Mathematical nobody dismantles important theory
A first-year, first-term master student with an high school A-level in maths who dismantles an important psychological theory: it doesn’t happen every day. Nick Brown, a retired man who started a masters at the University of East London, did exactly that and shocked the world of science, according to The Guardian.
In a lecture, Brown heard about a theory developed by Barbara Fredrickson and Marcial Losada. According to them, human happiness can be determined by the ratio between positive and negative thoughts. This so-called Losada-ratio ideally lies between three and six positives thoughts for every negative one. If that is the case, the person flourishes. The theory is widespread and is cited in multiple other studies. Fredrickson and Losada wrote an article about this, called Positive Affect and the Complex Dynamics of Human Flourishing.
Brown didn’t believe it could be that simple and started investigating the subject. Despite his high school-knowledge of maths, he found that the mathematics used in the research couldn’t possibly be right. With a little help from another scientist he wrote The Complex Dynamics of Wishful Thinking, an article that proves that Fredrickson and Losada didn’t do their job right.
