Thursday, September 20, 2012

Gladwell on Sandusky

As one expects, this Malcolm Gladwell piece on child molesters is well-written and interesting and informed by the literature.

What I think is missing is any notion that Type II errors have to be balanced against Type I errors. Gladwell is all about Type I errors - failing to conclude that individuals are child molesters when they actually are - and not at all about Type II errors - falsely concluding that individuals are child molesters when in fact they are not. Both types of error are very costly in this context.

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