what keep people happy throughout their lives, the study revealed"
So going after fame and money doesn't necessarily lead you to become unhappy (if we interpret the results as causal). Quality personal relationships just makes you even happier.
Also, I'm curious to what extent cultivating meaningful relationship serves as a coping mechanism for people with little money or social status (alternatively, focusing on making money and acquiring high social status to compensate for poor personal relationship development skills). My impression, based on my observations from people I've met in developing countries, is that low income / social status people tend to have richer and active communities and personal relationships. High status individuals tend to be lonelier. But this could just be confirmation bias.
The sad thing about this is, nothing of this is news. I did some health research in the 1990s and read tons of studies telling you the same things. One of the best predictors for subjective well-being was whether people had 3+ really close friends.
IMHO there is something wrong with this kind of research that rehashes known facts but doesn't really go any deeper than what was already known before. My gratulations to the researchers involved for getting the funding for such a long running study.
Nothing new under the sun, most things our modern work in social sciences show was figured out by some ancient philosopher or religious leader or another it seems to me.
It was actually kind of new to me when I watched that video two years ago. However, I agree with your point for deeper details. I wondered about the circumstances of those people, the stability of country (war times etc) and many other factors that are not mentioned in the article or the video.
Also, I assume the study is just in America which makes me ask if happiness is the same recipe for different people in different parts of the world.
I taught social dance for a number of years. This is a great avenue for expanding your social interactions, getting healthy, building self awareness... blah blah blah. There's a great Argentine Tango scene in SF, just sayin, folks.
There's also joining a hiking group or a walking group. Great to get out, get active, and get social.
Or engage with an after school program, or mentorship organization.
While it does shed a light on the "quest for meaning", this study is not useful as long as we lack the understanding of the role of personality. I think a good analogy is researchers finding that a certain disease kills, but not knowing how do you contract that disease and what you can do to cure it. It might help you identify your situation, but not how to change it.
This reads like someone consciously decided "Hey, let's build the ultimate poster boy for bad statistical studies!".
1. Sample bias: "Why just study WEIRD [1] subjects? Let's do male Harvard graduates!" (Yes, half the study included inner city men, and one eighth of the duration featured women. It's still super heavily biased towards Harvard men.)
2. Correlation is not causation: "Hmm, health is correlated with relationship satisfaction. Could there be a common cause for both? Or maybe people like to hang out with healthier peers? No, the clear conclusion is that working on your relationships magically makes you healthier."
3. Inconsistent data collection: "Those '30s nincompoops were measuring skulls and handwriting. We'll stop doing that and take MRIs instead. But it's still the same study!"
This is a great article. I agree with the comments here that says working at home can really squish your mood. It makes me wonder about social security. I remember some comments here about if they got rid of it, grandma would have to move in. Well, according to this article, that might be the best thing for grandma! I work from home but have been staying with my in laws since we had a baby. It has been great for my mental health.
Assuming that good relationships imply good aging, I'd like to know how do they work. How much would differ a long relationship from 2 middle relationships to 7 short relationships?
If there's already any study about it, please share it with me, I'd love to read it!
[+] [-] rubicon33|8 years ago|reply
I've been working from home for a number of years. During this time I've on average spoken with and interacted with 1 person every day - my wife.
I occasionally go out, occasionally see family members, but the majority of my day-to-day work is quiet, alone, working at a computer.
- I have been more sick in recent years than ever before in my life. This is even compared to previously living in a major city and taking public transportation.
- I have been experiencing sharp mental decline especially in the last year. Solving complex problems is much more challenging.
- My memory is suffering. Even my wife has begun to notice, I forget little things and have developed an "aloof professor" disposition that wasn't natural to me.
- I now find social interaction more difficult. I'm more akward, and find myself over-thinking previously natural interactions.
- Lastly ... I'm far more depressed. I just don't enjoy much these days. I wake up, work, don't talk to many people.
The TLDR here is that I urge everyone to tend to their social garden. I let mine decay for too long, and I'm paying the price now. I am beginning the process of restoring connections, and getting out more, and I'm already noticing an improved mood.
Oh and I should mention - I'm naturally an introvert so this reclusive lifestyle was all too comfortable for me.
[+] [-] kevstev|8 years ago|reply
Instead of being sick several times a year- we would literally watch colds and other illnesses work their way up and down the rows, I instead got sick maybe once a year.
Solving problems in a nice quiet room with no coworker conversations around me improved my ability to concentrate and do the hard things 10x.
Social interaction is a mixed bag. My last two jobs I was surrounded by a bunch of people who hated their work, and we only really bonded over the fact that we would rather be literally anywhere else. My remote coworkers all get along great, and it would be nice to spend more face time with them, but I have an active personal social life so that helps.
I think you are missing a big piece here though- and that's activity. I take my dog on long walks and generally like to bike around town (I live in a city) but it requires much more of an active effort. Luckily I eat a lot better and much less than I used to. I don't keep junk food or really any prepared foods in the house.
YMMV.
[+] [-] biofox|8 years ago|reply
I have suspected for some time that my problems were due to social isolation, but I have been too apathetic to make an effort to do anything. You've just given me the motivation to change that. Thank you!
[+] [-] aaron-lebo|8 years ago|reply
You sound depressed and you mention that social interaction might be the cause, but is it not possible that you are finding your work unfulfilling, that's causing depression and the rest follows?
I only say this because I've worked long stretches more or less alone with limited social interaction (didn't have a wife around) and didn't suffer any of those symptoms, but that's an anecdote for you. I did suffer those symptoms when depressed, though, and that didn't take solitude.
Some people are very happy with solitude and there's no hard rule that it affects everyone the same.
[+] [-] BatFastard|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wdbbdw|8 years ago|reply
Now, being in grad school, working full time and having a toddler did a lot of the work in atrophying my social connections over the last three years, but this spring delivered a knock-out blow. Luckily, I'm attentive to my mental health and generally a proactive person, so I've outlined steps to try and at least get into another job (Cracking the Coding Interview... groan). I've also started scouring the internet looking for ideas to start developing my community ties:
Anyway, just wanted to share (edit: formatting).[+] [-] ycombinete|8 years ago|reply
Before I started working from home I used to consider myself an introvert, who was good with/preferred being alone. But that was always against a back-drop of living a relatively social work and home-life. Once I started working from home my tendencies towards introspection, and insulation, which were tempered by my social life, became dominant and I ended up becoming insidiously depressed without even noticing it.
Change your job/workplace man, it'll change your life.
[+] [-] xor1|8 years ago|reply
It was really jarring, but I knew what was going on, so I didn't freak out. I'd read about how solitary confinement affects peoples' intelligence, especially their ability to formulate speech, and I figured I had a diminished version of that which only took effect when talking to strangers. It took about a week of work and interacting with people other than my parents on a regular basis for me to feel normal again.
[+] [-] mi_lk|8 years ago|reply
So that's what I figure how to keep myself sane if I would enter a period of almost-to-none daily interaction with people.
The one probably can't replace the other, but I'm curious if you would still have those symptoms with regular exercise.
[+] [-] heydonovan|8 years ago|reply
Now most of my days are spent working from home, and the only human interaction are the cashiers at the grocery store. I'm tired all the time, focusing is difficult for me now, and I feel like I've become slower with anything that requires mental effort.
What's the solution here? Don't work from home? Hang out more?
[+] [-] curiousgal|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] quickthrower|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] circlefavshape|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] amenghra|8 years ago|reply
I noticed I was falling sick when I took a short break from work and was mostly home. Everything returned to normal once I resumed my normal work schedule.
[+] [-] m3kw9|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] b3lvedere|8 years ago|reply
Sometimes that is tending to my little garden, toying around with a Raspberry Pi, tv or gaming or whatever.
Is that the comfort you're talking about?
[+] [-] unknown|8 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] MicroBerto|8 years ago|reply
Solitary Confinement.
Even in a prison with the most vile scum in the state, the worst thing you can do to a person is to remove them from the others.
That speaks volumes to me, personally.
[+] [-] eiffel31|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gaius|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] palerdot|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hdhzy|8 years ago|reply
Not saying that's the solution but I'm glad you said it's an "anecdotal experience".
[+] [-] kutkloon7|8 years ago|reply
Although I have never been sick for the last year, I recognize all the other symptoms to some degree. For an assessment, I took an IQ test a while ago. I used to be really good at number sequences, acing them or at least getting 95% right. I think I got about half of them this time, which was quite shocking.
Once I finish this thesis (my supervisor keeps trying to convince me to postpone my graduation - a student working on a very similar problem has spent more than 2.5 years now, and has not graduated yet) I want to spend more time on my social life again.
[+] [-] fernly|8 years ago|reply
> Dozens of painstaking studies... have established beyond reasonable doubt that ... [t]he more integrated we are with our community, the less likely we are to experience colds, heart attacks, strokes, cancer, depression and premature death of all sorts...
> ... the positive contributions to health made by social integration and social support rival in strength the detrimental contributions of ... risk factors like ... smoking, obesity, elevated blood pressure, and physical inactivity.
> ...as a rough rule of thumb, if you belong to no groups but decide to join one, you cut your risk of dying over the next year in half.
Putnam was surveying a large number of studies, not just the Harvard one.
[1] Putnam, Robert D, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community; https://www.amazon.com/Bowling-Alone-Collapse-American-Commu...
[+] [-] indescions_2017|8 years ago|reply
What I'd do is this: find a local diner, not a touristy place, but a real local institution and landmark. And then eat dinner there every single night at the same time. If constrained budget wise, look for the early bird dinner specials. Become a regular. Trade gossip with the wait-staff, complement the cooks on their sublime creations, chat up the little old ladies, engage the workmen about their craft. After a few weeks you'll find yourself invited to birthday parties and have the opportunity to give back your own time and energy, shovelling a driveway or helping out at a food drive.
A summer time variant: farmers markets. They typically have the same vendors every week and will remember you if you purchase a quart of organic honey and ask with genuine interest questions about their practise. Offer to get them started on Facebook / Shopify. Pretty soon, word spreads and you're no longer a stranger in town!
[+] [-] Broken_Hippo|8 years ago|reply
It takes a little longer, but a popular walking path can grant good results as well. Basically anything routine where you are likely to run into the same folks over and over.
[+] [-] visakanv|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] MicroBerto|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sn9|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] glbrew|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] scottLobster|8 years ago|reply
"The surprising finding is that our relationships and how happy we are in our relationships has a powerful influence on our health."
You can be surrounded by "caring" family and friends that you don't have a lot in common with, and that can be miserable. Getting determined but bad/outdated advice from parents is a classic and widespread example. It's not that the parents don't want the best for their now-adult kid, it's just that they're simply ignorant of the best way forward. But they're convinced that they're right and that creates friction despite good intentions.
[+] [-] bookmarkacc|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] smallgovt|8 years ago|reply
How do you actually prove that the relationship between the two attributes is causal versus correlated?
For example, one could conclude, instead, that being in good physical health is the cause of successful relationships.
[+] [-] aschearer|8 years ago|reply
As this article and book say "loneliness kills", but what does that mean for those of us who want to live long and healthy lives? Do we need to start scheduling social time alongside gym time? Will a hug a day keep the doctor away? Should we join organized religions or get married strictly for the health benefits?
[1]: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22933077-the-village-eff...
[+] [-] polpenn|8 years ago|reply
"Close relationships, more than money or fame, are what keep people happy throughout their lives, the study revealed"
So going after fame and money doesn't necessarily lead you to become unhappy (if we interpret the results as causal). Quality personal relationships just makes you even happier.
Also, I'm curious to what extent cultivating meaningful relationship serves as a coping mechanism for people with little money or social status (alternatively, focusing on making money and acquiring high social status to compensate for poor personal relationship development skills). My impression, based on my observations from people I've met in developing countries, is that low income / social status people tend to have richer and active communities and personal relationships. High status individuals tend to be lonelier. But this could just be confirmation bias.
[+] [-] stewbrew|8 years ago|reply
IMHO there is something wrong with this kind of research that rehashes known facts but doesn't really go any deeper than what was already known before. My gratulations to the researchers involved for getting the funding for such a long running study.
[+] [-] graphitezepp|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Oras|8 years ago|reply
Also, I assume the study is just in America which makes me ask if happiness is the same recipe for different people in different parts of the world.
[+] [-] rdudekul|8 years ago|reply
Our relationships and how happy we are in our relationships has a powerful influence on our health.
Close relationships, more than money or fame, are what keep people happy throughout their lives, the study revealed.
Loneliness kills. It’s as powerful as smoking or alcoholism.
Good relationships don’t just protect our bodies; they protect our brains.
The key to healthy aging is relationships...
[+] [-] faragon|8 years ago|reply
[1] Some quotes: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Conquest_of_Happiness
[+] [-] numbsafari|8 years ago|reply
I taught social dance for a number of years. This is a great avenue for expanding your social interactions, getting healthy, building self awareness... blah blah blah. There's a great Argentine Tango scene in SF, just sayin, folks.
There's also joining a hiking group or a walking group. Great to get out, get active, and get social.
Or engage with an after school program, or mentorship organization.
You have, like, so many options.
[+] [-] Lxr|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] elyrly|8 years ago|reply
https://www.amazon.com/Triumphs-Experience-Harvard-Grant-Stu...
[+] [-] danr4|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Dowwie|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|8 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] Aron|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zeteo|8 years ago|reply
1. Sample bias: "Why just study WEIRD [1] subjects? Let's do male Harvard graduates!" (Yes, half the study included inner city men, and one eighth of the duration featured women. It's still super heavily biased towards Harvard men.)
2. Correlation is not causation: "Hmm, health is correlated with relationship satisfaction. Could there be a common cause for both? Or maybe people like to hang out with healthier peers? No, the clear conclusion is that working on your relationships magically makes you healthier."
3. Inconsistent data collection: "Those '30s nincompoops were measuring skulls and handwriting. We'll stop doing that and take MRIs instead. But it's still the same study!"
[1] https://schott.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/14/weird/
[+] [-] mcableton|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Strategizer|8 years ago|reply
If there's already any study about it, please share it with me, I'd love to read it!