Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

It's funny I see it as just the opposite- I think people might vote against the popular opinion for fear of sheepleness - to be contrary or "alternative". Someone get Derren Brown stat.

I just think there's a "critical mass" of votes that, once it's hit, makes a particular option more or less of an attractive opinion. Furthermore, you don't want people voting against popular opinion, in fear of being sheeple, if the popular vote is what they really want.

Should we vote on this?

>> ^Drax:
Should we vote on this?

How about two votes?
The first vote could be vermillion\maroon\burgundy, with the results completely hidden.
The second vote could be eggshell\offwhite\beige, with the results available live.
Y'know...for kicks, just to see if a trend emerges.

If the Sift would handle it, ideally you'd want to have a single poll split into two, with every other voter secretly taken to a copy of the poll that does or doesn't show the results live.
Plus, electrodes attached to nipples. That's got to be in there somewhere or it isn't Science.

Dag, but if what you say is true, the voting is STILL INFLUENCED by seeing the results beforehand - just the other way from what rottenseed said (I agree with both of you - there are some that will flock to crowds and then there are die-hard non-conformists).

I fully support this idea: one should only be able to see the results AFTER voting - and to go one step further, I think there shouldn't be an option to see them without voting - if one really wants to see the results, they can decide for themselves where they stand on an issue.

What EDD said.

Should only show results when you've voted, I think.

yea! what EDD said...then what Drax said about what EDD said...and then what gwiz said confirming the same idea as what EDD said only in a simpler form.

If seeing the results beforehand influences someone's vote, then isn't that obviously something that individual considers relevant to their decision?
If the influencing factor is that one option is already considerably more popular than another, then isn't it a moot point from a practical standpoint?
If a person's vote is swayed based on which options have more votes, then how valid is that person's "actual" vote to begin with?

That is to say: "So what?"

Ooh! I know!
The poll could record whether the "show results" button was pressed before a vote was cast. Then you could easily view the results of the poll as "results-blind", "results-aware", and "overall" and see if there's a significant difference. (Provided people didn't deliberately try to cheat by viewing the results and then reloading the page to vote.)

>> ^ReverendTed:
If seeing the results beforehand influences someone's vote, then isn't that obviously something that individual considers relevant to their decision?

No. We want unadulterated, unbiased, raw self-sufficient decision making.

Here guys...this should be enough for you to wrap your large brains around

>> ^rottenseed:
Here guys...this should be enough for you to wrap your large brains around

But there's a subtle, yet significant difference.
The Asch experiments deal with statements of fact, or more accurately, statements of perception. We are expected, and expect, to perceive the universe uniformly.
Most of our polls deal with opinions, which most of us are told, from childhood, are like assholes are unique to the individual, and that we should stand up for what we believe.

(Though I will admit that what we're told about the uniqueness of opinions might be at odds with how we're conditioned by our peers and society as a whole whenever we exhibit wrongthink.)

Should QM and Westy be pitted against each other in a fight to the death steel cage match?


one answer: [_] 1

the other answwer: [______________________________________________________________] 201

If, for whatever reason, a person in their heart wants to vote for the first answer.. you don't think this might have a chance of causing the person to, at the least, not vote?

(though true about the video, the pressure there to answer in line with the others is a bit different)

That's true, Drax, but I refer to my previous point:

>> ^ReverendTed:
If the influencing factor is that one option is already considerably more popular than another, then isn't it a moot point from a practical standpoint?


Perhaps the poll would be slightly less "accurate", but the result doesn't change. In either case, the second option "wins by a landslide".

In your specific case, if the current votes are 201 to 1, then this hypothetical person holds an extremely unpopular viewpoint. Seeing the poll results might do little more than strengthen their resolve to stand apart. The polls don't show who voted for each option, (right?) so this person wouldn't be afraid of reprisal for their vote. That said, I don't deny that the results are affected by the ability to view the results, but for the reasons stated above, I don't think it actually matters.

>> ^ReverendTed:
>> ^rottenseed:
Here guys...this should be enough for you to wrap your large brains around

But there's a subtle, yet significant difference.
The Asch experiments deal with statements of fact, or more accurately, statements of perception. We are expected, and expect, to perceive the universe uniformly.
Most of our polls deal with opinions, which most of us are told, from childhood, are like assholes are unique to the individual, and that we should stand up for what we believe.
(Though I will admit that what we're told about the uniqueness of opinions might be at odds with how we're conditioned by our peers and society as a whole whenever we exhibit wrongthink.)

Sorry dude, that test is about how others affect our decision making process. You don't have to try and segregate whether it's got to do with fact or opinion. The test clear and simple.

It's not really the same kind of peer pressure though. In the visual test there's only one right answer, that leads to much more pressure about choosing what everyone else is choosing, especially when in the same room with them, 'Holy crap, is there something wrong with my eyes? Did I misunderstand the test?? Are these guys all actors pulling a prank on me???'... but most of all the majority answer would logically be the right one in such a test, so anyone's gonna feel like they're making themselves look like an idiot by not choosing the consistent answer.

In a poll it's gonna come more down to the person's personality. I would think the most common case would be someone figuring their vote wont make a difference and end up not voting.

But NEWays, I'm only helping to build a tangent here.. I still say the best results -would- come from someone not knowing the results till after the voting.