I think that the concept of psychology that will stick with me for the longest time is the section in chapter 11 on pseudoscience: a set of claims that seem scientific but aren't. Pseudoscience is all over the internet, tv, etc. and up until I took this class their "facts" always seemed legitimate to me because they sounded science-y.
One warning sign of pseudoscience is an overreliance on anecdotes. After reading about this, I started to notice it in a lot of advertisements. They base claims on the dramatic reports of one or two individuals. This is especially prevalent in weight loss ads.
Another warning sign is an ad hoc immunizing hypothesis, which is an escape hatch or loophole that defenders of a theory use to protect this theory from being disproven. An example of this is when psychics are brought into a lab to be tested, and perform no better than chance. The psychics explain these failures by saying that the "vibes" of the experimenters are somehow interfering with their powers.
Lasty, if you spot a lack of self-correction, that's a good reason to doubt the scientific claim. For example, astrology forms have remained almost identical for thousands of years despite the discovery of outer planets in the solar system.
The reason I think I'll remember this concept for a long time is because it's something I can apply everyday. Since we're bombarded by a plethora of advertisements each day, keeping an eye out for pseudoscience is something I can use all the time.
Ads: What NOT to Believe
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Advertisements are absolutely set up the same way as pseudoscience. It is great that you noticed this and we are able to see pseudoscience at work in the real world.
In a way i can also agree with your statement that this overall can be applied to you everyday. pseudoscience is very interesting and as from what i read it makes sense and i can see myself thinking about it while reading ad's or anything else from here and the future.
This is SO true! I have noticed a lot of these "pseudoscientific signs" since studying psychology and I think it has helped me weed out the good ads from the bad ones. It can not only make us more aware of false claims, but save us tons of money!
Great point! One of the greatest things I have gotten from this class is the ability to be skeptical when watching/listening to an advertisement, especially when a psuedoscience is involved. One great examples is chiropractors curing earaches and bed-wetting.
I think this is extremely interesting! I saw so many things in the book (for example, listening to a tape while sleeping to improve learning it) that I've heard in the past and it was interesting how many aren't true but so many people believe them and relay the claims to others.
This is really interesting. You provided a lot of information and a lot of cool pictures that makes it more enjoyable to read. This concept is really important, not only in psychology, but in everyday life. People that aren't aware of this, fall prey to these ads all the time and these companies make millions of dollars from these kind of ads. Knowing this concept will definately save many people a lot of cash.
I love the comic! (It's also funny cause so many pseudo scientific findings claim to be verified by "doctors" and stuff...no? Not funny? Ehh...)All jokes aside, it's great that psychology has taught us the specific traits of pseudoscience we need to look for. When I say advertisements with personal anecdotes and such before, I always felt like something was wrong, but was never able to pinpoint exactly what was wrong with their claims. Now we can specifically list out what is wrong with the pseudo scientific claims, and can explain the signs of pseudoscience more in depth to family and friends (if their willing to listen :D).