> When people’s average perceptions of group sizes are compared to actual population estimates, an intriguing pattern emerges: Americans tend to vastly overestimate the size of minority groups. This holds for sexual minorities, including the proportion of gays and lesbians (estimate: 30%, true: 3%), bisexuals (estimate: 29%, true: 4%), and people who are transgender (estimate: 21%, true: 0.6%).
> It also applies to religious minorities, such as Muslim Americans (estimate: 27%, true: 1%) and Jewish Americans (estimate: 30%, true: 2%). And we find the same sorts of overestimates for racial and ethnic minorities, such as Native Americans (estimate: 27%, true: 1%), Asian Americans (estimate: 29%, true: 6%), and Black Americans (estimate: 41%, true: 12%).
From some quick arithmetic - their "average" survey respondent seems to be estimating that "normal" heterosexuals are only (100% - 30% - 29% - 21% =) 20% of the population. And that whites are far less than 0% of the population (similar arithmetic, and note that the figures in the quote do not include Latinos).
Maybe change the the title to "Mere words cannot express how bad Americans are at math."
Did they get paid for the survey? If so, finishing it rapidly increases $/hour, unless they got paid more for answers that are closer to reality (in which case only spending time thinking about answers you think you have a good grasp of, and giving up on others, may be the best strategy)
The entry method also may affect results (but not by these margins). If you’re being interviewed, saying “3%” or “20%” are about equal effort and it’s easy to do so with one percent increments, but if you have to drag a scroll bar, “somewhere around 1 in 30 but not zero”, if answered a bit sloppily/hastily (say because that “five minutes of your time” was a bit more, or turned out to be duller than you thought), may easily end up at 10%.
Actually maximizing $/hour would mean paying minimal attention to the questions, and giving repetitive answers - "1%, 1%, 1%, 1%, ..." or similar.
In current-day America, a more plausible reason for malicious answers would be the culture wars - many respondents might want to bias the survey results, to somehow favor their own "side".
> It also applies to religious minorities, such as Muslim Americans (estimate: 27%, true: 1%) and Jewish Americans (estimate: 30%, true: 2%). And we find the same sorts of overestimates for racial and ethnic minorities, such as Native Americans (estimate: 27%, true: 1%), Asian Americans (estimate: 29%, true: 6%), and Black Americans (estimate: 41%, true: 12%).
From some quick arithmetic - their "average" survey respondent seems to be estimating that "normal" heterosexuals are only (100% - 30% - 29% - 21% =) 20% of the population. And that whites are far less than 0% of the population (similar arithmetic, and note that the figures in the quote do not include Latinos).
Maybe change the the title to "Mere words cannot express how bad Americans are at math."