oversimplification

• 過度の単純化

　 　

WordNet

1. an act of excessive simplification; the act of making something seem simpler than it really is (同)simplism
2. a simplification that goes too far (to the point of misrepresentation) (同)simplism

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出典(authority):フリー百科事典『ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』「2016/10/02 22:42:26」(JST)

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The fallacy of the single cause, also known as complex cause, causal oversimplification, causal reductionism, and reduction fallacy, is a fallacy of questionable cause that occurs when it is assumed that there is a single, simple cause of an outcome when in reality it may have been caused by a number of only jointly sufficient causes.

It can be logically reduced to: X occurred after Y. Therefore, Y caused X (although A,B,C...etc. also caused X.)

Causal oversimplification is a specific kind of false dilemma where conjoint possibilities are ignored. In other words, the possible causes are assumed to be "A or B or C" when "A and B and C" or "A and B and not C" (etc.) are not taken into consideration.

Examples

Often after a tragedy it is asked, "What was the cause of this?" Such language implies that there is one cause, when instead there was probably a large number of contributing factors. However, having produced a list of several contributing factors, it may be worthwhile to look for the strongest of the factors, or a single cause underlying several of them. A need for simplification may be perceived in order to make the explanation of the tragedy operational, so that responsible authorities can be seen to have taken action.

For instance, after a school shooting, editorialists debate whether it was caused by the shooter's parents, violence in media, stress on students, or the accessibility of guns. In fact, many different causes—including some of those—may all have necessarily contributed. Similarly, the music industry might claim that peer-to-peer file sharing is the cause of a loss in profit whereas factors such as a growing video game market and economic depression are also likely to be major factors.

A notable scientific example of what can happen when this kind of fallacy is identified and resolved is the development in economics of the Coase theorem. In neuroscience, this fallacy is in evidence when a scientist electrically stimulates one area of the brain, observes an effect (say, the patient blinks his eyes), and assumes that the brain area is sufficient for the movement (the essence of blinking) rather than merely necessary.

See also

• Affirming the consequent
• Essentialism
• Jumping to conclusions
• Proximate and ultimate causation
• Spurious relationship
• Non sequitur (logic)

References

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English Journal

• African leaders' views on critical human resource issues for the implementation of family medicine in Africa.

• Moosa S, Downing R, Essuman A, Pentz S, Reid S, Mash R.Author information Department of Family Medicine, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. shabir@drmoosa.co.za.AbstractBACKGROUND: The World Health Organisation has advocated for comprehensive primary care teams, which include family physicians. However, despite (or because of) severe doctor shortages in Africa, there is insufficient clarity on the role of the family physician in the primary health care team. Instead there is a trend towards task shifting without thought for teamwork, which runs the risk of dangerous oversimplification. It is not clear how African leaders understand the challenges of implementing family medicine, especially in human resource terms. This study, therefore, sought to explore the views of academic and government leaders on critical human resource issues for implementation of family medicine in Africa.
• Human resources for health.Hum Resour Health.2014 Jan 17;12(1):2. doi: 10.1186/1478-4491-12-2.
• BACKGROUND: The World Health Organisation has advocated for comprehensive primary care teams, which include family physicians. However, despite (or because of) severe doctor shortages in Africa, there is insufficient clarity on the role of the family physician in the primary health care team. Instea
• PMID 24438344

• Rates of Evolution of Hominoid Seminal Proteins are Correlated with Function and Expression, Rather than Mating System.

• Carnahan-Craig SJ, Jensen-Seaman MI.Author information Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.AbstractIn species where females mate with multiple males during a single ovulatory cycle, sperm competition is hypothesized to increase the rate of adaptive evolution of proteins expressed in male reproductive tissues through recurrent selective sweeps (positive selection). The hominoids, comprising apes and humans, are a group of closely related primates with extensive variation in mating behaviors and predicted levels of sperm competition. Since previous studies of individual male reproductive genes have shown evidence of positive selection, we estimated rates of evolution of a comprehensive set of proteins expressed in ejaculated semen. Our results show that these proteins in hominoids do not have elevated rates of nonsynonymous substitutions (Ka) compared with a control dataset of nonreproductive genes. Species with greater sperm competition do not have faster rates of seminal protein evolution. Although at these broad levels our hypotheses were not confirmed, further analyses indicate specific patterns of molecular evolution. Namely, the Ka of seminal genes is more strongly correlated with measures of tissue specificity than nonreproductive genes, suggesting that the former may more readily adapt to tissue-specific functions. Proteins expressed from the seminal vesicles evolve more rapidly than those from other male reproductive tissues. Also, several gene ontology categories show elevated rates of protein evolution, not seen in the control data set. While the generalization that male reproductive genes evolve rapidly in hominoids is an oversimplification, a subset of proteins can be identified that are likely targets for adaptive evolution driven by sexual selection.
• Journal of molecular evolution.J Mol Evol.2014 Jan;78(1):87-99. doi: 10.1007/s00239-013-9602-z. Epub 2013 Nov 27.
• In species where females mate with multiple males during a single ovulatory cycle, sperm competition is hypothesized to increase the rate of adaptive evolution of proteins expressed in male reproductive tissues through recurrent selective sweeps (positive selection). The hominoids, comprising apes a
• PMID 24281413

• Interactions of isoflavones and other plant derived estrogens with estrogen receptors for prevention and treatment of breast cancer-considerations concerning related efficacy and safety.

• Leclercq G, Jacquot Y.Author information Laboratoire J.-C. Heuson de Cancérologie Mammaire, Université Libre de Bruxelles (U.L.B.), Institut Jules Bordet, 1, rue Héger Bordet, Brussels, B-1000, Belgium. Electronic address: guy.leclercq@ulb.ac.be.AbstractPhytoestrogens are natural endocrine disruptors that interfere with estrogenic pathways. They insert directly within the hormone-binding domain of ERα and β, with a preference for the β isoform of which the concentration predominates in the normal mammary epithelium. Since ERβ antagonizes the growth promoting effect of ERα, which is mainly expressed in estrogen-sensitive tumor cells, a potential protective action against breast cancer incidence has been ascribed to phytoestrogens. The fact that Asian women living in far-east countries who consume isoflavone-rich food are less subjected to breast cancer emergence than their congeners in the USA as well as Caucasian women has been advocated to justify such a concept. Overview of data concerning the mechanism of action phytoestrogens reveals that such a view is an oversimplification: Such compounds interfere with a huge panel of regulatory proteins, giving rise to both promoting and antagonizing carcinogenic effects. Moreover, various physiological and pathological factors able to amplify these effects are not often sufficiently taken into account, which increases the difficulty to interpret data. Nevertheless, this overview of data established that chemical structures and concentrations modulate such effects: at the micromolar level, isoflavones activate ERα-mediated transcription and breast cancer cell proliferation while flavones fail to induce any significant promoting effects. At higher doses, both classes of compounds may display an antitumor activity. Reasons for such distinct behaviors as well as their potential impact in therapeutic applications are analyzed here. Ability of isoflavones and flavones to antagonize the association of calmodulin to ERα, which is required for its enhanced transcriptional activity is evoked to justify the antitumor activity ascribed to some flavones. Finally, a suspicion that peculiar classes of phytoestrogens may adopt a SERM-like conformation is addressed in a context of selection and synthesis of compounds with non-equivocal therapeutic value. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "Phytoestrogens".
• The Journal of steroid biochemistry and molecular biology.J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol.2014 Jan;139:237-44. doi: 10.1016/j.jsbmb.2012.12.010. Epub 2012 Dec 27.
• Phytoestrogens are natural endocrine disruptors that interfere with estrogenic pathways. They insert directly within the hormone-binding domain of ERα and β, with a preference for the β isoform of which the concentration predominates in the normal mammary epithelium. Since ERβ antagonizes the gr
• PMID 23274118

• Method for accurate determination of dissociation constants of optical ratiometric systems: chemical probes, genetically encoded sensors, and interacting molecules.

• Pomorski A, Kochańczyk T, Miłoch A, Krężel A.Author information Laboratory of Chemical Biology, Faculty of Biotechnology, University of Wrocław , Joliot-Curie 14a, 50-383 Wrocław, Poland.AbstractRatiometric chemical probes and genetically encoded sensors are of high interest for both analytical chemists and molecular biologists. Their high sensitivity toward the target ligand and ability to obtain quantitative results without a known sensor concentration have made them a very useful tool in both in vitro and in vivo assays. Although ratiometric sensors are widely used in many applications, their successful and accurate usage depends on how they are characterized in terms of sensing target molecules. The most important feature of probes and sensors besides their optical parameters is an affinity constant toward analyzed molecules. The literature shows that different analytical approaches are used to determine the stability constants, with the ratio approach being most popular. However, oversimplification and lack of attention to detail results in inaccurate determination of stability constants, which in turn affects the results obtained using these sensors. Here, we present a new method where ratio signal is calibrated for borderline values of intensities of both wavelengths, instead of borderline ratio values that generate errors in many studies. At the same time, the equation takes into account the cooperativity factor or fluorescence artifacts and therefore can be used to characterize systems with various stoichiometries and experimental conditions. Accurate determination of stability constants is demonstrated utilizing four known optical ratiometric probes and sensors, together with a discussion regarding other, currently used methods.
• Analytical chemistry.Anal Chem.2013 Dec 3;85(23):11479-86. doi: 10.1021/ac402637h. Epub 2013 Nov 20.
• Ratiometric chemical probes and genetically encoded sensors are of high interest for both analytical chemists and molecular biologists. Their high sensitivity toward the target ligand and ability to obtain quantitative results without a known sensor concentration have made them a very useful tool in
• PMID 24180305

Japanese Journal

• パーリア国家の自己改革:―ミャンマーの外交「正常化」と米国、中国との関係―

• 国際政治 2014(177), 177_84-177_97, 2014
• NAID 130005109525

• Vector field statistical analysis of kinematic and force trajectories

• JOURNAL OF BIOMECHANICS 46(14), 2394-2401, 2013-09-27
• NAID 120005458451

• コロイド結晶成長の謎を解き明かせ(<特集>国際宇宙ステーション時代の結晶成長その2)

• 日本結晶成長学会誌 39(2), 83-87, 2012-07
• NAID 110009489616

• Plagiarism, Hiroshima, and Intertextuality : Ibuse Masuji's Black Rain Reconsidered

• 麗沢学際ジャーナル 19(2), 23-55, 2011
• NAID 40019058562

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