Hello all,

C, thanks for posting that link. The article on that site is extremely short. I read it after reading the actual study, and found it to be quite superficial, relying too much on the interpretation of the researchers.

Hartmann, P., Reuter, M., Nyborg, H. 2006."The relationship between date of birth and individual differences in personality and general intelligence: A large-scale study" Personality and Individual Differences, 40, 1349 - 1362.

First off, their participants. They used two sources.

One, from the Vietnam Experience Study (VES), was conducted with vets from 1965-71 and again from 1985-86. It is important to note that vets scoring below the 10th % on the cognitive aptitude test that was part of that study were excluded from the sample, as mandated by US Congress. hmmm. The researchers do not provide a number for that bottom 10%. The researchers say that for the 'present purpose' they included a total of 4321 vets from the database, which could be mean that they picked and chose certain people, but they do not go into detail. The study was composed of a general intelligence test, and a personality test, the Eysenkian Personality Questionnaire (ESQ), which has acceptable reliability (reliability means that it tests what we thing it tests).

The problem with the VES sample right off the bat is that it is only men. That kinda shit doesn't really fly these days, except if you are purposefully only studying one gender. Also, the researchers never specify which time they are taking the results from: the first eval from '65 to '71, or the one done in the 80's. And while not all Vietnam vets were in combat, this is a sample with an incredibly high rate of post traumatic stress disorder, which has many effects on personality and general functioning. We also don't know if these guys were injured, on meds, married, not married, etc. They do say that the sample brings in men from all levels of socioeconomic status, saying it is "fairly" representative, but we all know that more poor people probably went to Vietnam (on average) than rich people, further skewing the sample.

Second, from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1979 (NLSY1979). How it is a longitudinal study that was only done during one year, I don't know. Unfortunately, the researchers refuse to include details on this data and the vietnam vet sample, like inclusion, exclusion criteria (ANYTHING really), saying it has been documented elsewhere. But usually one at least goes over the basics of a sample for the reader, in order to make it easier to evaluate the soundness of the study. They included 11,448 young adult subjects (ages 15-24, mean age 19, almost evenly split male and female). The youth study only did an intelligence test, not a personality one, so really, the intelligence test numbers for this study are over 15,000, but the personality numbers are only from the VES study.

I don't have enough info on the NLSY study, but it is a large sample. I don't know how they recruited these young people to be in the study. All it was was mass 'intelligence testing,' and this testing was vastly different than the tests they did on the vets, making it harder to group the intelligence results from both samples together, as they could be representing different things (I mean, they tested the kids on 'automobile and shop information,' among others). Basically, imagine SATs for the young kids vs. card sorting tasks and the copying of pictures for the vets.

They did some standard stats. For the Vets, they only found one significant relationship, which was that people who were born during July - December had a slightly (though statistically significant) higher score on the intelligence scale than people born from January through June (see Christoph, I always knew we were smarter - hehe). Otherwise they either found no relationships, or just chose not to report data analyses.

For the youth study, they found that the relationship b/w season of birth and intelligence to be statistically significant (good p score = .025), and they found the reverse relationship for the January - June and July - December people (please disregard my jubilation from before) regarding intelligence. For males the month of birth did correlate with intelligence , but they do not tell us what kind of a relationship that was. Direct quote: "apparently, the overal relationship between season of birth and Jan - June vs. July - Dec is mediated by gender." And remember, they did not have data for personality, as that kind of test wasn't administered to the kids.

Overall, I found the study to be unsatisfying. In no way do I think that month of birth has anything to do with intelligence and personality, although some of those books that break people down by their birth date can be pretty uncanny. That aside, they had a ton of data to work with, but barely showed any of it. They had two completely different samples, one questionable due to life circumstances. The "general intelligence" tests so boldy heralded in the title were completely different. We don't know if data from the vets was taken directly after returning from a war zone, or 15-20 years later. Also, working with data retrospectively can be tricky because it's much easier to pick and choose suitable people, vs. having a prospective study with all of its trappings.

Here's my question: are people really going to stop reading horoscopes as a result of these studies? probably not.

H
- posted by H @ 4/28/2006 12:12:00 PM

 
Speaking of Germans, the results of a German-Danish study on horoscopes has yielded results: Horoskope nur Hokuspokus.
The scientists used two databanks with information on 15,000 people and to what results?

Das Ergebnis war selbst für die Forscher überraschend eindeutig: Es gab überhaupt keinen statistisch bedeutsamen Zusammenhang zwischen Geburtszeitpunkt und Charakterzügen, und der Einfluss des Geburtsmonats auf die Intelligenz war so minimal, dass er in der Praxis keine Bedeutung hat.

Any problems with the methodology, H? You are the expert on that kind of thing!
C
- posted by Christoph Roggenkamp @ 4/26/2006 07:11:00 PM

 
There's a good article in The Economist on blogs here, as part of a series.

Interesting factoid:
41% of blogs are in Japanese
28% are in English
14% are in Chinese

and only 1% are in German!

I was kind of embarrassed back in 1999 when I was in Germany and my friends showed me what cell phone text messaging was...

Well, now the shoe is on the other foot!
Why would this be? Are Germans not interested in expressing themselves? Or are they afraid of the technology? I don't know...

C
- posted by Christoph Roggenkamp @ 4/25/2006 02:57:00 PM

 
It's quiet at my end, too. Good to have you back, JP!

Did you guys see the picture of Merkel's butt, which was in the British press? The Drudge Report has a copy... Germany is pissed, but I like the proposal that Germany avenge themselves on the soccer field in June...

Like I said last week, our Italy-Germany trip is final, as far as accomodations are concerned. The games start the day we fly to Rome, and we leave Germany right before the quarter-finals. Final game is Sunday, July 9th. Go USA! Go Germany! I can't wait to watch the USA-Italy game which is played when we are in Florence. And, I can't wait to see USA play Ghana live in the Frankenstadion!

Some good news: deaths dropped by 50,000 in the U.S. in 2005 - the biggest decline in six decades! Life expectancy is now at almost 78 years, the highest ever! A good time to be alive!

C
- posted by Christoph Roggenkamp @ 4/20/2006 04:03:00 PM

 
H:
Glad you liked the Baroque cycle. Very long, but worth it. Stephenson said in an interview that he likes researching and writing about eras most people aren't very interested in. I certainly didn't know much about the late 1600s and early 1700s before reading his Baroque cycle... In that same interview, he said his next book might take place in the 1950s...

We have finalized our plans for our Italy/Germany trip. The USA-Ghana game is in Nuremberg on June 22, and we are travelling from Salzburg the day before. Looking online, all the Nuremberg hotels were booked (except for the $500-per-night places), but we found a double room in a little (11-room) hotel in the middle of Nuremberg! We emailed the hotel directly. Thanks Lonely Planet guidebook! So two nights in Nuremberg, 6/21 and 6/22.

That means that we will travel to Lichtenfels on Friday, June 23 and stay till Sunday (when we go to Rothenburg odT). I figure we can go have lunch on Friday at 14 Heiligen, and then do a little sight-seeing tour of LIF and die Schney. Hanging with the 'old buddies' Friday and Saturday nights.
Saturday, we'll be tourists in Bamberg, which gets a really great write-up in the Lonely Planet guide. JP and H, you should appreciate the fact that you guys went to high school in a pretty cool city...

That's the plan! The trip is now a big one: Rome-Sorrento-Florence(and Sienna)-Venice-Salzburg-Nuremberg-Lichtenfels-Rothenburg-Munich. No cars, but lots of train travel!

Glad to hear you're getting better Dad. H: good to have you blogging again. JP - off the radar?

C
P.S. The Central Park Coyote was found to have 35 heartworms! So the oxygen in his bloodstream was very low, and the stress of his adventures and capture led to his death... Poor guy. I still find it amazing he made it all the way into Central Park!
- posted by Christoph Roggenkamp @ 4/13/2006 03:09:00 PM

 
I finished the Baroque Cycle!!! Yah me! I finished it last night. C, I remember you saying that NS can't write endings, and I know exactly what you mean. After all of the intrigue and plot twists, to have everything end so simply is a let down. But I am happy that it was a happily ever after story ending, since so much had happened, all you wanted was for your characters to have a rest. Daniel Waterhouse turned out to be the man! He really got into his own in his 70s. I missed Eliza in the last book - her presense was tangible, but I didn't get to enjoy her view point much. But I guess we had to sacrifice that for the excess of Daniel.

I continue to be in awe of Neal Stephenson's genius.

All from me.
love,
H
- posted by H @ 4/12/2006 10:33:00 AM

 
dear family,

It's been entirely too long since I posted anything! almost a month. Things are quiet here in Philadelphia. Mobility has been a bit restricted because of the lack of car. I have been aching to go out to Fairmount Park for a hike, and car is the best way to get there. I could ride my bike, but that would be a long ride to the very bottom of the park from our house. I guess I could do it anyway, seeing that all I want to do is ride my bike more and more.

work has been quiet. Went to scranton last week to assess thin ladies, and the session went well. We stay in the only hotel in the area that has a separate bedroom and living room set up (necessary to give people privacy when doing the body assessments), and this one has a nice pool and hot tub, and a "reception" every tuesday night with $1 beer and wine, plus snacks. I nipped down during a lull of assessing to get a glass of wine, which I stashed for after I was done pinching fat. good stuff. Ma, my co-worker who came along to help, and I went for a dip after all was said and done, and did some hot tubbing. good way to round off the day. Will be going back to scranton the end of april, and again the beginning of may.

Gavin suprised me with a concert Friday night. It was at the World Cafe Live venue, which is actually connected to my office building. It is run by a radio station, WXPN, which is Penn's student station, but is quite professionally run. The room we saw the show in had amazing sound, and we had reserved seats at the bar, which provided a clear view of the stage, and excellent sound. We saw a jazz show, and I was blown away. This guy named Charlie Hunter who played has a nine string guitar, with the usual 6 strings for guitar and then 3 strings for bass, so he plays bass lines and guitar riffs together. it's pretty much one guy playing two instruments at the same time very well. sometimes he would jam on the guitar, with accompanying bass, and other times he would do bass solos and rhythm guitar stuff on top. really impressive. After him there was an upright bass player named Christian McBride, who was also very good. He had an amazing band, and a near flawless drummer. great music all night. sometimes I just needed a break though - just too much goodness. like eating too much cake or something like that. I urge all of your to check these guys out. Charlie Hunter and Christian McBride.

Otherwise not much going on. Thank you CHRISTOPH, for looking at my essays for my premed program. Will be working on them tonight. I appreciate the time you put in. It's great to have an outside opinion.

Gavin has been busy working on his music. They have been recording a lot lately, and he just got some professional grade recording software called ProTools, which recording studios use. He's excited because with this software he can manipulate the sounds to a much greater degree. They have a "gig" (I put it in quotes because they will be playing at a flea market in south philly) in a few weeks. Fun stuff. loud though.

my love to all,
Hannah
- posted by H @ 4/10/2006 10:23:00 AM

 
Hmmm. Quiet all around.

Some sad news - the Central Park Coyote died in captivity. At first, the death was attributed to the 'stress of being captured' but accusations are flying. Someone may have bound the poor coyote, including its muzzle.

Latest New York area high-profile murder victim: Andrew Kissel, found stabbed to death in his Connecticut (rental) mansion. He faced a $10 million fine for embezzlement, a $5 million divorce proceeding, and a demand for $27 million in two lawsuits. Of course, he was broke. Today's speculation: it was "suicide by hitman" so his two kids could collect a $10 million life insurance payout.

You may recall Andrew's brother Robert, whose wife drugged him with a milkshake and then beat him to death, in Hong Kong a couple years ago.
Ouch.

Actually, it's all sad news today! Sorry!

(JP - Which Patrick Bateman are you on MySpace? Every time I try to find you, I get about six Patrick Batemans and I can't figure out which one you are!)

C
- posted by Christoph Roggenkamp @ 4/05/2006 04:57:00 PM