Psychology of Extraordinary Beliefs Study Guide Exam 1 Introduction Extraordinary belief if its true it would contradict our knowledge of how the universe works Not just unusual but seems impossible Objective Reality truth there exists a world with predictable laws and behaviors independent from my thoughts experiences and interpretations o If it does not exist then it is impossible to know or learn anything o We object solipsism because we know and learn things about the world Establishing truth can be very hard o Requires evidence o If you don t understand the evidence you wont know the truth o Sometimes evidence is incomplete o Faith some ideas have no evidence to support them and never will religion Scientific Method Science cumulative and self correcting Method or procedure for gathering information Not technology or a collection of facts Strong scientism the only meaningful claims are those that are scientific Scientific method should be applied to any subject matter Science alone can render truth about the world The worship of science and its results Weak scientism there is a natural explanation for all phenomenon The attitude and method of the typical scientist Six Tests to Warrant Beliefs FiLCHeRS o Falsifiability an unfalsifiable idea is hardly different from no idea at all You must be able to prove it false o Logic conclusions naturally follow from true premises o Comprehensiveness all data accounted for not just some o Honesty claims are evaluated honestly and without self deception o Replicability repeated experients o Sufficiency must be enough evidence to warrant beliefs Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence The burden of proof is on the believer It is impossible to prove a negative Evidence based on authority is inadequate o Fruitfulness how much progress can we make with a particular o Scope many phenomena can we explain Wider the scope better the o Simplicity How many new explanations are required to sustain the old one Ockhams Razor pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitate Entities shall not be multiplied beyond necessity Good Explanation explanation explanation o Conservatism A new explanation should have little no conflict with already established explanation Ruscio s Ten Characteristics of Pseudoscience 1 The appearance of science scientific language procedures with no substance o 2 Absence of Skeptical Peer Review Was the claim independently examined before appearing in print o 3 Reliance on Personal Experience Anecdotal evidence vs the controlled experiment Ex diet pills worked for me I lost 70 pounds anecdotal evidence o 4 Evasion of Risky Tests claim o 5 Retreats to the Supernatural does the claimant avoid attempts to disprove the does the claimant changing the basis of a claim when it is scientifically unsupported Ex aura changing colors what I see is orange o 6 Manta of holism what you see is blue increasing vs decreasing specificity holistic approach to dealing with something often comes up in alternative medicine o 7 Tolerating inconsistencies one of two contradictory statements cannot be true Both ideas are embraced yet both ideas cannot be true Ex magnetism and electromagnetic fields E f supposed to be bad for you cause cancer Magnets can protect you though Does not make sense that magnets can protect you from magnetic fields Magnetic field is generated by a magnet and same magnetism that you get from electromagnetic field o 8 Appeals to Authority I am an expert you must believe what I say o 9 Promising the Impossible unlimited energy Lose weight fast Regrow hair Add inches to your o 10 Stagnation ancient wisdom is good better best just because something has been around for a long time does not mean it s the best Plausibility and Falsifiablity All beliefs are not created equal Plausible superficially fair reasonable or valuable but often specious Pleasing or persuasive Appearing worthy of belief Homeopathy a specific healing philosophy and methods for medical formulations Does not refer to simply a natural alternative medication All medications as listed in the homeopathic pharmecopia of the US are treated as drugs and fall under purview of FDA but FDA does not hold homeopathic preparations to same standards of other drugs They were grandfathered in at the inception of the FDA o History founded by Samuel Hahenmann at the turn of the 18th century o Basic principles the law of similar like cures like Plausibility fails Medicine has to produce same symptoms for disease the law of infinitesimals the dose response curve Plausibility fails The process in which you dilute something Construction of Pharmacopeia mother tincture purest form concentrations vary 1C 1 drop of mother tincture 99 drops of water 2c 1 drop of 1c 99 drops water 30c 1 drop 29c 99 drops of water How you dilute something o Ex orange juice Purest form mother tincture 1c 1 drop of pure orange juice and 99 drops of water 2c 1 drop of already mixed 1c plus 99 30c 1 drop of 29c 99 drops of water Placebo effect reason why homeopathy works because some people want to just believe it is working Persuasion Persuasion the initial attempt to influence the attitudes of other people Cognitive dissonance changing your mind Tensions is reduced by changing belief A changing belief B or introducing a new belief C that eliminates the conflict Central vs peripheral central based on clear explicit arguments and encourage critical evaluation of the evidence Peripheral rely more on extraneous factors such as attraction or context to persuade Credibility a peripheral factor A source that delivers a message that violates our expectations from the source is going to seem especially trustworthy Attractiveness peripheral factor Similarity peripheral factor Messages from similar others are more persuasive than people who seem to be unlike us One sided if a person already has a position on some issue they will be more persuaded by one sided arguments Two sided if a person opposes a position on some issue they will be more persuaded by balanced or two sided arguments Fear messages based in fear can be less effective because the source may appear less credible Ex cigarette commercials Qualificiations qualifications alone aren t a good enough basis for evaluating the credibility of an argument Amateurs with no qualifiations often make significant scientific breakthroughs Some experts make mistakes Publications target a particular publication outlet Submit manuscript to the editor Editorial process