introductory psychology: pseudoscience
DESCRIPTION
lecture 29 from a college level introduction to psychology course taught Fall 2011 by Brian J. Piper, Ph.D. ([email protected]) at Willamette University, includes parapsychology, Freudian psychologyTRANSCRIPT
Pseudoscience
Brian J. Piper, Ph.D.
Goals
• Definitions• Examples
ComparisonScience Pseudoscience
Age Recent Old
Empirical Yes No
Falsifiable Yes No
Replicable Yes No
Not (non) Science• Psychokinesis: moving objects mentally
• Telepathy: mind to mind communication
• Clairvoyance: perceiving distant events
• Precognition: perceiving future events
Entertaining
• Stephen King: 34 best sellers
Extremely Common
N = 1000/country2005
http://www.gallup.com/poll/19558/Paranormal-Beliefs-Come-SuperNaturally-Some.aspx
Higher Among Females
Example 1 • A Professor at UCLA gave the “Diagnostic Interest Blank”
which consisted of:– hobbies, reading, materials, personal characteristics, job duties, and secret hopes and ambitions of one's
ideal person
• Weeks later students received “individualized feedback”:– You pride yourself as an independent thinker and do not accept
others’ statements without satisfactory proof.– You prefer a certain amount of change and variety and become
dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations.– At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made
the right decision or done the right thing.
Forer, B. (1949). J of Abnormal Psychology, 118, 123.
Example 1: Astrology • Professor at UCLA gave the “Diagnostic Interest
Blank” which consisted of: hobbies, reading, materials, personal characteristics, job duties, and secret hopes and ambitions of one's ideal person
• Weeks later students received “individualized feedback”
• How effective is the DIB in revealing your personality?– Scale from 0 (poor) to 5 (perfect), Mean = 4.3!
Forer, B. (1949). J of Abnormal Psychology, 118, 123.
Example 2: Rorschach Test
• Hermann Rorschach developed projective test in 1921
• Lee Cronbach “There is nothing in the literature to encourage reliance on Rorschach interpretations”.
1884-1922
Example #3: EMDR• Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing: imagine trauma +
follow therapists rapidly moving finger (“reprogram the brain”)• Participant groups matched based on prior trauma (moderate), sex,
and age• Control: imagine trauma while staring at stationary object (same
duration as experimental
*
*
Dunn et al. (1996). J Behav Therapy Exp Psychiatry, 27, 231-239.
Example #4: Psychoanalytic• Sigmund Freud viewed personality as consisting
of:– Id: basic desires– Superego: our conscious– Ego: provides balance between Id & Superego
Incorrect Ideas of Freud
• Repression: the idea of not remembering traumatic experiences is inconsistent with PTSD
• Cocaine for Morphine Addiction: this didn’t work
• Dreams Interpretation: weird• Overall: not testable, few predictions
ComparisonScience Pseudoscience
Age Recent Old
Empirical Yes No
Falsifiable Yes No
Replicable Yes No
Post Freud: Thematic Apperception Test
Ambiguous stimuli are used to generate stories that reveal personality
Conclusion