Innumeracy in the Wild

Ellen Peters is Philip H. Knight Chair, Professor of Journalism and Communication, and Director of the Media Center for Science and Technology at the University of Oregon. She studies the basic building blocks of human judgment and decision making and is particularly interested in how people think and feel their way through decisions in our increasingly complex world.

• Section I. Introduction Chapter 1. The Types and Extent of Innumeracy Section II. The Objectively Innumerate Chapter 2. Innumeracy, Incomprehension, and Inconsistency Chapter 3. Reliance on Heuristics and Concrete, Easy-to-evaluate Attributes Chapter 4. Feelings and Frames Section III. The Habits of the Highly Numerate Chapter 5. Thinking Harder with Numbers Chapter 6. The Highly Numerate Understand the Feel of Numbers Chapter 7. Numeric Sensitivity and Consistent Use of Numbers Chapter 8. Numerically Imperfect Reasoning among the Highly Numerate Section IV. Objective numeracy, life outcomes, and what we don't know Chapter 9. Numeracy's Secret Connection With Life Outcomes Chapter 10. Issues and Opportunities in Objective Numeracy Research Section V. The Emergence of Number Understanding Chapter 11. The Approximate Number System (ANS) and Discriminating Magnitudes Chapter 12. Genetics and Formal Education Section VI. Two Additional Ways of Knowing Numbers Chapter 13. Discriminating Numbers Allows for Better Decisions Chapter 14. Subjective Numeracy and Knowing What You Know Section VII. Numbers are Just Numbers - The Impotence of Data Versus the Power of Information Chapter 15. Evidence-based Information Presentation Matters Chapter 16. Provide Numbers But Reduce Cognitive Effort Chapter 17. Provide Evaluative Meaning And Direct Attention Section VIII. Becoming More Numerate Chapter 18. Training Numeracy Chapter 19. Reflections on Numeracy and the Power of Reasoning Numerically Appendix

Peters presents a fascinating interdisciplinary examination of how well people understand and use numbers. Although intended mostly for other researchers, there is tremendous value for those who just want to understand their own numeracy and its sometimes surprising consequences, as well as improve upon it in order to make better decisions.