# data[].attributes.headline
The Mayan Calendar - Critical Thinking Process

# data[].attributes.subject
The Mayan Calendar - Critical Thinking Process

# data[].attributes.body
Here I have my critical thinking process of the example  of the Mayan calendar, which relates with the red flag ancient wisdom.

# data[].attributes.body
Again, each website provides multiple examples of each reason for belief, here is one examples from each website:
1. Seeing the face of Jesus on a piece of toast. (It most likely is not Jesus himself in the piece of toast and just a random pattern that was burnt onto the toast, but since people naturally look for patterns they claimed that it was Jesus on the piece of toast.)
2. The only big example I could think of was people who go to a psychic to try and connect with dead loved ones.  (People let emotion take over them when something significant happens to them like a death in the family. They would do anything to hear from that family member again, so one thing they may do is go to a psychic to try and reconnect with that member of the family.)
3. An example of simplicity is you thinking of something earlier in the day and then you see something related to what you were thinking about later on and you say to yourself "omg i'm totally a psychic" instead of looking towards other reasons. (Usually there is a logical reason but most likely it is just a coincidence and then people tend to make up things to explain that coincidence.)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
You experience the following on a Monday: The alarm clock does not wake you up and you are now late for work. The cat has peed on the couch. The coffeemaker is making strange noises and doesn't seem to be working. The kids are fighting with each other. It's raining. And on top of everything else, the car won't start. What do you conclude? One or two of these minor irritants would seem insignificant and unmemorable. Once the list grows, however, it begins to take the shape of a plot-a plot of unseen forces perhaps conspiring in a meaningful way against you.

Our brains are pattern-detection machines that connect the dots, making it possible to uncover meaningful relationships among the barrage of sensory input we face. Without such meaning-making, we would be unable to make predictions about survival and reproduction. The natural and interpersonal world around us would be too chaotic. In the above example, if I draw conspiratorial conclusions (i.e., seeing a pattern where none really exists), I am making what statisticians would call, a Type I error, also called a false positive.

What if you experience the following upon entering your house alone at night: The front door is left open. Household objects are strewn everywhere (you left the house neat and clean just a few hours ago). Your computer is missing. There are faint but unrecognizable smells. You can hear someone talking. In all likelihood, we would not only draw conclusions about has occurred but we will have a palpable, physiological response as well. Nature ensures that we are prone to seeing patterns rather than missing them. The Type II error, seeing no pattern where a pattern exists, turns out to be more dangerous. Far better-from a Darwinian perspective-to erroneously interpret danger where none is present than miss out on important cues that put our survival on the line. There is cognitive efficiency built into this equation: quick reactions depend on a cost-benefit ratio that favors safety and survival.

So, when our pattern-recognition systems misfire, they tend to err on the side of caution and self-deception. The experience of seeing patterns or connections in random or meaningless data was coined apophenia by the German neurologist, Klaus Conrad. He originally described this phenomenon as a kind of psychotic thought process, though it is now viewed as being a ubiquitous feature of human nature. Science historian Michael Shermer has called the same phenomenon patternicity. Shermer has pointed out that our brains do not include a "baloney-detection network" that would allow us to distinguish between true and false patterns.

Examples of apophenia, or patternicity, are everywhere. Many people perceive faces in seemingly random places-such as in clouds, in patterns of dirt left on cars, or on the moon. We take such patterns a step further by ascribing meaning to them. People have seen the images of Jesus and Mary inside a halved orange; or the face of Jesus on a piece of toast. Sometimes such objects are then worshipped or granted a sacred status. Some forms of apophenia have to do with sequences of behavior-such as the gambler's fallacy or other misperceptions of probability (this is illustrated most simply by sequential coin tosses where one might erroneously believe that after 5 tosses of heads, the probability of getting tails would somehow be higher than 50%). Apophenia also surfaces in the more complex patterns of our interpersonal world. Conspiracy theories, such as the belief that the twin towers of 9/11 were destroyed in a controlled demolition perpetrated by the government, are confabulations based on misperceived patterns. Such fallacious reasoning also has potentially adverse social consequences. For example, despite a paucity of evidence showing a causal connection, many parents do not vaccinate their children because they believe such vaccinations cause autism.

While it's tempting to view apophenia as merely a defect in our cognitive processing capacities (i.e., something that must be overcome or defeated), it might be useful for us to view this tendency as being an ironic, even amusing aspect of our nature. We are fooled by optical illusions-apophenia of the visual cortex-but we don't take such cognitive errors personally. Magic shows are often enjoyable precisely because we know that we are being tricked. If we embraced our vulnerability to cognitive errors, we would not be so easily caught off guard.

What does psychoanalysis (and psychotherapy more generally) add to the conversation about apophenia? One immediately thinks of free association-a clinical tool that specifically focuses on meaning generated from word associations. Rather than merely viewing apophenia as a kind of unfortunate side effect of our cognitive architecture, psychoanalysis pushes us to look at meaning where it seems least obvious. In this way, patternicity is the point, not the problem. Good novelists understand this, of course, and depend on the suspense and anticipation that seemingly unrelated associations create in readers. In an excellent essay on the subject, the writer Christopher Moore said, "A mild case of apophenia is a novelist's secret weapon that brings readers and literary success. We spend our working days seeing spontaneous connections between unconnected events, people, and lives, and weaving meaning into those connections." In psychotherapy, we co-construct meaning with our clients in an active process of making sense of interpersonal noise and randomness. The journey of psychotherapy can take on a narrative quality and often depends-like good storytelling-on a recognizable, coherent plot. Of course, our desire for patternicity may underlie larger questions and rituals of meaning-making. Our relentless detection of patterns is part of our larger search for meaning. Our greatest challenge may be learning to bear incoherence.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
You experience the following on a Monday: The alarm clock does not wake you up and you are now late for work. The cat has peed on the couch. The coffeemaker is making strange noises and doesn't seem to be working. The kids are fighting with each other. It's raining.

# data[].attributes.body
Each link provided contains multiple examples of what each red flag is. Here is a list of one example I picked from each website:
1. Example on gun control. A girl supports it and only finds ideas to support her claim. She sees news about shootings but then tries to use what she can from those to help with her point.
2. Belief in the Mayan Calendar. The Mayan calendar said the world was going to end in 2012, everyone believed it without too much question. (They only did because it was from an ancient source that could somehow predict the future.)
3. Example #2, where they use large words to try and prove a point which is actually incorrect. (In an attempt to try and stop any argument they use large words to get the idea across that 1 + 1 = 3)
4. Provides political and cultural examples, one big one that I know of is Communism. (One man had this idea of communism and advertised it to everyone, creating followers that supported his idea.)
5. Basically any commercial that uses an authoritative figure (i.e. a doctor, dentist, athlete) People respond well when they see that an authoritative figure approves of or uses the product that people are trying to sell.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Ideology Examples: Political and Cultural Beliefs

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Ideology is greatly influential and makes up the foundation for groups across the world. Review these ideology examples, many of which you may relate to.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Appeal to Authority

Appeal to authority is a common type of fallacy, or an argument based on unsound logic.

When writers or speakers use appeal to authority, they are claiming that something must be true because it is believed by someone who said to be an "authority" on the subject. Whether the person is actually an authority or not, the logic is unsound. Instead of presenting actual evidence, the argument just relies on the credibility of the "authority."

Examples of Appeal to Authority:

1. A commercial claims that a specific brand of cereal is the best way to start the day because athlete Michael Jordan says that it is what he eats every day for breakfast.

2. A book argues that global warming is not actually happening, and cites the research of one environmental scientist who has been studying climate change for several years.

3. Someone argues that drinking is morally wrong and cites a sermon from her pastor at church.

4. A little boy says that his friends should not go swimming in a river because his Mama said there were germs in the river.

5. A commercial claims that 3 out of 4 dentists would choose this particular brand of toothpaste for their own families to use.

6. My sister-in-law, who is a teacher, said that this school is not somewhere that I would want to send my children.

Fallacy Examples
Logical Fallacy Examples
The Judicial Branch of the Government
Vietnam War Timeline
Brave New World Chapter 12 Summary

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Appeal to Authority Appeal to authority is a common type of fallacy, or an argument based on unsound logic. When writers or speakers use appeal to authority, they are claiming that something must be true because it is believed by someone who said to be an "authority" on the subject.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Making an argument purposely difficult to understand in an attempt to intimidate your audience in accepting it, or accepting an argument without evidence or being intimidated to question the authority or a priori assumptions of the one making the argument.

# data[].attributes.body
1. Patternicity - Seeing/finding patterns in something that aren't really there. (I.e. seeing a figure in a dark room)
2. Emotional Connection - Emotions can rearrange our beliefs and make us think irrationally.
3. Simplicity - Not thinking of a more logical answer to things and going with the most simple answer to explain what occurred.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
If a remedy for your problem has been around for a long time, will it work, or is that a red flag?

How to recognise this tactic

People who use this tactic try to persuade you that a certain explanation, treatment or model must be correct because it's been around for a long time.

I don't go in for ancient wisdom
I don't believe just 'cos ideas are tenacious it means they are worthy

Tim Minchin, Australian-British comedian/musician, 2009

Why do people use this tactic?

People turn to this tactic when they lack scientific evidence to support their models. They want tor persuade you that because the traditional view has persisted for a long time, it outweighs the scientific evidence. But unfortunately, these models usually persist for reasons that have little to do with their success in explaining the real world.

What's wrong with this tactic

Believe it or not, there is no reason why an idea that's been around for a long time should be correct. Many ancient models have been kept alive by anecdotal evidence, appeals to authority, wishful thinking, superstitions and other dubious strategies. They are not supported by the sort of real-world evidence that comes from controlled experiments or randomized controlled trials. The four humor theory, discussed in the Example below, illustrates how an erroneous ancient model succumbed to scientific investigation.

What to do when confronted by this tactic

Don't be tempted to believe that the longevity of a model justifies its acceptance. It might help to keep in mind that blood-letting (based on the four humors model) was an accepted practice for centuries before modern medicine showed how harmful it is. Always ask for evidence that's been gathered from real-world tests. If there's none, the model is worthless. You can also check whether there are any systematic reviews of the model - try the Cochrane Collaboration for medical issues.

It's a good idea to ask about a mechanism for the model. If there is none, or if the mechanism proposed refers to concepts and processes that are at odds with accepted science, the model is almost certainly worthless.

Variations and related tactics

This tactic is also known as the appeal to antiquity. It is sometimes regarded as a type of appeal to authority. I prefer to think of it as more an appeal to anecdotal evidence - people think that centuries of anecdotes pile up to provide evidence. But, as the old maxim says: the plural of anecdote is not data.

Examples

The 2nd century 'four humor' model of human temperaments promoted by Galen led to the practices of blood-letting and trepanation as treatments for disease. These practices were continued until the 19th century when the rise of scientific models in medicine showed that, far from being beneficial, they were actually harmful. Discoveries in anatomy and physiology had shown the the mechanism behind the four humor theory had no basis.

Traditional Chinese Medicine is based largely on the appeal to ancient wisdom. Here's an excellent post from Steven Novella at Science-Based Medicine describing its pitfalls and showing how its purported mechanisms are completely divorced from reality.

Climate deniers use a form of this tactic when they point out that the earth's climate has changed in the past and then claim that the present episode of change is nothing unusual. Ian Plimer implies this argument in the first two of the "101 questions" he proposed in his 2011 book How to get expelled from school: a guide to climate change for pupils, parents and punters. The evidence shows clearly that his argument is wrong, and that recent global warming and climate change definitely is unusual and furthermore it is caused by emissions from the burning of fossil fuels. The mechanism is well understood. The Australian Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency has issued a detailed reply to all of Plimer's questions.

The New Age notion that Mayan calendars predict the end of the world on 12 December 2012 depends on an appeal to ancient wisdom. People who fall for this idea assume that the Mayans had knowledge we don't and were able to predict the future. In fact, no such prediction was made, and if one had been, it would deserve no credibility. Various mechanisms have been suggested as causes of the apocalypse, but they too lack credibility.

Add to the list of examples by leaving a comment.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Appeals to ancient wisdom - trusting traditional trickery

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
If a remedy for your problem has been around for a long time, will it work, or is that a red flag? How to recognise this tactic People who use this tactic try to persuade you that a certain explana...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Why Do We Favor Information That Confirms Our Existing Beliefs?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Confirmation bias can prevent us from considering other information when making decisions since we tend to only see factors that support our beliefs.

# data[].attributes.body
1. Confirmation Bias - Searching for evidence that only supports/confirms your claim.
2. Ancient Wisdom - Trusting an idea because it has been around for a long time. (The link below contains examples of ancient wisdom people believe in.)
3. Proof by Verbosity - Loading an argument with big, distracting words and a lot of information so that no one will think to rebuttal your claim.
4. Ideological Support - An ideology is an idea, and people who agree with that idea provide ideological support.
5. Appeal to Authority - Using an authoritative figure to argue a claim. This makes people agree with the claim because they of the authority backing it up.

# data[].attributes.headline
The Paranormal and Pseudoscience - Red Flags and Reasons for Belief 

# data[].attributes.subject
The Paranormal and Pseudoscience - Red Flags and Reasons for Belief 

# data[].attributes.body
By: Alexandra Serroul