Psychology of Pseudoscience

Pseudoscience Syllabus.pdf

Psychology of Pseudoscience

Are we walking around in a world full of ghosts, goblins, and aliens? In 2009, almost one in five (18%) American adults reported having seen a ghost. Several people have reported—in rich detail!—being abducted by aliens. Stories about creatures like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster continue to captivate our collective attention. But why do people cling so tightly to these beliefs? This course will help us understand the social and cognitive processes behind paranormal and pseudoscientific beliefs. We will also journey through critical thinking and the scientific method to better understand valid, reliable, and reproducible science and thereby better identify pseudoscience.

Topics

  1. Zombie ideas: Defining "science" and "pseudoscience"; what makes pseudoscience so appealing

  2. We can't trust our brains: cognitive biases and social influences that contribute to encoding false information

  3. We can't trust our world: critical thinking, logical arguments, and expertise (including academic publication controversies)

  4. Caveat emptor: publication biases, open/reproducible science, critiquing scientific articles

  5. Disorder in the court: forensic pseudoscience, polygraphy, criminal profiling, forensic identifications, implicit bias

  6. We're all mad here: clinical pseudoscience, controversies in diagnosis and treatment, repressed/recovered memories

  7. Just because we CAM doesn't mean we should: complimentary and alternative medicines, chiropractic, homeopathy

  8. Let's stare at goats: psi phenomena, remote viewing, psychokinesis

  9. Opiate of the masses: cults, fringe religious groups, conspiracy theories

  10. Social distancing champs: ghosts, cryptids, UFOs/aliens

Recommended Readings

Books I've been referencing

  • Critical Thinking, Science, and Pseudoscience: Why We Can't Trust Our Brains by Caleb W. Lack and Jacques Rousseau

  • Pseudoscience and Extraordinary Claims of the Paranormal: A Critical Thinker's Toolkit by Jonathan C. Smith

  • Pseudoscience: The Conspiracy Against Science edited by Allison B. Kaufman and James C. Kaufman

  • Science and Pseudoscience in Clinical Psychology edited by Scott O. Lilienfeld, Steven Jay Lynn, and Jeffrey M. Lohr

Peer-reviewed publications

  • Fasce, A., & Pico, A. (2018). Conceptual foundations and validation of the Pseudoscientific Belief Scale. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 33(4), 617–628. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3501

  • Synnott, J., Dietzel, D., & Ioannou, M. (2015). A review of the polygraph: History, methodology and current status. Crime Psychology Review, 1(1), 59–83. https://doi.org/10.1080/23744006.2015.1060080

  • Patihis, L., & Pendergrast, M. H. (2019). Reports of recovered memories of abuse in therapy in a large age-representative U.S. national sample: Therapy type and decade comparisons. Clinical Psychological Science, 7(1), 3–21. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F2167702618773315

  • Galbraith, N., Moss, T., Galbraith, V., & Purewal, S. (2018). A systematic review of the traits and cognitions associated with use of and belief in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Psychology, Health, & Medicine, 23(7), 854–869. https://doi.org/10.1080/13548506.2018.1442010

  • Bem, D. J. (2001). Feeling the future: Experimental evidence for anomalous retroactive influences on cognition and affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100(3), 407–425. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021524

  • Cardeña, E. (2018). The experimental evidence for parapsychological phenomena: A review. American Psychologist, 73(5), 663–677. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000236