Numeracy and Statistical Literacy

In the 1990’s, Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky published extensive literature into the nature of commonplace cognitive illusions. They argued that myriad heuristics formed the basis for the plethora of biases and fallacies the human brain is subject to. One area where these biases are very heavily impactful is the realm of statistical literacy. Generally, people perform very poorly at accurately interpreting statistical results; however, recent work has been done to investigate how this failing can be mediated.

In the spring of 2023, I worked in the lab of Dr. Edward Cokely to assist with his work addressing the relationship between numeracy and statistical literacy. Numeracy, as a concept, is best defined as an individual’s ability to interpret and understand numerical data, and it shows high correlation with statistical literacy. What makes numeracy important is that we can train individuals to be more numerate, with a high rate of efficacy. Once someone has recieved numeracy training, they tend to perform well on tests of statistical literacy.

To learn more about the link between numeracy and statistical literacy, consider reading the following papers as an introduction: On the Reality of Cognitive Illusions, Flood Risk Literacy Communication

Alternatively, consider watching this video I created for a class project about diagnostic inferences and judgments.