Pseudoscience

Brian J. Piper, Ph.D.

 Goals
• Definitions
• Examples
 Comparison
Science 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/country
2005

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
1884-1922

• Hermann Rorschach developed projective test

in 1921
• Lee Cronbach “There is nothing in the
literature to encourage reliance on Rorschach
interpretations”.
 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
 Comparison
Science 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