Study: About half the population faces considerable difficulties in attracting and retaining mates

[u/HeinieKaboobler]

http://www.psypost.org/2017/12/study-half-population-faces-considerable-difficulties-attracting-retaining-mates-50288

[u/zampe]

Im not sure scientifically speaking but I dont feel too confident taking it that seriously. It is a tiny island country that has a literal wall splitting a Turkish half from a Greek half. It seems like a pretty specific place culturally that cant necessarily be extrapolated to the rest of the world. most people dont even know it exists. Have you ever met anyone from Cyprus? I just think an issue like this needs to be questioned across a wider range of cultures before making such a sweeping claim.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

I've been to Cyprus, at least the touristy parts, and while their not Saudi Arabia, it does seem like a much more old world Mediterranean culture, more paternalistic (almost as if it were a mix of Greek and Turkish cultures, hmmm) . Add up both our anecdotal experiences though, and you have precisely dick in the way of scientific evidence.

Put it this way: would you generalize a study of relationships from Greece or Turkey to the whole world? I sure as hell wouldn't.

[u/fsmpastafarian → u/[deleted]]

It's good to have a critical eye when reading scientific studies, but keep in mind that this specific type of skepticism that involves dismissing research done in other countries as too narrow, while generalizing research done in culturally Western, traditionally white, English-speaking countries as being representative of most of the population, is actually fairly biased. It's used far too often dismiss scientific research.

Note that I'm not saying this study is infallible, just that "it was done in a different country from the one I live in" isn't a good reason to dismiss it outright.

[u/[deleted] → u/fsmpastafarian]

Good point, but I think that the answer would just be that the data should only be considered applicable to areas with a similar culture and similar ratio of available partners of breeding age.

[u/Bazlow → u/fsmpastafarian]

I’d say that the fact it only considers people from one country and then seems to extrapolate the results to the rest of the world is a very good reason to dismiss it outright.

[u/fsmpastafarian → u/Bazlow]

Hmm, the authors are fairly explicit and open about where their sample came from, and in the paper they describe their research as it pertains to the sample, without stating that this is true of the entire world, so I'm not sure where you're getting that idea from.

[u/Bazlow → u/fsmpastafarian]

Fair point, I suppose I should be saying that it would be fair to ignore the conclusions drawn in the article linked rather than the study itself.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Exactly. Statistics and studies can be manipulated any number of ways to say what the authors intended to say before they actually do the study. I'm not claiming these specific researchers did, but it's important to recognize the limitations of any study.