Common Sense

[Queso]

I recently read a study that only 5% of the american population actually has common sense.

I did a little experiment, and talked to a bunch of people about this. Every single one of them were convinced they had common sense.

I know common sense is general good judgement, but how can this be true? I hate to admit it, but when I think about the average person I know..I guess it makes sense.

What do you guys think about this?

[pgrmdave]

Where is that study? I would assume that part of the definition of common sense was that it was common. If only 5% of the people have it, it is no longer common sense, and it becomes an oxymoron.

[Queso]

I had no luck finding it. Every time I read something interesting, news-wise, on the internet, I can never find it again.

This place is just too big! (cue the echo)

That's funny though, common sense being an oxymoron. *sigh, I ay ay.

[C1ay]

I had no luck finding it. Every time I read something interesting, news-wise, on the internet, I can never find it again.

This place is just too big! (cue the echo)

That's funny though, common sense being an oxymoron. *sigh, I ay ay.

 

Could this be the study of discussion?

 

Common Sense, Who Has It?

Yale University Psychology and Education Professor Dr. Robert Sternberg has recently developed a survey to measure common sense. You have common sense, don't you. How much?

Discover Your Common Sense

 

New Study Reveals Who Has It

 

June 2004 (Newstream) -- We throw the phrase around all the time, but just how common is common sense? Experts contend it's essential to success and a new study shows us just what it is - and just who has it. In fact, according to a recent survey, 7 percent of Americans are said to have Common Sense Perception, or CSP - an uncanny and uncommon level of common sense.

 

More...

 

HTH

[Queso]

I see I mixed up 5, and 7. whoops. That wasn't the exact article, but yes that's exactly what I was talking about.

 

Thanks for backin me up :(

[bumab]

Well, I took the quiz. Pretty dumb, I think. Doesn't really measure common sense, so much as gives you idealized actions based on certain situations. I "missed" two, although I still don't agree with it.

 

In other words, their common sense might not be so common, resulting in nobody having common sense.

 

But I did pass... yee haw

[Queso]

There's a quiz? I don't think you can judge somebodies common sense by some online test. I didn't see that, I'm going to go check it out...

[Queso]

I agree with bumab, that thing was dumb.

[Crim]

For quite some time I have felt that common sense was an oxymoron, so this study just confirms it for me. If enough people think that common sense is dumb, or a waste of time, then how else can the result be any different. As well, if everyone thought they already had it, then there would be no reason to self assess, or improve. Then when those same people find they don't have it, my bet is that the majority will just re-allocate blame to the test.

[Fishteacher73]

I would think that common sense would be based on common knowledge. Unfortunatly it seems that we have developed a society that seems to eschew much beyond base entertainment. So their "common sense" would be based on a deminished set of inputs and knowledge and be less useful in aplication than someone whom had more information on which to make a sound judgment.

[sanctus]

All of you speak of common sense, but can somebody define it? And I guess a defintion can be found, something like "that what is judged as good by the majority of the population of a society", now how can one mesure something like that?

If only 5% have common sense I would think it is a great thing, everybody (95%) thinks for themselves and are not driven by society-pressure.

[Buffy]

I would think that common sense would be based on common knowledge.

For those of us who have worked with Artificial Intelligence, Common Sense is the real barrier to getting it to work. Just in natural language understanding, the only way to disambiguate sentances (like the proverbial "time flies like a banana") requires a broad understanding of the way the world works, definitions and secondary meanings, consequences of actions, etc. etc., etc.

 

It would be nice to have a Wikipedia of common sense that people could put into their cell phones so that they wouldn't keep winning those Darwin Awards.

 

Unfortunatly it seems that we have developed a society that seems to eschew much beyond base entertainment. So their "common sense" would be based on a deminished set of inputs and knowledge and be less useful in aplication than someone whom had more information on which to make a sound judgment.

"I'll go tally the votes..."

 

Surviving with Common Sense,

Buffy

[alxian]

rofl.. common sense.. blah..

 

only the strong survive.. blah..

 

have fun and roll with the punches.. just when you get punch drunk remember the good times!

 

surviving ?.. god only knows how.

[maddog]

Ya'know my girlfriend says I have no common sense either. I don't see how anyone can have any common

sense... No one actually has all their senses in common!

 

Now really... ;) :D

 

Maddog

[Buffy]

Ya'know my girlfriend says I have no common sense either.

Tee hee! As long as they're driven by their libidos, boys don't have *any* common sense!

 

Cheers,

Buffy

[Buffy]

Okay, back on topic. No one in this thread has mentioned Thomas Paine who wrote "Common Sense", an appeal to the denizens of the colonies to throw off the yoke of their English oppressors. Now discussion of that in general should go over into the Social Science forum, but what's relevant here, is that this book was purposely given this name to say that it was "common sense" that people should have control over their own destinies and colonies should not be ruled from afar. Of course if you'd taken a poll in those days (at least among the people who controlled things) they would have called you daft to a man. This was *not* a common notion at all--it was in fact quite self serving--and it wasn't even used ironicallly. But it was used as a persuasive mechanism to say that it "made sense." Which it did if you thought about it. Just another take....

 

Cheers,

Buffy

[Crim]

I would think that common sense would be based on common knowledge. Unfortunatly it seems that we have developed a society that seems to eschew much beyond base entertainment. So their "common sense" would be based on a deminished set of inputs and knowledge and be less useful in aplication than someone whom had more information on which to make a sound judgment.

 

I agree with this. And to further expand, that in previous times, it would have been more imperative to adopt "common sense" as a necessity for dealing with the world around us. With society's advances taking that burden of its population, there is no longer a need to be as concerned with such things. They can instead pursue entertainment, or whatever other whim may strike. Thinking that society will go on like this forever, there is no perceived need to think about more important things (for the majority). I wonder if the Romans experienced this prior to their fall.