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Understanding Pseudoscience: Assignment #1 

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Understanding Pseudoscience: Assignment #1 

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Made by Nicole Russell (working individually)

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Post #2: Red Flag - Ideological Support 

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Post #2: Red Flag - Ideological Support 

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Definition:
When a person feels it is moral, ethical, or politically correct to accept a claim.
Connection:
Below is a video that discusses whether child vaccinations can be linked to autism or not. This video links to the topic of 'ideological support' because there are many parents who do not vaccinate their children, believing the vaccines are not safe. They believe they are doing the ethical thing by not vaccinating their children. This is an example of ideological support.
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A respected British medical journal, The Lancet, retracted a study that the childhood vaccine MMR triggers autism. Richard Roth reports on the controversy debated for more than a decade.

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Post #3: Red Flag - Appeal to Authority 

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Post #3: Red Flag - Appeal to Authority 

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Definition:
The use of an authoritative figure or imagery to create the appearance of credibility.
Connection:
Below is a commercial for Sensodyne toothpaste. The commercial features a dentist in a lab coat, creating a figure of authority that the audience would deem credible. This links to the appeal to authority red flag.
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Dr  Todd Appleton  -  2017  Sensodyne Commercial

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Definition:
A red herring is some sort of distraction that misleads from the original topic or question at hand. It distracts you from following a logical line of evidence.
Connection:
Below is a Wordle I created to connect some of the phrases that should come to mind when thinking about a 'red herring'; misleading, irrelevant information, distract, interference, skepticism, diversionary tactic.
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Definition:
Some people are attracted to products or claims that adhere to 'ancient wisdom'. However, it is illogical and backwards to believe that ancients had more knowledge than our modern-day scientists.
Connection:
We used to believe in the practice of 'bloodletting'; withdrawing blood from a patient to restore balance of the body's four humors and cure sickness/disease. This method was used to treat almost everything, for 2000 years until the late 19th century. This is an example of ancient wisdom. Below is a video describing bloodletting, and some of the tools used on patients during that time period.
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Blood letting was a common medical treatment for many centuries. Learn why and how doctor's did it. This video includes instruments such as a fleam, lancet, and scarificator.

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Definition:
We are susceptible to remember events that coincide with our current beliefs and not recognize events that fail to coincide with them.
Connection:
Below is a video that quickly and clearly explains how perception, mental processes, and our biases can affect our decision-making. It explains the concept of confirmation bias in more detail.
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Post #7: Reason for Belief - Simplicity 

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Post #7: Reason for Belief - Simplicity 

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Definition:
People are more likely to believe a claim that is simple, and easy to explain.
Connection:
Below is a picture of a cartoon; it depicts a man dreaming about the death of a loved one the night it truly  happens. I chose this to link to 'simplicity' because there have been many people who have experienced a similar phenomenon. Rather than consider scientific evidence and look at data (Law of Large Numbers) to explain the phenomenon, many just scratch it up to psychic abilities or some sort or sixth sense; the simplest explanation. This is how 'simplicity' works.
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Post #9: Reason for Belief - Patternicity 

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Post #9: Reason for Belief - Patternicity 

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Definition:
By nature, humans tend to look for patterns and familiar images in the things we view. This is called patternicity.
Connection:
Below is a picture of a boy laying in a lawn next to a tree, with a couple houses in the background. However, when most people look at this image, they also see the face of a man with a mustache. This is an example of patternicity, and how our brains search for familiar patterns within images we see.
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Post #8: Reason for Belief - Emotional Connection

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Post #8: Reason for Belief - Emotional Connection

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Definition:
Our emotions can lead us to believe in something simply because we so badly want it to be true.
Connection:
Below is a picture of what appears to be a grandmother visiting her granddaughter as a ghost. If people believe they are being visited by ghosts, they also tend to believe that the ghost is one of their dead relatives visiting. This is an example of how 'emotional connections' can alter the way we process information and lead us to believe in something without any proof that it is true, simply because we want it to be true.
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