Capital Punishment and Gas Pills
People generally evaluate positive evidence for their favourite hypothesis favourably, and negative evidence is given less weight. But people tend to rational consistency, so that negative evidence tends to be scrutinized more in order to dispel it. This was illustrated by a study in which the effectiveness of capital punishment as a determent was given to people, who were known to be either supporters or opponents of capital punishment. For half the participants, they read studies showing the effectiveness of capital punishment within a particular state, while the opposing argument used statistics between states. For example, Study A would show that before capital punishment, State X would have a murder rate of Y, while after capital punishment the rate would drop to Z, less than Y. The opposing study B, would review an number of states to see whether Study A held up or not. That information was given to 1/2 of the participants. The other half would get similar information but with the roles of Study A and B reversed. "Thus, for both proponents and opponents of capital punishment, half of them had their expectations supported by one type of study and opposed by the other, and the other half were exposed to the opposite pattern of data."
What was the net result of exposing individuals to a balance of information? Gilovich reports that "exposure to a mixed body of evidence made both sides even more convinced of the fundamental soundness of their beliefs." Instead of simply ignoring unfavourable evidence, "participants cognitively transformed it into evidence that was consider relatively uniformative and could be assigned little weight." (my emphasis)
What does this have to do with gas pills?
Technorati Tags: capital punishment, negative evidence, charming book, state, murder rate, hypothesis, rational, bias, consistency
Well, there is website promoting Bioperformance that has the following discussion of skeptics of Bioperformance's gas pills:
Skeptics
(Bear in mind that any company or product has its detractors.)
NOTE: According to a BP 'area manager', one of the primary reason for negative results is that a person does not replace the fuel filter after the second or third tank as recommended by the company. The products cleans things up in the fuel system -- it losens gunk up --which can clog the filter, resulting in poor performance. The overall effect is positive, but can yield initially poor results for this reason. Another user comments: If you are not getting results and you car has over 70,000 miles on it, try changing your O2 sensor.
Someone posted here: "This product has not been independently tested by independent organisms or researchers. The composition of this product is not documented. The mode of operation of this product has not been documented."Rebuttal
ISO 9000 certification has been achieved. Also University testing is presently under way.
Discussion Sites Commenting on BPThe following sites have discussed the BioPerformance Fuel, with a general sentiment that BioPerformance fuel is a scam. However, often it is without direct experience, but is armchair commentary.
* http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff179058.htm - Mentions a likeley law suit from EnviroMax for patent infringement; asserts that BP is a front-end loaded MLM earning from sign-ups and hype, rather than product -- a product that does not have a money-back guarantee. Mentions that BP does not allow credit card sign-up, to avoid charge-back. Product performance testimonies good and bad are reported. Long shipment times of 21 business days said to be to push sign-ups, rather than product. Says that customer support is slow to respond, if they respond at all.
o REBUTTAL: See above section about suit, which actually backfires on EnviroMax, nullifying their patent due to prior existence and sales of the BP precursor company product. Regarding customer support, BP is is growing rapidly and leans on upline to answer most questions. Front-end loading usually refers to un-needed product build-up, which really doesn't apply to this additive which is easy to distribute and in high demand. Product delivery times are improving. Customer service is committed to improvement, with an objective of responding within 48 hours to tickets opened.* http://www.quatloos.com/Tax-Forums/viewtopic.php?t=1003358 The gas pill scam has been going around for decades. It first appeared during the OPEC Embargo of the early 1970s.
o REBUTTAL: Mostly armchair criticism. TylerScot's post on Wed Feb 08, 2006 5:17 pm reports a decrease in mileage, knocking, and even a stall. This could be a result of loosened junk clogging the fuel filter. The comment (http://www.quatloos.com/Tax-Forums/viewtopic.php?t=1003358&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=36) by Lysimachus Sun Feb 26, 2006 9:57 pm about BP's binary MLM system is groundless, and is not based on an accurate understanding of the BioPerformance set-up, which mixes the best of binary, with modern improvements.* http://www.scamdex.com/GasPills.htm There is no way that the stuff he claims is there can alter the structure of the hydrocarbons. Phrases like "snake-oil salesman" come to mind.
o REBUTTAL: General anecdotal, not specific to product, nor experiential with product.* http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/gasalrt.htm The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has tested over 100 supposed gas-saving devices - including mixture "enhancers" and fuel line magnets - and found that very few provided any fuel economy benefits. Those devices that did work provided only marginal improvements. In fact, some “gas-saving” products even may damage a car’s engine or cause substantial increases in exhaust emissions.
o REBUTTAL: This is a generalized site and statement and does not specifically mention BP, which is a newer product.* http://www.debunkers.org/ubb/Forum18/HTML/000443.html A stone classic. Thanks for linking it. If one was looking for a textbook example of every marker that should warn the reader to beware, this one is it - they didn't miss a single one!
o REBUTTAL: Armchair criticism. No testing done. No results posted.
Fascinating. Good thing we aren't talking about capital punishment.
Technorati Tags: capital punishment, negative evidence, charming book, state, murder rate, hypothesis, rational, bias, consistency
Comments
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