Maintaining A Positive Outlook And Protecting Yourself From Fraud.

[dor]

I have to say I am shocked, and amazed by some of the comments of posters on this forum supporting certain dubious products and their authors. I have heard it doesn't matter that people who claim to be "doctors" got their diplomas from degree mills, or that it doesn't matter if someone is selling a product that is fraudulent as long as they get some benefit from it.

The sad thing is, when you put your trust in faith and people there are people that will take advantage of that - that is why the fields of religion and health are so filled with quackery and scam artists - and I guess what angers me is that it violates a certain trust.

and the problem is if you put your trust in these things, when you find out you've been had you lose faith.

Being postive, and having faith doesn't mean being stupid! What did Jesus say " be as gentle as dove but have the cunning of a serpent.

All that said, I believe the incredible powers of our mind and I am essentially an optimist but I don't put my faith in claims of new age practioners - like Emotos water 'studies' , or anyone who starts to make scientific claims and then cannot back them.

Same goes for religion. I don't put my faith in crying saint statues, and when they are discovered to be false (or even if they were not) it doesn't shake my faith.

here are some rules of thumb for avoiding fraud:

a. watch out for fake 'dr's. Edison didn't have a college degree, nor did Bucky Fuller but they invented stuff that worked. People with phony degrees and unprovable claims are probably scam artists. If they thought a degree was worthwhile, they would get a real one.

b. if someone starts to use scientific language, then they need to subject themselves to the scientific method. No ifs, ands, or buts. its one thing to talk about religion or a philosophy like the LOA its another to say 'quantum physics proves' and then not be able to back that up.

c. watch out for unproven, unverifiable claims

d. recognize the placebo effect: subliminal tapes have a known placebo effect, for example.

any other tips?

[Angela]

Originally Posted by dor

the problem is if you put your trust in these things, when you find out you've been had you lose faith. Being postive, and having faith doesn't mean being stupid!

It's great that you're concerned about people being duped. Unfortunately, the post with which you begin this thread, along with remarks you've posted elsewhere, imply or even state outright that people are stupid (or worse) for using their own judgement to try methodoligies you have deemed "wrong" for one reason or another.

Dor declaring that something is fraudulent or deceitful doesn't necessarily make it so. Of course you are welcome to go on frantically railing against what you're opposed to. It's the insults and disrespect that are inappropriate, not the opinions themselves.

Love,
Angela

[dor]

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