Pseudoscience

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Pseudoscience

Case studies, personal accounts, and analysis show how to recognize and combat pseudoscience in our post-truth, fake news world. “ . . . an invaluable volume that examines the cognitive biases that lead to pseudoscience, the history of pseudoscience, and the reasons for its wide acceptance.” —Science-Based Medicine In a post-truth, fake news world, we are particularly susceptible to the claims of pseudoscience. When emotions and opinions are more widely disseminated than scientific findings, and self-proclaimed experts get their expertise from Google, how can the average person distinguish real science from fake? This book examines pseudoscience from a variety of perspectives. Covering health, agriculture, food science, infectious diseases, and more, contributors examine the: • Basics of pseudoscience, including issues of cognitive bias • Costs of pseudoscience, from naturopathy to logical fallacies of anti-vaccination • Perceptions of scientific soundness • Mainstream presence of “integrative medicine,” hypnosis, and parapsychology • Use of case studies and new media in science advocacy Through case studies, analysis, and personal accounts, this fascinating study shows how to recognize pseudoscience, why it is so widely accepted, and how to advocate for real science.
Philosophy of Pseudoscience

Author: Massimo Pigliucci
language: en
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Release Date: 2013-08-16
“A remarkable contribution to one of the most vexing problems in science: the ‘demarcation’ problem, or how to distinguish science from nonscience.” —Francisco J. Ayala, author of Darwin’s Gift to Science and Religion What sets the practice of rigorously tested, sound science apart from pseudoscience? In this volume, the contributors seek to answer this question, known to philosophers of science as “the demarcation problem.” This issue has a long history in philosophy, stretching as far back as the early twentieth century and the work of Karl Popper. But by the late 1980s, scholars in the field began to treat the demarcation problem as impossible to solve and futile to ponder. However, the essays that Massimo Pigliucci and Maarten Boudry have assembled in this volume make a rousing case for the unequivocal importance of reflecting on the separation between pseudoscience and sound science. Moreover, the demarcation problem is not a purely theoretical dilemma of mere academic interest: it affects parents’ decisions to vaccinate children and governments’ willingness to adopt policies that prevent climate change. Pseudoscience often mimics science, using the superficial language and trappings of actual scientific research to seem more respectable. Even a well-informed public can be taken in by such questionable theories dressed up as science. Pseudoscientific beliefs compete with sound science on the health pages of newspapers for media coverage and in laboratories for research funding. Now more than ever the ability to separate genuine scientific findings from spurious ones is vital, and The Philosophy of Pseudoscience provides ground for philosophers, sociologists, historians, and laypeople to make decisions about what science is or isn’t. “A manual to overcome our natural cognitive biases.” —Corriere della Sera (Italy)
Science and Pseudoscience in Clinical Psychology, First Edition

Author: Scott O. Lilienfeld
language: en
Publisher: Guilford Press
Release Date: 2012-02-21
This is the first major text designed to help professionals and students evaluate the merits of popular yet controversial practices in clinical psychology, differentiating those that can stand up to the rigors of science from those that cannot. Leading researchers review widely used therapies for alcoholism, infantile autism, ADHD, and posttraumatic stress disorder; herbal remedies for depression and anxiety; suggestive techniques for memory recovery; and self-help models. Other topics covered include issues surrounding psychological expert testimony, the uses of projective assessment techniques, and unanswered questions about dissociative identity disorder. Providing knowledge to guide truly accountable mental health practice, the volume also imparts critical skills for designing and evaluating psychological research programs. It is ideal for use in advanced undergraduate- and graduate-level courses in clinical psychology, psychotherapy, and evidence-based practice.