The Teaching of Courses in the Science and Pseudoscience of Psychology: Useful Resources

Lilienfeld, Scott O.; Lohr, Jeffrey M.; Morier, Dean

doi:10.1207/s15328023top2803_03

Cited by 38 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 51 publications

(60 reference statements)

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“…Using this type of instructional context can give instructors the opportunity to plan targeted activities to develop students' NOS understandings by forcing them to critically evaluate their beliefs and examine possible misconceptions about various aspects of science. This approach should also be viewed as aligned with Lilienfeld et al (2001) suggestion that students should be faced with problematic and especially pseudoscientific assertions in order to develop critical thinking skills. This instructional strategy also helps remedy critiques of formal science education pointing to its failure to provide individuals the required skills to demarcate pseudoscientific claims from scientific ones (Castelao 2002).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Context of Demarcation in Nature of Science Teaching: The Case of Astrology

Turgut

2010

Sci & Educ

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The aim of developing students' understanding of the nature of science [NOS] has been considered an important aspect of science education. However, the results of previous research indicate that students of various ages and even teachers possess both inaccurate and inappropriate views of the NOS. Such a failure has been explained by the view that perceptions about the NOS are well assimilated into mental structures and resistant to change. Further, the popularization of pseudoscience by the media and the assimilation of pseudoscience into previously established scientific fields have been presented as possible reasons for erroneous popular perceptions of science. Any teaching intervention designed to teach the NOS should first provoke individuals to expose their current ideas in order to provide them the chance to revise or replace these conceptual frameworks. Based on these assumptions, the aim of this study was to determine whether a teaching context based on the issue of demarcation would provide a suitable opportunity for exposing and further developing the NOS understandings of individuals enrolled in a teacher education course. Results indicate that a learning intervention based on the issue of demarcation of science from pseudoscience (in the specific case of astrology) proved an effective instructional strategy, which a majority of teacher candidates claimed to plan to use in their future teachings.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Context of Demarcation in Nature of Science Teaching: The Case of Astrology

Turgut

2010

Sci & Educ

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“…The teaching approach followed an immersion model (Ennis, 1990) in which we taught critical thinking skills explicitly within a discipline-specific context of science and pseudoscience. We modeled the course after Lilienfeld et al (2001), and divided it into five general content areas: (a) defining science, pseudoscience, and skepticism; (b) how thinking can go wrong (e.g., testimonials, multiple causation); (c) pseudoscience and superstition (e.g., alien abductions, extrasensory perception); (d) abnormal psychology (e.g., recovered memories, questionable assessment techniques); and (e) class presentations. Assigned readings in two required texts (Shermer, 1997;Stanovich, 2001) were supplemented with additional readings.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in Critical Thinking Skills following a Course on Science and Pseudoscience: A Quasi-Experimental Study

McLean

Miller

2010

Teaching of Psychology

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We assessed changes in paranormal beliefs and general critical thinking skills among students (n = 23) enrolled in an experimental course designed to teach distinguishing science from pseudoscience and a comparison group of students (n = 30) in an advanced research methods course. On average, both courses were successful in reducing paranormal beliefs and increasing both abstract and psychology-specific critical thinking skills. However, the only difference that emerged between the courses was that the experimental course was superior with regard to reducing specific paranormal beliefs.

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“…Tampoco existe una correlación directa entre mayores conocimientos científicos y menor creencia en la pseudociencia (Walker et al 2002;Johnson y Pigliucci 2004;Majima 2015). Parece evidente, entonces, que la detección de la pseudociencia requiere de una serie de nociones epistemológicas muy específicas y no únicamente de presentar pensamiento analítico o de poseer conocimientos acerca de teorías científicas, algo que ha llevado a plantear la necesidad de enseñar de un modo explícito, también a los científicos, a detectar pseudociencias (Lilienfeld, Lohr y Morier 2004;Pigliucci 2007).…”

Section: La Psicología Del Engaño Pseudocientíficounclassified

Los parásitos de la ciencia. Una caracterización psicocognitiva del engaño pseudocientífico

Fasce

2017

THEORIA

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RESUMEN: El marco teórico desde el cual se llevan a cabo investigaciones acerca de la pseudociencia es deficiente, dado que suele incluir otros tipos de creencias carentes de garantía epistémica. En este artículo, se repasarán los mecanismos de explotación de la autoridad científica por parte de la pseudociencia, desarrollando así un marco psicocognitivo más refinado para caracterizar el fenómeno. Se analizará la psicología del engaño pseudocientífico, las raíces cognitivas que posibilitan la epidemiología de este tipo de ideas y sus mecanismos de autolegitimación, como la superioridad dialéctica, el falso apoyo externo o la falsa superioridad ética y/o epistemológica.Palabras clave: Pseudociencia, demarcación, autoridad científica, garantía epistémica.ABSTRACT: The theoretical framework of research on pseudoscience is deficient, since it usually includes other types of beliefs lacking epistemic warranty. In this paper, I review the mechanisms of exploitation of scientific authority by pseudoscience, developing a more refined psycho-cognitive framework to characterize the phenomenon. I will analyze the psychology of pseudoscientific deception, the cognitive roots that enable the epidemiology of these ideas and their mechanisms of self-legitimation, such as dialectical superiority, false external support or false ethical and/or epistemological superiority.Keywords: Pseudoscience, demarcation, scientific authority, epistemic warranty.La pseudociencia constituye una forma de fraude intelectual consistente en ideas ajenas a la ciencia que, en un intento de aumentar su prestigio y aceptación social, se impostan como científicas. Por ello, además de constituir creencias carentes de garantía epistémica, consiste en un engaño con profundas implicaciones sociales y académicas que se ha infiltrado en casi todos los ámbitos de estudio y práctica científica. Esta característica definitoria de la pseudociencia, el impostarse como ciencia, queda plasmada tanto en la propia etimología del término como en el criterio de demarcación propuesto por Sven Ove Hansson (2009;2013), una propuesta demarcativa que, aunque resulta ambigua en su formulación, ofrece un marco de referencia que se corresponde con la definición intuitiva y más habitual de la

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The Teaching of Courses in the Science and Pseudoscience of Psychology: Useful Resources

Cited by 38 publications

References 51 publications

The Context of Demarcation in Nature of Science Teaching: The Case of Astrology

The Context of Demarcation in Nature of Science Teaching: The Case of Astrology

Changes in Critical Thinking Skills following a Course on Science and Pseudoscience: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Los parásitos de la ciencia. Una caracterización psicocognitiva del engaño pseudocientífico

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