Riddle: The doctor said "I can't operate on you. If I am a conservative you made me angry and did nothing to help me supposedly to be less biased. If you guessed that the surgeon is the boys gay, second father, you get a point for enlightenment, at least outside the Bible Belt. The doctor is the boy . The authors of Blindspot show us how to "outsmart the machinery of our own hidden biases.". I thought along the same lines. I immediately thought the surgeon was the Mom or possibly the gay dad. my first though was, The father is gay and one of the parents die in the crash and the other parent was the surgent! Explain. I'd recommend that you ask . they then get in a car crash. He is my SON!" Riddle: A man and his son are driving in a car one day, when they are hit by a drunk driver. Could this be what those BU students had in mind as well? It might be the case that using words of only one gender (father, son, he, boy) is priming the participants to think in those terms. We know that the elder couple has also a son. And when I told them yes, the answer is mom, they all thought that I was teasing them. As many commenters have pointed out, this study is so poorly designed that it could be used as a model of how not to do social science. The riddle seems to indicate the effects of linguistic priming or misdirection, if it indicates anything at all. 4. You are pointing out one bias while reinforcing another. the man was killed, but the son lived and was rushed to a hospital. But before you answer you must keep standing in this line. The father is in a coma, and the boy has to be rushed in for emergency surgery. The surgeon walks into the operating room and says "No. Although the riddle is very good and rather entertaining, it is booby-trapped to unconsciously take the reader through a one way tunnel, and scream AHAAAA!!! The riddle also functions on the level of word choice, much like Stupid human tricks such as Ask them to say 'silk'. Umyou do understand that the language of the riddle itself is designed to steer ones thoughts toward maleness before asking its pivotal question. How is this possible? Why take an unnecessary dig at the Bible Belt in an otherwise useful column, a column about bias, no less? Experience can have some effect in our schemas, but much less than we might anticipate. Valian has also noted that schemas are identical in our culture for men and for womenwhich is exactly what the BU survey found. I have gay friends and have been to there wedding. So to me the fact that rationalizing two dads as a likelier explanation than a female doctor is incredibly telling, and suggests that gender bias is really extreme. That means no one is right or good. the third son of my father can never give you his gift forever, (Got you! It was very interesting. See: >A mother is killed, her daughter sent to the hospital, and a nurse declines to attend to the patient because that girl is my daughter; few people guessed that the nurse might be the childs father. One out of every ten graduate students and professors that I asked were able to answer the original riddle correctly most people say some variation of second father. BE FAIR. The doctor enters the emergency room, looks at the boy, and says. I have to admit that I did not reach the conclusion that the researchers were looking for. All it does is move the ballinto what someone else considers to be enlightened. I have medical professionals in my family. When he gets . 9. Bias is essential to our survival and unfortunately our DNA and our bias is formed without asking our opinion. Riddle: Doctor Can't Operate. The doctor comes in and exclaims, "I can't operate on this boy." "Why not?" the nurse asks. In the operating room, the surgeon looks at the boy and says, "I can't operate . "I can't operate on him, he's my son." Solution: The doctor is the man's father and the boy's grandfather. And yeah the bible belt remark is embarrassing. The answer to the other half of the riddle is that we do not take accident victims to the. Is this possible or impossible? Lets get professional, people. And I look at that course of history that . The emergency room surgeon said "I can't operate, that's my son!" How is this possible? BUs Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Policy. They are all rushed to the hospital and the doctor says, "I can't operate on him, he's my son." Give me a clue! I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. One leads to the castle; the other, to certain death. There's a grisly riddle to consider: A father and his son are in a car accident. Click on 'Show Answer' to solve the riddle: A father and son have a car accident and are both badly hurt. The doctor comes in and exlaims "I can't operate on this boy." "Why not?" the nurse asks. Harvards long-running Implicit Association Project has a test based on gender bias and careers. I say that and when I am looking for a male doctor, I say Doctor. In an unambiguous gender scenario, people pick the right gender 100% of the time. A father and his son are in a car accident. Its where the if you want to hide something, put it out in the open truism comes from. The daughter is rushed to the hospital; just as shes about to go under the knife, the surgeon says, I cant operatethat girl is my daughter!. A patient is rushed into the emergency ward of the National Hospital after a horrific road crash, and is in urgent need of an operation to save his life. Then 100% gets it right out of 10. This is supposed to help people? When she and Wapman posed the riddle to kids in the UROP study, some of the answers stretched the bounds of inventiveness: the surgeon was a robot, or a ghost, or the dad laid down and officials thought he was dead, but he was alive.. The riddle is like a game, and is also built to show the reader there is a sore spot in society (like an old fracture), and one way to illustrate it is to make the reader it self puts the finger on it, and press hard without warning. What type of chair is electric, you can't get out of it on your own, but if someone helps you get out you're not dead? A father and son were involved in an auto crash. Who will save us from ourselves? Of course it hurts, because it needs fixing; And, It is annoying; But, it is also true. When they arrived, an old gray surgeon was called in to operate. He told them that if they answer a riddle, they could go free. A father and his son are involved in a horrific car crash and the man died at the scene. The answer in this case is obviously that the surgeon is the father, but Im just wondering if the drastic lack of correct answers that people have given to the question is solely because of the gender roles they have in mind, or if the way the question is set up also primes people to think of the surgeon as having the same sex as the other individuals in the question.. * Female nurse: enfermeira. Schemas are very, very powerful, Belle says, adding that the studies results and the endurance of gender stereotypes would not surprise Virginia Valian, a Hunter College psychologist who has noted how people presented with the same CV for a man and a woman typically assume the man is more competent. I had to read the riddle again. .man is more competent? They are both taken to separate hospitals. Chicago Med and The Good Doctor both have female surgeons and male nurses. I have seen this before but thanks for the reminder of Gender Bias. More : A father and his son were in a car accident. Julian pipes in, "I also don't know my number . I asked the mother-daughter question to a unique set of individuals from my department, and 100% of them got it right. If their picks matched either of those, you could argue there wasnt a gender bias. ), The genesis of the research was Belles 10-year-old granddaughter, who was given the riddle by her mom. How can he operate for the three people with two pair of surgical gloves? Photo by Cydney Scott, Heres an old riddle. September 14, 2010. It just trades bashing by conservatives for bashing by liberals. I have heard such theories as The father was resuscitated, It wasnt his real father, Its a clone of the father and even The surgeon is God. This is ridiculous! I think the brain is wired to automatically think that the surgeon is male, hence it became confusing that the one who died is the father. I have good long time friends who are black but I dont look at them like that. For example, the boy and his parents are at home, as they leave the Father says to the Mother Have a wonderful day at work. Exactly. Also, I take a remarkable amount of umbrage to the bible belt comment in the second or third paragraph, because I was raised in the bible belt and still live there. A man and his son are in a car accident. Mostly because of the wording of the riddle. The doctor couldn't operate on the boy because the boy was the women doctors son. Save. This is the kind of thing that happens that just makes it worse and does not fix anyone. All the view points were very interesting. My first though was that it was a gay couple who adopted. We call elders outside of our immediate family aunts and uncles as well. Perhaps, when a person is confronted with something confusing, they fall back on not sure what term to use here older knowledge maybe? I have seen this before and therefore knew the surgeon was the boys mother! A persons answer doesnt necissarily imply that they are sexist at all. Why this is a hard riddle for adults: Each hint compounds with the next to give the solver a better chance, but this difficult riddle is still as tricky as a trick candle. Generally, so long this visit isn't taking place during any of his pass' blackout dates, he should be able to use it to enter a Theme Park. Then, as others have pointed out, the sex of other characters may create a cognitive gender set. The moment they arrived at the hospital, he was wheeled into an emergency operating room, and the surgeon came in, expecting a routine case. After the 7-minute hourglass runs out, turn it over to start it again . The sisters are Siamese Twins, (Conjoined Twins). . A dad and his son were riding their bikes and crashed. I thought it was about the surgeons mental state at the time, that is, maybe HE OR SHE had ethical objections or was so distraught that she couldnt do her job effectively because of her vested personal and emotional interest in the outcome. The father died. by Amira Tankel. Descriptions: A father and his son were in a car accident. the fourth son of my father is an obedient servant in the hands of men but when he losses his master he becomes an unmercifully god, the fifth son of my father is the center of our lives, /. If one of you can guess the color of the hat on your head, I will let you free. I have aspergers, I find it helps a lot with riddles, I ALWAYS think outside the box, unintentionally. The man died on the way, but the son was still barely alive. In the riddle there are two people in a car, "father and son". We were created equal and that is what I believe. Test your math skills and word play with answers included. If I am a liberal I would be angry because you just weakened our side by being hypocritical. Word, Kate. Riddle starts like,A father and son. It doesnt mean we are bias! The boy is taken to the operating room and the surgeon says, "I can't operate on this boy, because he's my son." How is this possible? To avoid this verification in future, please, Riddle: The doctor said I cant operate on you. His work has influenced generations of documentarians for over 40 years. I just asked this riddle to a few friends. Hate that it is unfair at times. A Man And His Son. The phrasing of a question often predetermines the response due to our language processing facility. Just because someone imagined a man as the doctor doesnt mean they believe that men are the only competent gender for medecine. The father dies at the scene and the son, badly injured, is rushed to the hospital. You cant control your birthplace, but you can certainly control how you think. The father died. Because my wife had a high-level corporate position, my thought went immediately to boys mother but the riddle gives you pause for thought in all of our underlying biases. Privacy: Your email address will only be used for sending these notifications. The new Xbox is in "standby" mode and can be . The riddle is like a game, and is also built to show the reader that there is a sore spot in society (like an old fracture), and one way to illustrate it is to make the reader put its finger on it, and press hard without a warning. A man and his son were rock climbing on a particularly dangerous mountain when they slipped and fell. True the woman is connected with reproduction, but that is logical not biased. Its interesting to review. That said, his field trip may be using special tickets with different entitlements. You're my son.". What goes with a car, comes with a car, has no use to a car, but the car cannot move without it? Its like when you touch you chin and tell someone something is on their cheek, yet they touch their chin because you are touching your chin. Answer (1 of 91): I have collection of some really awesome riddles. I got the answer surgeon was mum first time I heard this riddle years ago, I agree with the comment that it is about lack of critical thinking skills more than gender bias. 1. I guess I speak for a majority when I say that only a psychopath would assume the woman doctor would still be operating even though her own husband just died moments ago. Umm I answered the surgeon is the fathers ghost, What does that say about me? Which is why its the control. Your email address will not be published. A doctor wants to operate for three different persons who were wounded. You just took a cheap shot at men. In research conducted by Mikaela Wapman (CAS14) and Deborah Belle, a College of Arts & Sciences psychology professor, even young people and self-described feminists tended to overlook the possibility that the surgeon in the riddle was a she. how can this be? This is very thought provoking. The operator is a female. If they still dont guess that the doctor was a woman, thats sexism. That is to say, the sons father was not in the car. After reading several of these comments, I can see that people are rather critical of this article, mainly because the structure of this experiment in that it uses a riddle as its main component and doesnt take into consideration influences such as priming, language, creative thinking, control conditions, and alternate versions of the riddle. May be if there was a story line. It's the only word that does not become another word when you remove the first and last letters. Actually, this issue is rather simple: in English, words dont have enough weight on gender, but the human mind relies heavily on words to make any and all sense out of everything. I still assumed male. I dont. 6 saves. I have a hard time with the way this was presented. A man and his son had a terrible car accident and were rushed to the hospital. The boy could have been adopted by the father in the accident, and surgeon could be the biological father in an open adoption. The man's son was in the operating room and the doctor said, "I can't operate on you. The whole point of the riddle is that the gender of the doctor is ambiguous *neither* gender would be a control in this study! You should read Lateral Thinking by DeBono. Of course it hurts, because the injury is there, and it needs fixing; And, It is annoying; But, it is also true. I will point out one thing that I have found out through my recent reading is that the authors of the books I am currently reading have the male character in the story wanting to know why a female character would want to venture in a male dominate field when they should be a homemaker. I would not say stupid. I have done womens advocacy work for decades and I was so shocked I missed this! The riddle is framed with language to indicate its a male. Deborah Belle, a CAS psychology professor, helped with research showing the staying power of gender stereotypes. A: There weren't any stairs, it was a one story house! Sopeople are wired to look at the world through stereotypes and assumptions? This article is very interesting.It helped me learn and understand gender schemas. If you didn't guess that the surgeon could have . If not, youre part of a surprising majority. I have given the answer of each riddle in the last. I simply thought that the father and son were not related. Answer: To boil the egg in exactly 15 minutes, follow these four steps. In the Spanish version, as well, people assume el especialista (which could be male or female) is male and dont consider that it could be the mother. Even when I am looking for a female doctor. Answer (1 of 73): Thanks for A2A At first instance, this question hits our subconsciousness where we link specific roles to specific genders. How could that be? I wonder if they do the following control. Each got one duck. This is an example of the unconscious bias that can exist in the minds of people when it comes to women in medicine. New television shows are showing us the way things will be. 24. Show answer. Its just unscientific to jump to that conclusion without using control groups. Ask them to spell 'silk'. By incorporating easy riddles in the lesson plans or adding a math riddle to the end of a math quiz, or playing a math-related guessing game with your child, they can learn . Two ambulances from two different hospitals arrive. He is my son." But agree that this would be good controls. I also thought up the male nurse version (so Im happy to see it was proposed here, too) and am going to try that out next. BTW, the cognitive processes are relevant to my work, as I am a stage hypnotist, MBPsS with a BSc in Psychology. I have no brothers or sisters." The doctor saw the boy and immediately exclaimed, "I can't operate on this child, he is my son!" We have bias instinctually and its a reality. brain is tuned automatically that the surgeon is male , we have to come out of the box think with a open mind . However, it was fun to read. Another commenter did do the reversed version informally, see https://www.bu.edu/articles/2014/bu-research-riddle-reveals-the-depth-of-gender-bias/#comment-7240559, the findings were that the true reversed version: >Ive done a very similar informal experiment with my colleagues (we are all chemists a very male-dominated field). Exactly. 5. Despite this I, a self-proclaimed feminist, *immediately* thought the surgeon was another father before I self-corrected and decided it was more likely that the surgeon was his mother. Yet, for example, BU students theorized the father in the car referred to a priest, or the surgeon was horribly confused, or, la the old Dallas TV show, the whole scenario was a dream. The genesis of the research was Belles 10-year-old granddaughter. At their core they are survival reflexes. You have two ropes that both take exactly 1 hour t. If you think like, surgeons father and surgeons son then I think answer is different. It is possible for the boy's father to be killed, and yet the boy can still be the doctor's son. I also thought that the surgeon was his mother. Ask a subgroup of people the following question and see if they are more likely to solve the riddle: A mother and daughter are in a horrible car crash that kills the mother. Agreed 100%. 2. Imagine if the remark were you get a point for enlightenment, at least outside of Roxbury! The first thing that came into my mind is whose father? My point being is, the English language, doesnt necessarily do this. Assumptions are tough to ignore but so frequent in occasion. Let me add this. Technically, you were trapped in a prison and had a riddle competition to decide who escapes. You may ask one question, to one guard, to help you decide which door is the correct one. Just as he's about to go under the knife, the surgeon says, "I can't operate-that boy is my son!". How is this possible? www.bu.edu. You just gave me more evidence that you are a hypocrite and you are disqualified from helping me if I decide to have an open mind which you obviously think I need. These things come out of otherwise very intelligent people. The mans son was in the operating room and the doctor said, I cant operate on you. Roughly speaking, females in med. Connect to us. Thus, an interesting piece on at least three kinds of bias: gender, geographic, and religious. September 25, 2013 by aqb5500. We are all shaped by the impacts in our lives and by the way we react upon those impacts. Question: A man and his son get into a car accident. As for the preoccupation with unconscious motives, unknown blind spots and biases that seems to dominate large swathes of social science these daysit would be refreshing to see someone admit that the conscious mind is also a powerful behavioral motivator. What are we? The son is rushed to the hospital; just as he's about to go under the knife, the surgeon says, "I can't operatethat boy is my son!" Explain. You are spot on. It needs to be reworded to a parent and their child. Lets start with finding Real Value in others; Find those things that make us useful in a productive society; That skill or talent that combined with other individuals skills and talents will serve to preserve us in the time of crisis. All you need to do is watch the newest medical TV shows to know that things are changing. Guess in a reply to this post. ), In both groups, only a small minority of subjects15 percent of the children and 14 percent of the BU studentscame up with the moms-the-surgeon answer. I made the assumption that the surgeon was male. Mary is dead. This article shows us how many times we see no further, and we get carried away by appearances. I have been playing people with this riddle for about 30 years, since discovering it in Scientific American. Going by the reality of this age, the doctor is either the biological Mother or the gay father, or the adopted mother. These schemas do change over timeshe points to other countries with greater gender equitybut the pace is glacial., BU Research: A Riddle Reveals Depth of Gender Bias, Rich Barlow The son was taken to the hospital. Again the gender bias was the same: The results were no different for an alternate version of the riddle: a mother is killed, her daughter sent to the hospital, and a nurse declines to attend to the patient because that girl is my daughter; few people guessed that the nurse might be the childs father. Thus, many people failed to identify the nurse as male like they failed to identify the surgeon as female. However, there is a stronger association neurologically with word-pair connections as father-son and mother-daughter activates and excites two different connection pathways, so the time it may take for someone to reach for a word from the opposite gender may be a while, or not at all. These are two populations that we would expect, if anything, would be in the avant-garde, Belle says. Its why camouflage works. I learned myself that if you give the solution too quickly, even if they could not see it, they will tend to rationalise with comments such as Oh thats obvious, I didnt say the mother because I thought it must be more complicated. Therefore, its necessary to withold the solution and force them to dig themselves into a hole by voicing various wrong answers before giving it, so as to guard against this. Given that more than 140,000 Chinese children were adopted internationally between 1999 and 2016, that's not encouraging news. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Here's a challenge for you. But when the child arrived at the hospital and was rushed into the operating theatre, the surgeon pulled away and said: "I can't operate on this boy, he's my son". The man's son was in the operating room and the doctor said, "I can't operate on you. It is also common to refer to someone as my son or daughter in the African American community in the United States southern region. https://discord.gg/EBchq82. Want the solution? Im a woman surgeon and I didnt even get it! >A mother and daughter are in a horrible car crash that kills the mother. The father dies. 8. Answer: It was Count Dracula and his watch said it was 3 a.m. but it was actually 3 p.m. in the afternoon. Yet, something at the back of my mind says a lack of creativity, not gender bias is the main issue here. This is my comment on this. Two ambulances came and took them to different hospitals. It is still difficult in our society to put forward the women in their work and their success, as great and important as the men. The frog is dead. The doctor came in and said: I can't do surgery on him, because . Look at the words in the sentence "I can't operate on this boy, he is my son." We are being subconsciously cued into expecting a male. This month marks the 20th anniversary of Elizabeth's return home and on this week's episode of All In, we speak with Chris Thomas who acted as spokesperson for the Smart Family throughout their entire experience in searching for Elizabeth. ..Boston University moderates comments to facilitate an informed, substantive, civil conversation. Notice that you just called the probably-male doctor scenario the control. That proves the bias right there! if you were smarter, you wouldnt call others stupid. However, they are not twins- neither fraternal nor identical. CRIKEY said: is this what u want. I find this fascinating and truly believe the only way to chip at our biases is to expose them. Most surgeons wouldn't want to operate on their own child, it's kind of a mindfuck to know your child's life is in your hands.. it would compromise your focus. The man is killed instantly. Some of these can be very creative. I can live without men but men can't live without me, What they are not saying is that this,study was done back in the 1960s. If he adopted him away, he hasnt seen the kid in years. Answer: The old surgeon was the boy's . he takes it from you when you corrupt it unknowingly but men cry for his gift no matter its cost, It took a few seconds, but I got the riddle right. Was quite saddened to read the dig at the Bible Belt. Two ambulances came and took them to different hospitals. (maybe Im just weird). To my opinion it could be a case of adoption. Basically I want to know if they thought that it might be the wording of the riddles that made you think this way? What made imagining a surgeon mom so difficult? Ive read the riddle 2x before I figured out that the surgeon is her mom. (So having a surgeon mother doesnt necessarily mean youll propose that as the riddles solution.) You need to be able to explain what the article is about to your class (brief explanation/important details). Then are you saying that 86% of Boston University psychology students are very, very stupid? It had me thinking. I must honestly say. I live in the Bible belt, answered the question correctly, and (surprise!) Then the Mother replies Thank you honey I have a long day at the hospital seeing patients. Maybe what that really reveals is that this riddle isnt really an accurate test of gender bias and is in fact a very childish and simplistic way of approaching a serious issue. The man is taken to one hospital and his son to a different one. The man was killed, but the son lived and was rushed to a hospital. The father died. Two ambulances came and took them to different hospitals. Start both hourglasses as you start boiling the egg. I've heard this one too. The daughter is rushed to the hospital; just as shes about to go under the knife, the surgeon says, I cant operatethat girl is my daughter!. Most people subconsciously think that the doctor is the mother of the child, I immediately was thinking that that was his stepfather. He goes to the hospital but the doctor say "I can't operate on you, your my son." It is not his mom. The setup: A. father and his son are in a car accident. The riddle is packed full of male pronouns. Make it a father dying and a daughter on the operating table and Id be the number of those who say the surgeon is a woman magically improves. **A . Ask a subgroup of people the following question and see if they are more likely to solve the riddle: A mother and daughter are in a horrible car crash that kills the mother.