Magical beliefs and discriminating science from pseudoscience in undergraduate professional students

Magical beliefs and discriminating science from pseudoscience in undergraduate professional students

Paranormal beliefs and magical thinking exist in the public, and amongst university students. Researchers have found that media can influence such beliefs. A 2012 study suggested pseudoscientific rationales can influence acceptance of reported paranormal phenomena. Using a paranormal belief survey and controlled experiment this work explores the paranormal beliefs and test the effects of three ...

Attitudes and Views of Medical Students toward Science and Pseudoscience.

OBJECTIVES To know opinions, attitudes and interest of medical students toward science and pseudoscience. DESIGN A questionnaire was administered to 124 medical students of the San Marcos University in Lima, Peru. RESULTS 173 students were surveyed. The response rate was 72%. Eighty-three percent (100/121) of respondents said that science is the best source of knowledge, 67% (82/123) said t...

Non-Scientific Beliefs Among Undergraduate Students

A survey of over 11 000 undergraduate students’ knowledge and attitudes related to science and technology over a 22-year period included statements that probed faith-based beliefs and various aspects of pseudoscience belief and superstition. The results reveal that nonscientific ways of thinking are resistant to formal instruction, changing surprisingly little over the course of a college caree...

Science, pseudoscience and Sellick.

remains a much-feared complication of anesthesia. Anesthesiologists commonly refer to patients as being at ‘high risk’ of pulmonary aspiration. Risk means that an unpleasant or dangerous outcome may occur. The frequency of that outcome quantifies the risk. We accept assumptions about ‘risk factors’ that will reduce or increase that frequency, while giving little attention to the evidence. We ta...

On Science and Pseudoscience