Is Your ___ Telling You the Truth?
You may have heard that Madonna’s attempt to adopt a Malawi child was rebuffed by the legal system. A judge ruled against the adoption:
Madonna was devastated by the ruling, said witnesses, and shouted at her attorney, “What went wrong? How could this have happened?” when the judge announced her decision.
Yet the ruling doesn’t appear mysterious. There are clear residency requirements, which Madonna didn’t come close to meeting.
Did her lawyer tell her the truth? The outburst suggests no, but in any case the perverse incentives are obvious: The lawyer benefits from being hired. Painting a rosy scenario — saying “I can definitely get you what you want” — increases the chances of that.
What about doctors? Dermatologists seem to claim, as a group at least, that acne is unrelated to diet. The fact that certain groups of people with unusual diets don’t have acne suggests that this is wrong. Again, the mistake is highly self-interested. If acne is due to diet, you need to try different diets to figure out the problem foods. You don’t need to see a dermatologist to do that.
February 6th, 2010 at 8:30 pm
That’s very interesting. In a couple weeks, I will be going to my first-ever dermatologist appointment to discuss my dry, flaky, itchy, red skin, which I think may be caused by harsh anti-bacterial soups.
I was fascinated recently by a blog post called “Paleo I Don’t Care: I Like No Soap; No Shampoo.” on Richard Nikoley’s “Free The Animal” blog. I plan to tell the dermatologist that I want fewer chemicals on/in my body, not a bunch of prescription stuff. It’ll be an interesting appointment.
February 7th, 2010 at 12:04 am
But what about reputational effects? Once you find out our doctor/lawyer is clueless or a liar, are you going to bring more business their way? The narrow self-interested stategy makes most sense if the expert expects a one-shot transaction or thinks the customer won’t find out about his (the expert’s) deception.
Empirically, there are anecdotes to counter yours.
February 7th, 2010 at 4:07 am
When I was serving in Korea, I found a book in the base library (no new books since about the Vietnam War, as far as I could tell) by a dermatologist who had experimented with his patients and discovered that transfats and polyunsaturated fats cause acne. It was only much later when I figured out the differences between the different kinds of fats that I realized he was right, that it’s the prevalence of vegetable fats that causes certain kinds of acne. Now that I eat sardines in olive oil every day, and avoid all the vegetable fats, my acne has gone away after about twenty years. Couldn’t have done it without the internet.
February 7th, 2010 at 4:19 am
LemmusLemmus, sure, there are forces pushing professionals to tell the truth, too. I am saying there are forces (well, one force, self-interest) pushing them to lie. The relative strength of the various forces, who knows? As for shopping around, if everyone in the profession agrees on the untruth — as dermatologists appear to have done — you can’t easily find a better specialist. As far as I know, you can’t easily find a dermatologist who will say that acne is due to diet.
lance, do you have any idea what that “book in the base library” was called? I’d like to look at it.
Jim, why haven’t you tested your idea about harsh anti-bacterial soaps causing dry itchy skin by simply not using them?
February 8th, 2010 at 9:14 pm
Jim, why do you even bother going to a dermatologist if you don’t want prescriptions and just want to stop using anti-bacterial soaps? The only thing a derm can do is give you prescriptions.
Lance, are you sure olive oil isn’t a vegetable oil?
February 9th, 2010 at 8:21 am
Seth,
Methinks you give Madonna too much credit. As an attorney (a lawyer representing clients), I find that clients want to be told “we’ll win” and other comforting thoughts, and it’s hard to find a path between pollyannaism and defeatism (which one will be accused of quickly). In this case, I’m suspect that Madonna thought that all her money could buy her the outcome she wanted. It sure does help, but I have to tell my clients: “No guaranties!”, no “slam dunks” (I don’t want to be the local George Tenant). An honest appraisal of prospects? Yes. Certainties? No. I’m as quick to suspect the client in this case as the attorney as the source of faulty expectations.
As to perverse incentives, the client, who must pay a significant sum, has the incentive to maintain a skeptical attitude and press for honest assessments. However, if you’re rich enough (alas, not my class of clients), the money doesn’t caution you since you have so much of it. Most people would prove more careful with their money.