I had an interesting discussion with my fiancee tonight about the health risks of smoking pipes. I commented that of the tobacco uses, its probably the least harmful to your health though not 100% safe (As opposed to cigarets, Pot, snuf, chew, and cigars). But I also commented that its probably no worse the alcohol consumption. I dont know the facts so I thought I'd ask you experts here. Does anyone have any empirical data on this topic? Thanks!
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Pipes Magazine » General Pipe Smoking Discussion
Health Issue: Smoking Pipes or Drinking Alcohol. What's worse?
(47 posts)-
Posted 4 months ago #
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No data, but I do both!
People sleep peacefully in their beds at night, because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.Posted 4 months ago # -
I always thought they cancelled each other out.
Posted 4 months ago # -
I will tell you that during my current career as an LEO, I've been to no car accidents/ass whoopin's or seen families broken up because of pipe smoking. Alcohol on the other hand.....
As far as health data, I've only known one person who died of lung cancer and he was a non smoker. I think it's all inflated to appear worse than it is.
By the eternal! There is a man whose form should be cast in deathless bronze and the statue placed in every college in the land. It is not book-learning young men need, nor instruction about this and that, but a stiffening of the vertebrae which will cause them to be loyal to a trust, to act promptly, concentrate their energies; do the thing - "carry a message to Garcia!" Elbert Hubbard "A Message to Garcia" 1899Posted 4 months ago # -
I have read some data on pipe smoking and alcohol. Really I think, alcohol has the potential to do more harm than pipe smoking.
“I believe that pipe smoking contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgement in all human affairs.”
-Albert Einstein, 1950Posted 4 months ago # -
I always thought they cancelled each other out.
“The same hand that can write a beautiful poem, can knock you out with one punch—that's Poetic Justice.”
― "Irish" Wayne KellyPosted 4 months ago # -
I've definitely known a number of people who have died of lung cancer, but not from pipes as far as I know. Obviously there is always the risk with intaking any tobacco, but it really comes down to how regular consumption is. I've been told and have read that 'moderate smokers' as some would call, which in the one particular article referred to as a bowl a day smokers, have a very slim chance of developing cancers, the highest risk of the cancers being mouth and/or lip. Averaged throughout the year, I personally smoke maybe every week or two, maybe more like 3. This is due to winter time here in Saskatchewan, I don't really feel like smoking a bowl in -30 or so weather on the cold days.
Alcohol would obviously just depend on how regular consumption is (and what amount). Really, they both come down to moderation and not abusing either, IMO.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Worked for years as a critical care nurse in Louisiana , and I have seen much more health issues due to cig. smoking , and daily alcohal consumption . A health study at a major university stated that pipe smokers lived longer than non smokers on average . Also this same study showed that cigs contained several harmful chemicals , most unintentional [ by product of cleaning factory equipment ect.], but , none the less it showed up . Pipe tobacco was said to have less tar and nicotine [ there are some exceptions ,of course ] . The study did note that most pipe smokers didnt intentionally inhale as much smoke as cig. smokers . pipes are ment to taste the tobacco , cigs are mainly a nicotine delivery device . All tobacco contains carcinogens , but extra are added by cig. manufacturing companys . In conclusion , pipe smoking is a relaxing expirience , more than a nic. fix or nervous oral fixation . And of course im biased !
"A pipe is the fountain of contemplation, the source of pleasure, the companion of the wise; and the man who smokes, thinks like a philosopher and acts like a Samaritan."
-Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron LyttonPosted 4 months ago # -
If you listened to the NPR show Kevin was on he gave some interesting stats on pipe smoking.
I believe it was from this same report:
"Death rates for current pipe smokers were little if at all higher than for non-smokers, even with men smoking 10 or more pipefuls per day and with men who had smoked pipes for more than 30 years" from the Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Sugreon General of the Public Health Service, 1964
Also, some interesting reading on smoking health at the bottom of this page
Posted 4 months ago # -
Well all I know is you can get a DWI, but I never heard of a DWP. That has to tell you something.
There is nothing like being left alone again, to walk peacefully with oneself in the woods.
To boil one's coffee and fill one's pipe, and to think idly and slowly as one does it.Posted 4 months ago # -
There's also the question of binging.
When you smoke too much at a sitting, your mouth starts to hurt and you put the pipe down.
When you drink too much at a sitting, it's very easy to keep drinking.
Or so I've heard.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Some very good points here. Thanks for the link and the data. I haven't listend to the NPR PodCast but have been meaning to.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Drinking and smoking are the two major killers... as far as smoking goes, cigarettes are the worst, not sure why you lumped pot in with the tobacco products but since you did believe it or not pot is the least dangerous.
I carry a gun... because a cop is too heavy!Posted 4 months ago # -
I lumped Pot into the conversation because its smoking related and I read that smoking Pot is worst then cigarets as far as carcinogens go.
"A study published in the journal, Thorax, recently hit the headlines as demonstrating that smoking a cannabis joint was at least twice as harmful to lung function as smoking a cigarette"
In another article I read it stated: ""Cannabis smokers end up with five times more carbon monoxide in their bloodstream (than tobacco smokers)," team leader Richard Beasley, at the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand, said in a news release."
Posted 4 months ago # -
Well there are more recent and better sources than a blog and a fox news (bullshit station) article from 5 years ago
Now im not saying that it doesnt cause cancer or its not dangerous, but there are studies that show that cannabis actually kills some cancer cell's. AND there have been 0 death's due to marijuana.
But I didnt mean to derail the thread... sorry
Posted 4 months ago # -
Ya understand Capt. I also found other studies that show its far less dangerous than cigs so I am just going based upon what i've known. BTW, FoxNews wasn't the author of the study, they referenced someone else's study.
Maybe the BBC is more to your liking?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6923642.stmOr Reuters?
http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/01/29/us-cancer-cannabis-idUSHKG10478820080129Or NCBI?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18238947
Posted 4 months ago # -
All good info, obviously I agree, since I'm sitting on the same side as you all... However, in pipe smoking studies that look at mortality rates, I'd say it's important to note that oral cancer, if caught early, is very operable and has a very high survival rate- so some smokers could have gotten it and survived, but they still got it. Then again, if they had, they wouldn't still be smoking... So it depends on how those studies were made and who they catalogued as pipe smokers.
"I don't want any of your statistics; I took your whole batch and lit my pipe with it." -Mark TwainPosted 4 months ago # -
Great reads on cigar and pipe health studies. It is obviously very important to differentiate between tobacco type, inhalation, and frequency, but many of the widey reported studies fail in this. Might be a sample size issue (you can hardly say anything statistically meaningful if your sample of 1000 people has only 5 pipe smokers). However, I can't help but believe that many studies lump them all together just to make the point that "all tobacco is deadly and dangerous, no matter the amount." A total lie.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Good Lord! Some of these topics crack me up.
Living in todays world is worse for you.
Posted 4 months ago # -
In my vast experience with both tobacco and alcohol, I am of the opinion that pipe smoking is the least dangerous of all forms of smoking and way less destructive than alcohol. I have spent my life researching both and have over 40 years of sampling and I believe alcohol will kill me before my pipe smoking. Now where did I put that Vodka?
HarrisPosted 4 months ago # -
You know what? We are all going to die sometime. When it is your time and God calls, you go. In the meantime enjoy life for as long as you can. More people die of worrying about being eaten by a bear than get eaten by a bear. All things in moderation. I'll take my chances smoking a pipe. I don't do drinking very well so I quit Feb. 1st 1989 and haven't regreted it for a minute. If you can stop at one or two and don't get behind the wheel ever then I think you have control and it won't rot your liver or kill brain cells. Pot just makes you lazy and I believe can effect your lungs as much as cigarettes. After all you are exposing your lungs to all those constituants that will rot your lungs.
Posted 4 months ago # -
I believe that smoking pipes and cigars, as well as drinking alcoholic beverages -- in moderation -- is actually good for us.
My doctor agrees (sort of). She says a few cigars a week and smoking a bowl of tobacco a couple times a day -- while it would be better to not smoke any tobacco -- isn't a huge concern. Same for alcohol -- a drink now and then is fine -- in fact, she believes a glass or two of red wine a day is actually good for us.
Posted 4 months ago # -
I think this thread needs more precise and yet unbelieveable statistics.
I represent 1 count quantity of people who are made happier by pipe smoking and occasional drinking of alcohol.
Posted 4 months ago # -
No data to back this up but my father-in-law from Tennessee always claimed that lung cancer and addiction was way less when people used to roll their own. When the cigarette companies started adding chemicals and extra nicotine to "hook" more customers, the cancer really kicked in. People could smoke just a couple of hand rolled smokes and walk away from them when they wanted. They had a huge cigar factory in Clarksville, TN, Petrie cigar factory, and everybody smoked cigars and or hand rolled cigarettes and most died of old age. Like I said, no data here but I remember my grandfather rolling his own, burned his new shirt, and never smoked again after 40 years of smoking and never seemed to miss it.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Roth's got a point, you do have to factor in the stess relief as a positive effect. Which is why I for one keep keepin' at it.
Posted 4 months ago # -
I agree 100% with mustanggt. You do have to live. I drink very little, have never smoked anything (even dope in HS/College) so pipes are really my first experience with tobacco. That said, I am enjoying this and given my high stress job, pipe smoking actually slows me down and relaxes me. But I do this in moderation. My GF was only wondering if I was introducing something dangerous into my life but my comment about alcohol consumption is what prompted this thread. HappyJacks has a good point too though. Just being alive is dangerous to your health in our current world.
Posted 4 months ago # -
A medical professor and researcher has advised me that alcohol is far worse than weed. And weed is obviously worse for your health than pipesmoking because you don't inhale the pipesmoke. Therefore alcohol is worse than pipesmoking. I recommend doing both, so that you don't outlive our civilization as we know it.
Posted 4 months ago # -
My GF was only wondering if I was introducing something dangerous into my life
Walking to the store can introduce something dangerous into your life, as can driving, riding the bus, fishing, hunting, getting out of bed in the morning, ETC.. Don't sweat life, or you will die, either early from stress, or an old man of 101, who has no life adventures to look back on.
If at first you don't succeed, have another bowl.Posted 4 months ago # -
Niether are as dangerous to driving a car during rush hour.
I really do hate the discussion of what is bad for you and what is good. And excusing a bad habit because there are worse, is lame.
Ya could be shooting heroin mixed with meth' with dirty needles found in a dumpster behind a porn theater.
So there is always something worse.
A good rule for living is simply, all things in moderation. Enjoy alcohol tobacco and good food but not to indulgence. Live a well rounded life and all will be well in as much as you can control.Posted 4 months ago # -
IMHO, all this worrying about health is. Just sit back with ya pipe and a glass of Scotch and relax! Instead of getting your blood pressure up while worrying about things like this.
We all have to die eventually, and to be honest with the amount of electrical wiring, wireless waves and electromagnetic radiation, ozone levels, global warming, car and factory exhausts, deforestation, flooding, mutations of viruses and bacteria, resistance against drugs, DNA degradation and the amount of psychos running around randomly killings dozens of people even in prep schools, living a month more or less because you enjoyed whatever product (alcohol or smoke) doesn't matter a damn thing
Suffering from a serious case of "EPARD", also known as the Estate Pipe Acquisition and Restoration Disorder.Posted 4 months ago # -
For me I think alcohol is worse. I can smoke my pipe without a beer but I can't drink a beer without smoking my pipe.
U.S.M.C. (SEMPER FI)Posted 4 months ago # -
+1 Mthanded
Posted 4 months ago # -
“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!”
― Hunter S. Thompson
Posted 4 months ago # -
I agree totally with hfearly. My wife was recently in the hospital for a possible problem she was having with her heart. She has never smoked nor drank a drop of alcohol in her entire life. She told me and a few others gathered in her room, "I'm the only one in this room that has never smoked or drank, why am I the one in this bed?"
Posted 4 months ago # -
All I know is.. you see a lot of old guys smoking pipes. That must mean something
Jason
"The cosmos is also within us. We're made of star-stuff. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself." - Carl SaganPosted 4 months ago # -
Just got home from an office party. Wine and beer were provided along with food. I had to ask for soda. Providing some good tobacco would have been unthinkable.
Winton
Posted 4 months ago # -
If I can live as long as my dear friend, Craig Tarler (C&D age 82) did, I will continue to do both, as he did and as I do! I am age 63. Never smoked Ciggs and don't inhale. Pipes since age 12! I exercise and I am an avid downhill skier in great company such as famous pipe-maker Alex Florov. I have met him on the mountain and we both smoke pipes and love to ski. Just walk two miles every day (except ski days)!!!
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Posted 4 months ago # -
My GF was only wondering if I was introducing something dangerous into my life
Marriage/relationships....that can be dangerous.
This reminds me of an argument with my wife several years ago when she said to me "you're not the same guy I married...." "My gawd" I told her, "now you see my pain, you've been trying to change me ever since...."
But anyway, the original question. In moderation I don't think either is particularly bad. However, in the case of abuse, alcohol would lead to the worst problems both physically and otherwise.
"The pipe draws wisdom from the lips of the philosopher, and shuts up the mouth of the foolish; it generates a style of conversation, contemplative, thoughtful, benevolent, and unaffected..."
-William Makepeace Thackeray, from The Social PipePosted 4 months ago # -
Whoa, whoa, WHOA!!!! HOLD ON A MINUTE, there are health concerns related to tobacco and alcohol?!?!? Why am I the last to hear about these things???
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
-C. S. Lewis, English essayist & juvenile novelist (1898 - 1963)Posted 4 months ago # -
+1 gecko!
Posted 4 months ago # -
#gecko. Ok man, that made me laugh. Not to quote Chris Rock too much on how to handle relationships properly but he said, "you're not dating the person, you're dating their representative". How true.
Posted 4 months ago # -
I have been smoking cigarettes since my early teens, mostly rollies, but for a little while I smoked factory-made "cancer-sticks" for a variety of reasons. Then one day this cough turned up, and it was nasty. During one particularly bad coughing fit I really genuinely thought I was a goner. After that I went back to my old faithful Port Royal and No More Cough. None.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Honestly, I am more worried about the utter garbage I have eaten over the years...
I think that pipe smoking has its negative effects, and I think that drinking has its negative effects, but if one practises moderation then you will probably have the best chance of balancing enjoyment with good health.
The truth is that none of us are making it out of here alive - if we exercise a bit of caution, then perhaps we won't have to check out early, either... It's all a matter of good sense. If you smoke 10 bowls a day, then you might be better served by 5. If you smoke 2, then see how 1 bowl treats you. In the end, you'll appreciate it more and it'll cost you less... I wouldn't advocate anyone quitting unless they saw no other route to good health.
Cheers. I'm going to have another glass of cognac before I drift off to sleep!
Posted 4 months ago # -
I don't know which is worse, so I won't quit either so there won't be the chance of quiting the one thats better for me. I want to die healthy.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Why is the fixation of death seeming to become more frequent in the cultures?
Maybe your girlfriend needs a good stiff drink to settle the nerves
Billions have done it before, and many more are sure to go after. The whole thing can be a whirlwind hurl a ride if you want it to be, or it can be as sober and severe as a convent on a mountain. I'm leaning more toward the ride myself, but with enough moderation to not fall off the rails and become dependant on quarters from benevolent passerby. Not that there's anything wrong with that. The wisest man I ever met was a junkie, which says something about being a junkie, or at least the perception of junkies. Turned out she was a woman. Get to know your local junkie. That should be on a pin. Soon, you'll have lots of people, glistening from the treadmill coming to talk to you while you try and smoke your pipe in peace in the park. Pipe smokers are junkies too, aren't they?
I've drank, smoked, and ingested myself into so many different dimensions that I probably deserve to die, but (I'll now have a heart attack just for saying it) my health is good and I get to romp around in jungles, on mountains, and into the wailing ocean, all with a deftly packed and lit pipe I should add. Mind you, it's certainly not every day, as that would be habit forming. People like Hunter Thompson have gotten freaky and unleashed the shackles, with interesting effect and a life seemingly well lived, so looking to their beacons that still shine bright, maybe it's best to choose your own path and let all of the research papers, laws, and finger waggers be damned with their boredom!
As long as you don't cause too much harm to too many people, I say roll your joint, drink your drink, eat the mushroom or smoke your pipe. A lot of healthier people have done a lot worse to this world. There's a lot of people who will look at you sideways because you've chosen to take a trip to a different dimension, drank some whisky when the night was right, or even smoked your pipe when the feeling pulled you, but my impression is that they're just annoyed that you are doing whatever the hell it is you feel like doing while they're busy trying to be good. It's the ones who say nothing, or take the ride with you that I like to share my doobie or pipe with.
Spinning around on a rock, in outer space, at about 220 kilometers per second, I have a hard time justifying telling someone else who was born into this freaky spontaneous existence what to do. When someone points a finger at me and says it's their way, I try to imagine how fast 220 kilometres per second actually is and my eyes glaze over until they're done. Or if you're hip, you could put on some wayfarer's like Bob Dylan and go to sleep whenever things get too dull.
Come to think of it, I think a strong case could be made for those who do what they want to do. What would a world be like without Dylan, Thompson, Dali, Hemmingway, and a list too long to name?
Just a thought. Try thinking about how fast you're hurtling through space the next time she questions your health. If you're in the right state of mind, you'll hit the deck and hang on to the grass for dear life!Posted 4 months ago # -
The 12 cognitive biases that prevent you from being rational
George Dvorsky
The human brain is capable of 1016 processes per second, which makes it far more powerful than any computer currently in existence. But that doesn't mean our brains don't have major limitations. The lowly calculator can do math thousands of times better than we can, and our memories are often less than useless — plus, we're subject to cognitive biases, those annoying glitches in our thinking that cause us to make questionable decisions and reach erroneous conclusions. Here are a dozen of the most common and pernicious cognitive biases that you need to know about.
Before we start, it's important to distinguish between cognitive biases and logical fallacies. A logical fallacy is an error in logical argumentation (e.g. ad hominem attacks, slippery slopes, circular arguments, appeal to force, etc.). A cognitive bias, on the other hand, is a genuine deficiency or limitation in our thinking — a flaw in judgment that arises from errors of memory, social attribution, and miscalculations (such as statistical errors or a false sense of probability).
Some social psychologists believe our cognitive biases help us process information more efficiently, especially in dangerous situations. Still, they lead us to make grave mistakes. We may be prone to such errors in judgment, but at least we can be aware of them. Here are some important ones to keep in mind.
Confirmation Bias
We love to agree with people who agree with us. It's why we only visit websites that express our political opinions, and why we mostly hang around people who hold similar views and tastes. We tend to be put off by individuals, groups, and news sources that make us feel uncomfortable or insecure about our views — what the behavioral psychologist B. F. Skinner called cognitive dissonance. It's this preferential mode of behavior that leads to the confirmation bias — the often unconscious act of referencing only those perspectives that fuel our pre-existing views, while at the same time ignoring or dismissing opinions — no matter how valid — that threaten our world view. And paradoxically, the internet has only made this tendency even worse.
Ingroup Bias
Somewhat similar to the confirmation bias is the ingroup bias, a manifestation of our innate tribalistic tendencies. And strangely, much of this effect may have to do with oxytocin — the so-called "love molecule." This neurotransmitter, while helping us to forge tighter bonds with people in our ingroup, performs the exact opposite function for those on the outside — it makes us suspicious, fearful, and even disdainful of others. Ultimately, the ingroup bias causes us to overestimate the abilities and value of our immediate group at the expense of people we don't really know.
Gambler's Fallacy
It's called a fallacy, but it's more a glitch in our thinking. We tend to put a tremendous amount of weight on previous events, believing that they'll somehow influence future outcomes. The classic example is coin-tossing. After flipping heads, say, five consecutive times, our inclination is to predict an increase in likelihood that the next coin toss will be tails — that the odds must certainly be in the favor of heads. But in reality, the odds are still 50/50. As statisticians say, the outcomes in different tosses are statistically independent and the probability of any outcome is still 50%.
Relatedly, there's also the positive expectation bias — which often fuels gambling addictions. It's the sense that our luck has to eventually change and that good fortune is on the way. It also contribues to the "hot hand" misconception. Similarly, it's the same feeling we get when we start a new relationship that leads us to believe it will be better than the last one.
Post-Purchase Rationalization
Remember that time you bought something totally unnecessary, faulty, or overly expense, and then you rationalized the purchase to such an extent that you convinced yourself it was a great idea all along? Yeah, that's post-purchase rationalization in action — a kind of built-in mechanism that makes us feel better after we make crappy decisions, especially at the cash register. Also known as Buyer's Stockholm Syndrome, it's a way of subconsciously justifying our purchases — especially expensive ones. Social psychologists say it stems from the principle of commitment, our psychological desire to stay consistent and avoid a state of cognitive dissonance.
Neglecting Probability
Very few of us have a problem getting into a car and going for a drive, but many of us experience great trepidation about stepping inside an airplane and flying at 35,000 feet. Flying, quite obviously, is a wholly unnatural and seemingly hazardous activity. Yet virtually all of us know and acknowledge the fact that the probability of dying in an auto accident is significantly greater than getting killed in a plane crash — but our brains won't release us from this crystal clear logic (statistically, we have a 1 in 84 chance of dying in a vehicular accident, as compared to a 1 in 5,000 chance of dying in an plane crash [other sources indicate odds as high as 1 in 20,000]). It's the same phenomenon that makes us worry about getting killed in an act of terrorism as opposed to something far more probable, like falling down the stairs or accidental poisoning.
This is what the social psychologist Cass Sunstein calls probability neglect — our inability to properly grasp a proper sense of peril and risk — which often leads us to overstate the risks of relatively harmless activities, while forcing us to overrate more dangerous ones.
Observational Selection Bias
This is that effect of suddenly noticing things we didn't notice that much before — but we wrongly assume that the frequency has increased. A perfect example is what happens after we buy a new car and we inexplicably start to see the same car virtually everywhere. A similar effect happens to pregnant women who suddenly notice a lot of other pregnant women around them. Or it could be a unique number or song. It's not that these things are appearing more frequently, it's that we've (for whatever reason) selected the item in our mind, and in turn, are noticing it more often. Trouble is, most people don't recognize this as a selectional bias, and actually believe these items or events are happening with increased frequency — which can be a very disconcerting feeling. It's also a cognitive bias that contributes to the feeling that the appearance of certain things or events couldn't possibly be a coincidence (even though it is).
Status-Quo Bias
We humans tend to be apprehensive of change, which often leads us to make choices that guarantee that things remain the same, or change as little as possible. Needless to say, this has ramifications in everything from politics to economics. We like to stick to our routines, political parties, and our favorite meals at restaurants. Part of the perniciousness of this bias is the unwarranted assumption that another choice will be inferior or make things worse. The status-quo bias can be summed with the saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" — an adage that fuels our conservative tendencies. And in fact, some commentators say this is why the U.S. hasn't been able to enact universal health care, despite the fact that most individuals support the idea of reform.
Negativity Bias
People tend to pay more attention to bad news — and it's not just because we're morbid. Social scientists theorize that it's on account of our selective attention and that, given the choice, we perceive negative news as being more important or profound. We also tend to give more credibility to bad news, perhaps because we're suspicious (or bored) of proclamations to the contrary. More evolutionarily, heeding bad news may be more adaptive than ignoring good news (e.g. "saber tooth tigers suck" vs. "this berry tastes good"). Today, we run the risk of dwelling on negativity at the expense of genuinely good news. Steven Pinker, in his book The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined, argues that crime, violence, war, and other injustices are steadily declining, yet most people would argue that things are getting worse — what is a perfect example of the negativity bias at work.
Bandwagon Effect
Though we're often unconscious of it, we love to go with the flow of the crowd. When the masses start to pick a winner or a favorite, that's when our individualized brains start to shut down and enter into a kind of "groupthink" or hivemind mentality. But it doesn't have to be a large crowd or the whims of an entire nation; it can include small groups, like a family or even a small group of office co-workers. The bandwagon effect is what often causes behaviors, social norms, and memes to propagate among groups of individuals — regardless of the evidence or motives in support. This is why opinion polls are often maligned, as they can steer the perspectives of individuals accordingly. Much of this bias has to do with our built-in desire to fit in and conform, as famously demonstrated by the Asch Conformity Experiments.
Projection Bias
As individuals trapped inside our own minds 24/7, it's often difficult for us to project outside the bounds of our own consciousness and preferences. We tend to assume that most people think just like us — though there may be no justification for it. This cognitive shortcoming often leads to a related effect known as the false consensus bias where we tend to believe that people not only think like us, but that they also agree with us. It's a bias where we overestimate how typical and normal we are, and assume that a consensus exists on matters when there may be none. Moreover, it can also create the effect where the members of a radical or fringe group assume that more people on the outside agree with them than is the case. Or the exaggerated confidence one has when predicting the winner of an election or sports match.
The Current Moment Bias
We humans have a really hard time imagining ourselves in the future and altering our behaviors and expectations accordingly. Most of us would rather experience pleasure in the current moment, while leaving the pain for later. This is a bias that is of particular concern to economists (i.e. our unwillingness to not overspend and save money) and health practitioners. Indeed, a 1998 study showed that, when making food choices for the coming week, 74% of participants chose fruit. But when the food choice was for the current day, 70% chose chocolate.
Anchoring Effect
Also known as the relativity trap, this is the tendency we have to compare and contrast only a limited set of items. It's called the anchoring effect because we tend to fixate on a value or number that in turn gets compared to everything else. The classic example is an item at the store that's on sale; we tend to see (and value) the difference in price, but not the overall price itself. This is why some restaurant menus feature very expensive entrees, while also including more (apparently) reasonably priced ones. It's also why, when given a choice, we tend to pick the middle option — not too expensive, and not too cheap.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Everything in moderation, George Burns smoked cigars and drank, he outlived 3 doctors that told him to quit drinking and smoking. My oldest brother has been smoking a pipe for as long as I've been alive, (59 yrs.) and he's still kicking. I no longer drink but still smoke a cigar and/or a pipe occassionally but not like I use to. Use use common sense to make your decision. I've seen many supposedly healthy people who never smoked or drink keel over from a heart attack. Life's short, enjoy it while you can.
Posted 4 months ago #
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