Reversal test

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  1. ^

    Bostrom, Nick & Toby Ord (2006) The reversal testtest: eliminating status quo bias in applied ethics, Ethics, vol. 116, pp. 656–679.

  2. ^
  3. ^
  4. ^

    Kolber, Adam J. (2006) Therapeutic forgetting: the legal and ethical implications of memory dampening, Vanderbilt Law Review, vol. 59, pp. 1559–1626, pp. 1610-1611.

  5. ^

    The President’s Council on Bioethics (2003) Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness, Washington, D.C., p. 196.

  6. ^
  7. ^

    Weijers, Dan (2011) Intuitive biases in judgments about thought experiments: the experience machine revisited, Philosophical Writings, vol. 50, pp. 1–18, p. 10.

  8. ^

    Salamon, Anna (2012) Checklist of rationality habits, LessWrong, November 7, 3.2.

  9. ^

    Dan Weijers lists 30 separate publications expressing this opinion.[12]

  10. ^

    Kolber, Adam J. (1994) Mental statism and the experience machine, Bard Journal of Social Sciences, vol. 3, pp. 10–17.

  11. ^

    Greene, Joshua D. (2001) 'A psychological perspective on Nozick’s experience machine and Parfit’s repugnant conclusion', Society for Philosophy and Psychology Annual Meeting, Cincinnati, Ohio.

  12. ^

    Weijers, Dan (2014) Nozick’s experience machine is dead, long live the experience machine!, Philosophical Psychology, vol. 27, pp. 513–535.

  13. ^

    de Brigard, Felipe (2010) If you like it, does it matter if it’s real?, Philosophical Psychology, vol. 23, pp. 43–57.

This alternative reversal test has been applied to Robert Nozick's "experience machine" thought experiment, considered by many to raise a decisive objection to mental state theories of wellbeing generally and hedonism specifically.[9] Adam Kolber and Joshua Greene have each independently suggested considering, besides Nozick's original question of whether we would connect to the experience machine, the question of whether we would disconnect from it were we already connected.[10][11] The authors speculate that most people would answer both questions negatively, suggesting that our intuitive responses are being influenced by status quo bias. Subsequent experimental results by Felipe De Brigard and Dan Weijers have on the whole vindicated those speculations.[9]12][12]13]

  1. ^

    Bostrom, Nick & Toby Ord (2006) The reversal test eliminating status quo bias in applied ethics, Ethics, vol. 116, pp. 656–679.

  2. ^
  3. ^
  4. ^

    Kolber, Adam J. (2006) Therapeutic forgetting: the legal and ethical implications of memory dampening, Vanderbilt Law Review, vol. 59, pp. 1559–1626, pp. 1610-1611.

  5. ^

    The President’s Council on Bioethics (2003) Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness, Washington, D.C., p. 196.

  6. ^
  7. ^

    Weijers, Dan (2011) Intuitive biases in judgments about thought experiments: the experience machine revisited, Philosophical Writings, vol. 50, pp. 1–18, p. 10.

  8. ^

    Salamon, Anna (2012) Checklist of rationality habits, LessWrong, November 7, 3.2.

  9. ^

    Dan Weijers lists 30 separate publications expressing this opinion (Weijers, Dan (2014) opinion.Nozick’s experience machine is dead, long live the experience machine![12], Philosophical Psychology, vol. 27, pp. 513–535, p. 530).

  10. ^

    Kolber, Adam J. (1994) Mental statism and the experience machine, Bard Journal of Social Sciences, vol. 3, pp. 10–17.

  11. ^

    Greene, Joshua D. (2001) 'A psychological perspective on Nozick’s experience machine and Parfit’s repugnant conclusion', Society for Philosophy and Psychology Annual Meeting, Cincinnati, Ohio.

  12. ^

    Weijers, Dan (2014) Nozick’s experience machine is dead, long live the experience machine!, Philosophical Psychology, vol. 27, pp. 513–535.

  13. ^

    de Brigard, Felipe (2010) If you like it, does it matter if it’s real?, Philosophical Psychology, vol. 23, pp. 43–57.

The reversal and double reversal tests shouldmay be distinguished from a related heuristic that also involves a certain kind of reversal and is also intended to combat status quo bias.[7] Whenever a change to the status quo is being considered, this heuristic suggests that the change be reframed as the status quo, and the status quo as the change. For example, a person considering whether to move to a new city could imagine that they are already living in this new city, and consider instead if they would move to the city where they do in fact live.[8] Or an investor considering whether to sell stocksa financial asset could instead consider whether they would buy this asset if they didwere not already had a position.invested in it.

This alternative reversal test has been applied to Robert Nozick's "experience machine" thought experiment, considered by many to raise a decisive objection to mental state theories of wellbeing generally and hedonism specifically. (Weijers lists 30 separate publications expressing this opinion.)[9] Adam Kolber and Joshua Greene have each independently suggested considering, besides Nozick's original question of whether we would connect to the experience machine, the question of whether we would disconnect from it were we already connected.[10][11] The authors speculate that most people would answer both questions negatively, suggesting that our intuitive responses are being influenced by status quo bias. Subsequent experimental results by Felipe De Brigard and Dan Weijers have on the whole vindicated those speculations.[9][12]

  1. ^

    Bostrom, Nick & Toby Ord (2006) The reversal test eliminating status quo bias in applied ethics, Ethics, vol. 116, pp. 656–679.

  2. ^
  3. ^
  4. ^

    Kolber, Adam J. (2006) Therapeutic forgetting: the legal and ethical implications of memory dampening, Vanderbilt Law Review, vol. 59, pp. 1559–1626, pp. 1610-1611.

  5. ^

    The President’s Council on Bioethics (2003) Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness, Washington, D.C., p. 196.

  6. ^
  7. ^

    Weijers, Dan (2011) 'IntuitiveIntuitive biases in judgments about thought experiments: the experience machine revisited'revisited, Philosophical Writings, vol. 50, pp. 1–18, p. 10.

  8. ^

    Salamon, Anna (2012) Checklist of rationality habits, LessWrong, November 7, 3.2.

  9. ^

    Weijers,Dan Weijers lists 30 separate publications expressing this opinion (Weijers, Dan (2014) Nozick’s experience machine is dead, long live the experience machine!, Philosophical Psychology, vol. 27, pp. 513–535, p. 530.530).

  10. ^

    Kolber, Adam J. (1994) Mental statism and the experience machine, Bard Journal of Social Sciences, vol. 3, pp. 10–17.

  11. ^

    Greene, Joshua D. (2001) 'A psychological perspective on Nozick’s experience machine and Parfit’s repugnant conclusion', Society for Philosophy and Psychology Annual Meeting, Cincinnati, Ohio.

  12. ^

    de Brigard, Felipe (2010) If you like it, does it matter if it’s real?, Philosophical Psychology, vol. 23, pp. 43–57.

Hindriks, FrankBostrom, Nick & Igor Douven (2018)Toby Ord (2006) Nozick’s experience machine: an empirical studyThe reversal test eliminating status quo bias in applied ethics, Philosophical PsychologyEthics, vol. 31,116, pp. 278–298.656–679.

The reversal test is a debiasing heuristic for reducing status quo bias. The test was introduced by Nick Bostrom and Toby Ord in a 2006 article (Bostrom & Ord 2006).article.[1] Although the authors proposed it as a tool for reducing status quo bias specifically in the field of applied ethics, the test is applicable much more generally, to the evaluation of any decision involving a potential deviation from the status quo along some continuous dimension.

Bostrom and Ord define the reversal test as follows (Bostrom & Ord 2006: 664-665):follows:[2]

The authors illustrate the test with an application to cognitive enhancement (Bostrom & Ord 2006: 664):[3]

Adam Kolber offers another application of the test to decisions concerning memory enhancement (Kolber 2006: 1610-1611)enhancement.[4] The test has also been used in discussions about anti-aging research: "if there is merit in the suggestion that too long a life, with its end out of sight and mind, might diminish its worth, one might wonder whether we have already gone too far in increasing longevity." (President's Council on Bioethics 2003: 196)[5]

In addition to the reversal test, Bostrom and Ord proposed a double reversal test (Bostrom & Ord: 673):[6]

The reversal and double reversal tests should be distinguished from a related heuristic that also involves a certain kind of reversal and is also intended to combat status quo bias (Weijers 2011: 10).bias.[7] Whenever a change to the status quo is being considered, this heuristic suggests that the change be reframed as the status quo, and the status quo as the change. For example, a person considering whether to move to a new city could imagine that they are already living in this new city, and consider instead if they would move to the city where they do in fact live (Salamon 2012: 3.2).live.[8] Or an investor considering whether to sell stocks could instead consider whether they would buy if they did not already had a position.

This alternative reversal test has been applied to Robert Nozick's "experience machine" thought experiment, considered by many to raise a decisive objection to mental state theories of wellbeing generally and hedonism specifically. (Weijers (2014: 530) lists 30 separate publications expressing this opinion.)[9] Adam Kolber and Joshua Greene have independently suggested considering, besides Nozick's original question of whether we would connect to the experience machine, the question of whether we would disconnect from it were we already connected (Kolber 1994: 15; Greene 2001).connected.[10][11] The authors speculate that most people would answer both questions negatively, suggesting that our intuitive responses are being influenced by status quo bias. Subsequent experimental results by Felipe De Brigard and Dan Weijers have on the whole vindicated those speculations (De Brigard 2010; Weijers 2014).speculations.[9][12]

BibliographyFurther reading

Hindriks, Frank & Igor Douven (2018) Nozick’s experience machine: an empirical study, Philosophical Psychology, vol....

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The President’s Council on Bioethics (2003) 'Beyond therapy: Biotechnology and the pursuit of happiness', Washington, D.C.

de Brigard, Felipe (2010) If you like it, does it matter if it’s real?, Philosophical Psychology, vol. 23, pp. 43–57.

The President'President’s Council on Bioethics (2003) 'Beyond therapy: Biotechnology and the pursuit of happiness', Washington, D.C.

The President’s Council on Bioethics (2003) Beyond Therapy:therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuitpursuit of Happinesshappiness., Washington, D.C.

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