● Many young people believe in zodiac signs and other forms of pseudoscience. ● Although not scientific, pseudoscience offers a comfortable and easy-to-understand personal narrative. ● If not balanced with critical thinking, belief in pseudoscience can have serious consequences. Olivia (27 years old) has long been familiar with the world of zodiac. She even uses […] … learn more→

Does this headache medicine work? Can I lose weight by dieting? Are the government’s measures to combat inflation effective? To answer any of these questions, humans use our ability to reason about causes and effects. However, psychological research shows that we often make mistakes such as perceiving non-existent causal relationships. This is a phenomenon known […] … learn more→

Title of course “Psychology of Pseudoscience” What prompted the idea for the course? While teaching a course on research methods at the United States Air Force Academy, I concluded that the course needed a bigger emphasis on broad scientific reasoning skills. So I incorporated material about the difference between science – the systematic process of evidence-based […] … learn more→