Selection effects appear everywhere, once you start looking for them. A psychiatrist friend of ours marveled at the asymmetry in how psychiatric disorders are manifested. “One in four Americans will suffer from excessive anxiety at some point,” he explained, “but in my entire career I have only seen one patient who suffered from too little anxiety.” Of course! No one walks into their shrink’s office and says “Doctor, you’ve got to help me. I lie awake night after night not worrying.” Most likely there are as many people with too little anxiety as there are with too much. It’s just that they
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