Magical beliefs and discriminating science from pseudoscience in undergraduate professional students
نویسندگان
چکیده
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 versions of a supernatural news story on undergraduate professional students. One version of the story presented a simple news article, another the same with a pseudoscientific rationale, and another gave a discrediting scientific critique. Results confirmed that many students do hold magical beliefs but discriminated between scientific and pseudoscientific narratives. However, pre-existing paranormal beliefs were associated with an increased likelihood of students finding paranormal reports scientific, believable and credible.
منابع مشابه
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...
متن کاملPseudoscience, the Paranormal, and Science Education
The study of pseudoscience and the paranormal is an important but neglected aspect of science education. Given the widespread acceptance of pseudoscientific and paranormal beliefs, science educators need to take seriously the problem of how these can be combated. I propose teaching science students to critically evaluate the claims of pseudoscience and the paranormal, something that can be acco...
متن کاملThe Influence of Education Major: How Diverse Preservice Teachers View Pseudoscience Topics
Pseudoscience beliefs (e.g., astrology, ghosts or UFOs) are rife in American society. Most research examines creation/evolution among liberal arts majors, general public adults, or, infrequently, middle or high school science teachers. Thus, research truncates the range of ersatz science thinking and the samples it studies. We examined diverse beliefs, e.g., extraterrestrials, magic, Biblical c...
متن کاملReducing Pseudoscientific and Paranormal Beliefs in University Students Through a Course in Science and Critical Thinking
This study measured the relationship between student’s religion, gender, and propensity for fantasy thinking with the change in belief for paranormal and pseudoscientific subjects following a science and critical thinking course that directly confronted these subjects. Student pre-course endorsement of religious, paranormal, and pseudoscientific beliefs ranged from 21 to 53%, with religion havi...
متن کاملModern Geocentrism: A Case Study of Pseudoscience in Astronomy
Pseudoscience afflicts all branches of science, but it is particularly popular in astronomy. It is important for students of astronomy to be familiar with the nature of pseudoscience in order to help them identify and avoid it. To this end I present a case study of pseudoscience in astronomy: I analyze the beliefs of the Modern Geocentrists who claim that the Earth is in the center of the unive...
متن کامل