Philosophy & Psychology: Assignment 1
Kanaya Dyara Taqiiya
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
2763481
Raphael Burggraf
Group 12
Philosophy & Psychology
1 October 2023
Word count: 1000
, Section 1
In the translation of Hoogman et al. (2017), there seems to be a misinterpretation of
the findings. The study reported that individuals with ADHD exhibited significantly smaller
volumes in various subcortical brain regions, albeit with relatively small effect sizes.
However, public communication runs the risk of misinterpreting or exaggerating their
significance. This could be caused by simplification of findings for clarity. For instance, a
small effect size suggests that while there is a statistically significant difference between the
groups, the practical impact of this difference is limited. The challenge arises when the public
misinterprets statistical significance as indicating a large or profound difference. This could
mislead the public into believing that these structural differences have a more profound
impact on ADHD than they do in reality.
Furthermore, Hoogman et al. (2017) acknowledges that the effects of ADHD on
subcortical brain volumes can vary among individuals and across different age groups.
However, the media tended to present a more generalised view of neurological differences as
a form of genetic diversity, with Newsweek headlines reading “Study Finds Brains of ADHD
Sufferers Are Smaller” (Gaffey, 2017). The failure to address individual variability could lead
the public to overlook the fact that not all individuals with ADHD experience the same
neurobiological changes or exhibit identical cognitive and behavioural traits. This may
inadvertently contribute to the oversimplification of ADHD as a uniform condition.
Furthermore, the overgeneralization of the misinterpreted findings could result in heavy
stigmatisation of individuals with ADHD.
Section 2
In the blog post (Robison, 2013), neurodiversity is presented as the belief that
neurological differences, like autism and ADHD, are natural variations in the human genome,
Kanaya Dyara Taqiiya
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
2763481
Raphael Burggraf
Group 12
Philosophy & Psychology
1 October 2023
Word count: 1000
, Section 1
In the translation of Hoogman et al. (2017), there seems to be a misinterpretation of
the findings. The study reported that individuals with ADHD exhibited significantly smaller
volumes in various subcortical brain regions, albeit with relatively small effect sizes.
However, public communication runs the risk of misinterpreting or exaggerating their
significance. This could be caused by simplification of findings for clarity. For instance, a
small effect size suggests that while there is a statistically significant difference between the
groups, the practical impact of this difference is limited. The challenge arises when the public
misinterprets statistical significance as indicating a large or profound difference. This could
mislead the public into believing that these structural differences have a more profound
impact on ADHD than they do in reality.
Furthermore, Hoogman et al. (2017) acknowledges that the effects of ADHD on
subcortical brain volumes can vary among individuals and across different age groups.
However, the media tended to present a more generalised view of neurological differences as
a form of genetic diversity, with Newsweek headlines reading “Study Finds Brains of ADHD
Sufferers Are Smaller” (Gaffey, 2017). The failure to address individual variability could lead
the public to overlook the fact that not all individuals with ADHD experience the same
neurobiological changes or exhibit identical cognitive and behavioural traits. This may
inadvertently contribute to the oversimplification of ADHD as a uniform condition.
Furthermore, the overgeneralization of the misinterpreted findings could result in heavy
stigmatisation of individuals with ADHD.
Section 2
In the blog post (Robison, 2013), neurodiversity is presented as the belief that
neurological differences, like autism and ADHD, are natural variations in the human genome,
