This is not the same thing. We should believe women when they relate what happened. However, we are under no obligation to accept a mother’s inference that vaccines cause her child’s autism when enormous bodies of scientific evidence very much go against such an inference. 1/ https://twitter.com/JenniferMarguli/status/1201743724188860416 …
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Correlation does not necessarily equal causation, and large, well-designed epidemiological studies trump anecdotal evidence when it comes to making causal inferences. They just do. 2/
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It is not “disrespecting mothers” to distinguish between what they observed their children experience and their *interpretation* of that observation. Their belief that vaccines caused their child’s autism is interpretation, not observation. 3/
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Unfortunately, we human beings naturally tend to conflate our observations of events with our interpretations and conclusions about what caused those events. These are not the same thing, and it takes effort to separate the two. 4/
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It doesn’t help that memory is malleable and over time our memories frequently start to conform to our beliefs and inference. It’s called confirmation bias. We tend to remember what supports our beliefs and forget what does not. 5/
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We all do it, too. One difference between a skeptic and everyone else is that a skeptic is aware of confirmation bias and tries to counter it in his or her memories. 6/
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Unfortunately, those not familiar with confirmation bias often incorrectly conclude that there are being accused of lying when their *interpretation* of events is questioned. 7/7
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That THEY are being accused...
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