Many of us hold certain beliefs that would simply crumble under the lens of an expert. These highly qualified individuals often arrive at conclusions that may seem almost counterintuitive to what the general public believes. This is true across a range of fields as diverse as psychology, economics, science, and education. While we may often find ourselves quite surprised by expert opinions, they are usually backed up by many years of experience and study. To help bring clarification to a few misleading assumptions, we have compiled seven expert opinions that may challenge what you currently believe to be true.
Weight Gain Is Easy to Explain but Hard to Solve
Maintaining your ideal weight is a simple equation of keeping an eye on the number of calories coming in versus those being burned. Yet, in real life, applying this simple principle is a lot harder than it seems. This is because our brains have powerful built-in mechanisms that drive our feelings of hunger, particularly when it notices a significant drop in body fat. Since evolution prioritizes survival over physical aesthetics, trying to lose weight quickly is often a battle against the body’s inherent survival instincts.
Intelligence Is Largely Inherited
We have many tests that prove that intelligence is both real and measurable. We also know that one’s IQ correlates with an array of outcomes in various spheres of life, such as health, longevity, and income. Studies have revealed that a significant percentage of our intelligence is inherited, with some estimates suggesting it could be as high as 85% genetic. Although practice and education can help increase your skills and knowledge, it is extremely difficult to increase one’s core intelligence. However, an expert’s opinion would tell you that the acquisition of new skills and knowledge is still an essential ability to remain adaptable. This is despite whatever genetic limitations are imposed on intelligence.
The Majority of People Cannot Consistently Beat the Stock Market
According to the efficient market theory, stock prices already reflect all accessible information about them. Because of this, it is extremely difficult for your average investor to continue earning more than the average market return – unless they take on greater risk. People occasionally strike it lucky with cryptocurrency or penny stocks, but those big victories seldom occur again after that. Even market crashes and bubbles do not disprove the theory; rather, they demonstrate how volatile the market actually is. The expert opinion is that they generally recommend investing in low-cost index funds for achieving consistent returns while minimizing risk over time.
Learning Styles Are a Popular Myth
Some people believe that certain individuals will learn more effectively by using a certain learning style. This includes styles such as kinesthetic, auditory, or visual learning. However, certain experiments have proven that this may not be true. Participants were given questionnaires that asked what their preferred learning style was. They were then taught the same subject in different styles, which either corresponded with what they had written down or didn’t. The idea was to see if they performed better when taught in their preferred learning style. No enhancement in performance was recorded despite the subject being taught in a style that matched what they had written down.
Children Take Longer Than Adults To Learn New Languages
Children typically achieve higher levels of fluency in a second language than adults, especially in pronunciation and grammar. However, when given equal teaching, adults typically learn faster – at least in the beginning. The gap arises because adults use explicit methods of learning more effectively than children, who rely on slower, implicit processes. Early immersion is still very beneficial for achieving native-like competence. However, without considerable exposure to the language, starting young provides few benefits. When learning a new language, most learners find that constant practice and immersion are significantly more important than how old you are.
Things Are Better Now Than They Were In The Past
A lot of people say that we have it harder nowadays than the generations before us. They often cite things such as student debts, economic inequality, and the rising cost of housing as influential factors. Yet, despite this view, the majority of economic indicators reveal that our contemporary standard of living far exceeds that of the past. Around the world, poverty rates have decreased, healthcare has dramatically improved, and we have more access to technology than ever before. Of course, things are far from perfect, but we cannot deny how much things have improved.
The Physical World Operates Entirely on Scientific Laws
In the past, before we had the ability to analyze the world around us scientifically, many phenomena were explained away as being the work of the “spirits”. We had no way of testing if this was true, so we associated many effects with the wrong causes. However, according to the expert opinions on modern physics, our entire universe operates within a framework of physical laws. The behaviour of matter and energy can be explained using the Standard Model of particle physics and quantum mechanics. However, this does not diminish the wonder or complexity of the world around us. Rather, it makes us realize that we have reached profound new levels of insight regarding the world around us.
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