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dor · 04-02-2007, 09:12 PM

This is a good article....It should be common sense, but if something has not been proven to work - why would you keep doing it?

I know some people here believe ESP (i do to some extent but think Yuri Geller, for example is a fraud) its one thing to believe in its possibility quite another to buy and pay for a product that for example, would claim to help you increase you ESP .

Helping Students Discern Science from Snake Oil

Helping students discern science from snake oil

A professor's unique course turns media-muddled students into savvy consumers of popular psychology.

By Bridget Murray
Monitor staff

It took a 101 psych class for psychology major Sharon Barfield to realize that psy-chology is about serious science, not ESP, subliminal tapes and talk shows, as she'd once thought.

"But this is a market that is dominated by charlatans and sensationalists," he says. "Our best antidote is to educate our students to tough-mindedness."

The 'great popularizers'

Fried's course traces psychology's history from the dubious theories of the 18th and 19th centuries to the present-day preoccupation with intelligence testing, dysfunctional families and co-dependency. Students also study the rise of the self-help culture by reading books, such as Steven Starker's "Oracle at the Supermarket: The American Preoccupation with Self-Help Books" (Transaction, 1989) and Wendy Simond's "Women and Self-Help Culture: Reading Between the Lines" (Rutgers, 1992).

In addition, students learn to analyze the content of popular magazine articles and weigh the quality of self-help books. Fried advises them to consider the following questions about a work:

# How practical and useful is it?

# Does it present solid problem-solving strategies based on scientific evidence and professional experience?

# How clear is the writing?

# What are the author's credentials?

# How comprehensive is the bibliography?

Fried also tells students that, while many popular misconceptions of psychology come from journalists and peddlers of self-help, academic and professional psychologists have also made shaky contributions to popular lore.

He notes that even the field's great contributors and popularizers, including William James and John B. Watson, sometimes spread theories that have been discredited. James, for example, supported mysticism and the supernatural, and Watson promoted child-rearing practices so stern that they starved children of affection.

Discerning not dismissive

04-02-2007, 09:12 PM	#3 (permalink)
dor Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 587	This is a good article....It should be common sense, but if something has not been proven to work - why would you keep doing it? I know some people here believe ESP (i do to some extent but think Yuri Geller, for example is a fraud) its one thing to believe in its possibility quite another to buy and pay for a product that for example, would claim to help you increase you ESP . Helping Students Discern Science from Snake Oil Helping students discern science from snake oil A professor's unique course turns media-muddled students into savvy consumers of popular psychology. By Bridget Murray Monitor staff It took a 101 psych class for psychology major Sharon Barfield to realize that psy-chology is about serious science, not ESP, subliminal tapes and talk shows, as she'd once thought. "But this is a market that is dominated by charlatans and sensationalists," he says. "Our best antidote is to educate our students to tough-mindedness." The 'great popularizers' Fried's course traces psychology's history from the dubious theories of the 18th and 19th centuries to the present-day preoccupation with intelligence testing, dysfunctional families and co-dependency. Students also study the rise of the self-help culture by reading books, such as Steven Starker's "Oracle at the Supermarket: The American Preoccupation with Self-Help Books" (Transaction, 1989) and Wendy Simond's "Women and Self-Help Culture: Reading Between the Lines" (Rutgers, 1992). In addition, students learn to analyze the content of popular magazine articles and weigh the quality of self-help books. Fried advises them to consider the following questions about a work: # How practical and useful is it? # Does it present solid problem-solving strategies based on scientific evidence and professional experience? # How clear is the writing? # What are the author's credentials? # How comprehensive is the bibliography? Fried also tells students that, while many popular misconceptions of psychology come from journalists and peddlers of self-help, academic and professional psychologists have also made shaky contributions to popular lore. He notes that even the field's great contributors and popularizers, including William James and John B. Watson, sometimes spread theories that have been discredited. James, for example, supported mysticism and the supernatural, and Watson promoted child-rearing practices so stern that they starved children of affection. Discerning not dismissive Last edited by dor; 04-02-2007 at 09:16 PM.