Type Errors
In the decision making process, when faced with uncertainty, a subject can make two possible errors: type I or type II. A type I error is a false-positive or in layman's terms, playing it safe. A fire alarm that later turns out to be a false alarm is a type I error. A type II error is a false-negative, or the siding with skepticism. Ignoring the fire alarm because it is often wrong, but it later turning out to be accurate is a type II error.
Read more about this topic: Error Management Theory
Famous quotes containing the words type and/or errors:
“Histories of the world omitted China; if a Chinaman invented compass or movable type or gunpowder we promptly “forgot it” and named their European inventors. In short, we regarded China as a sort of different and quite inconsequential planet.”
—W.E.B. (William Edward Burghardt)
“I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors; and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)