Dr. Fox effect

The so-called Dr. Fox experiment is a test set from the field of social psychology. The aim of the experiment is to investigate whether and how the person of the speaker, the reception of (technical) presentations affected. The experiment was first conducted in 1970 by Donald H. Naftulin ( University of Southern California School of Medicine ), John E. Ware (Southern Illinois University School of Medicine ) and Frank A. Donnelly (USC Division of Continuing Education in Psychiatry ).

Preparation

The hypothesis of the experiment was that a well -presented lecture can convey even experienced listeners the feeling that they have learned something, even if what is offered is incorrect or conflicting.

To carry out the actor Michael Fox was engaged (no relation to Michael J. Fox). He got the completely unknown to him material presented in two sessions, with the lecture technique was developed. Was " Mathematical Game Theory as Applied to Physician Education" ( The application of mathematical game theory in the training of doctors ) The topic of the lecture. The content was complete nonsense.

Implementation

At the primal experiment participated three groups. Only the first group experienced the actor personally, the other two saw a recording.

The first group were eleven psychiatrists, psychologists and trainers for social workers, relying on a teacher training conference ( Eleven psychiatrists, psychologists, and social worker educators who were Gathered for a teacher training conference ) were located. The group was the actor as " Dr. Myron L. Fox " presented as an" expert in the field of application of mathematics to human behavior. " The lecture lasted about an hour with a half hour discussion.

The members of the second group were eleven psychiatrists, psychologists and trainers for social workers. They were shown on video of the lecture, including the discussion and implementation.

The third group were 33 persons from the graduate school of a university. There were trainers and managers, not necessarily in the field of psychiatry, but with patient experience ( counseling experience).

Each group was handed out questionnaires to lecture after lecture and discussion.

Result

No one group has noticed that they have heard a nonsensical lecture. The evaluation of the 55 questionnaires was as follows:

The authors came to the conclusion that the trial supports their hypothesis. The experiment showed the knowledge of rhetoric that the content of the speech is only a small part of the success. The appearance of the speaker ( visual communication 50%) and the type of mediation ( Acoustic 40%) are much more important for the part which is received by the audience. The content (10%) has only a small share. As the experiment shows, this may even cease completely.

Similar phenomena

The fact that this phenomenon also exists in written form, showed the Sokal affair. The physicist Alan Sokal was able to publish a written text as a parody unnoticed in a social science journal.

In the newspaper sector launched a deliberately false report is also known as pit dog.

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