I’ve started to get videos from poster Kyle Inspires on my Instagram feed; he’s also posted them on TikTok, Youtube and Facebook. Let’s work through an example of one of his claims.
One of the claims is that members of professional orchestras are much more likely to have been August babies. Can you locate the original study?
Photo: Friends Stock/Shutterstock
Take a moment to click on one of these options and view the short video:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRxRWpVjr8U/?igsh=MWw3bW42bWxjbG1lZA
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kyleinspires/video/7579317055070014733
a) What’s the main claim in this video? Fill in the blanks as you answer these questions: People born _______________ are more likely to ______________ because _________________.
b) Does the Kyle Inspires video include any citations, links, or specific information that would help you locate the empirical studies he describes?
c) Given what Kyle Inspires says in the video, how have researchers studied this question? That is, what variables did they measure?
d) Sketch a graph of the results of the study on pitch recognition (as described in the video). I think a bar graph makes the most sense. I find the difference between August and February performance to be almost too large to be true. What do you think?
e) Now, use research tools to find the empirical article that studied 15,000 people’s pitch recognition abilities. Try PsycINFO, Google Scholar, or even AI research tools. What search terms or questions did you try? What did you find?
f) Use research tools to find the empirical article that found that 28% of Julliard students were born in August. Try PsycINFO, Google Scholar, or even AI research tools. What search terms or questions did you try? What did you find?
[note–if you tried to answer e and f and found the empirical articles, please email me! I want to read them! I will also update this blog with their citations]
g) Look at the comment section (Instagram’s post has a comment section). Some folks are saying things like, “My August baby is currently a sophomore at a conservatory” or “I love music and I was born in August.” Are these convincing comments? Can you link these comments to the concept of confirmation bias?”
h) Why do you think Kyle Inspires is producing these videos? Is his goal to… Educate? Entertain? Sell? Punk us? Inform? Create an emotional reaction? Defend your answer.