Science And Pseudoscience From Ben Goldacre 's Bad Science Essay

Joel Achenbach, the author of the article, “Why Do Reasonable People Doubt Science?” starts of by saying that in today's era the people often disagree with scientific reasoning. The world we live in today is so full of problems it's hard to tell what is real anymore. The decision is left to the individual to decide what to believe is true or false, and then how there going to put their beliefs into action. Achenbach later explains in his article that the scientific method pushes back all the opinions and unfolds the real truth.

The placebo effect has been affecting people for hundreds of years. In the 1940s sugar pills were sold in doctors’ catalogs specifically for the purpose of prescribing them to psychiatric patients. Today, over 60% of doctors admit to prescribing placebos to their patients, although there is an unwritten rule among doctors in the United States that placebos should no longer be given to patients. Some even do it on a regular basis because they believe the effect a fake drug has on the brain is more effective for its price than the real medication or treatment. In the documentary, Placebo: Cracking the Code, viewers see a few different perspective of the placebo effect. They hear from doctors, patients, and researchers to more fully understand the ins and outs of the placebo effect. These different viewpoints serve as an effective way to bring light the producers’ purpose: to show just helpful and sometimes harmful placebo drugs can be.

In Molly Crocket’s, “Beware Neuro Bunk” she discussed the way a study may be taken and broken down and how producers of information may take a tiny detail from your research, use it as a supporting element of another study that has almost zero connection to the original study, and then possibly push their products on consumers with the original study as the supporting research. Crocket goes into detail on how her study on serotonin levels and how it connects to decision making was taken, broken down, and was converted into something not even close to what the study set out to prove. In her explanation, Crocket explained how she gave the subjects a very bitter, lemon drink containing tryptophan that took away serotonin’s raw material, thus depleting the serotonin levels in the subjects. This test was then used in articles that discussed things like how cheese and chocolate can help make you into a stronger decision maker, just because they have small traces of tryptophan.

Within the article titled “The Mistrust of Science” by Atul Gawande, the article is a written document of an address at the California Institute of Technology and describes the connection of science to every single human on Earth. This is done because the presenter defines science as “a systematic way of thinking” since science allows humans to contemplate beyond the information being given to them at any time, such as the questions may follow of how, when, where, why, and how? The presenter states the opinion that, no matter what major you are declared as or the type of occupation you hold, science is embedded into the way you are living, despite you not having any knowledge of certain science topics.

As Marston states, “people need real cures based on real science – not misleading and antiquated animal experiments (Pycroft and Marston 36).”

The most effective principle of scientific thinking in the Lilienfield Psychology book is “Extraordinary Claims”. This principle can be effective for day-to-day use, as it`s not uncommon to come across an article in mainstream media which claims to hold the solutions to happiness or the instant solution to wrinkles. I often use acne treatment face washes everyday to keep me from breaking out. Walking through Target one day to get another bottle of Clean & Clear, I come across this other brand called Clearasil, which claims to clear acne in just 12 hours.

The author continues to demonstrate how the placebo effect works by comparing it to the famous biological study by Ivan Pavlov. In Pavlov’s experiment, dogs are conditioned to respond to a specific stimulus and eventually begin to respond to the same stimulus in the same way all the time. Bjerklie explains that, “as far as the placebo effect is concerned, we may as well be those impressionable canines.” What Bjerklie means is that the human mind has the ability to be conditioned to expect certain outcomes. The placebo effect builds on the human minds ability to be conditioned and an individual’s faith in the healthcare providers it choses to visit. Overtime the human mind has come to believe that if given a medication that is suppose to have a positive effect on a specific pathology, it will in fact have an positive effect.

The product more or less receives a seal of approval without the consumer ever really knowing whether the “expert” is truly an expert at all. The professional’s actual doctorate may not even be in the medical field, but in a completely different field and unrelated all together. This is done because viewers ask fewer questions about a product or information when backed by a professional. This tactic is used to gain the trust of the viewers. Once they have the viewers’ trust in hand, Iovative Health Sciences, Inc., persuades these young female viewers to believe almost anything that they want them too. These women become inclined to believe that Hydroxycut will work for them; fast, easy, and with no hassles. This method of gaining the female consumers trust coupled with Hydroxycut ads’ other advertising fallacies for example, the airbrushed and digitally enhanced photos along with Hydroxycut’s over exaggerated or falsified statements; make their already vulnerable female audience more susceptible to their deceptions. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), an agency created to protect America’s consumers, drew up a report called, “Weight-Loss Advertising: An Analysis of Current Trends,” which investigated weight-loss advertising. In 2001, a content analysis found that over half of all advertising for weight-loss products used fabricated, unsupported claims. In an investigation of 300 ads from

Homeopathic is effective for a wide range of ailments such as colds, flu, arthritis, allergies, and sprains to name just a few of the maladies for which there are homeopathic treatments for. But even homeopathy's most devoted supporters can not explain why it works, only that it does work. Critics of the homeopathic methods argue that the fundamental ideas behind homeopathy defy the laws of chemistry and physics and that it's theory makes no sense in the scientific world. (Langman, 1997). They also claim that homeopathic 'cures' are due to the so-called placebo effect; that the patients and professionals of homeopathy believe so strongly in their treatment that their belief system is actually the cure, not the homeopathic method used. (Langman, 1997). Homeopathy's newfound success also dismays many physicians, scientists and consumer advocates who regard the homeopathic formulas as ineffective, at best, and dangerous, at worst. They're especially concerned that by attempting to cure their ills with the homeopathic method, patients will not seek assistance from established treatments for very serious, perhaps life

What is Science? When it comes to the word ‘science’ most of the people have some kind of knowledge about science or when they think of it there is some kind of image related to it, a theory, scientific words or scientific research (Beyond Conservation, n.d.). Many different sorts of ideas float into an individual’s mind. Every individual has a different perception about science and how he/she perceives it. It illustrates that each person can identify science in some form. It indicates that the ‘science’ plays a vital role in our everyday lives (Lederman & Tobin, 2002). It seems that everyone can identify science but cannot differentiate it correctly from pseudo-science and non-science (Park, 1986). This essay will address the difference between science, non-science and pseudo-science. Then it will discuss possible responses to the question that what should we do when there is a clash between scientific explanation and non-scientific explanation. Then it will present a brief examination about the correct non-scientific explanation.

The Impact of Pseudoscience on Consumers Pseudoscience is known by many as false science. Many consumers are convinced by companies that sells these products provide instant cures that lead to a healthier lifestyle. These products are scientific theories that have little evidence to back up their scientific claims. The Internet, health food stores, magazines, and commercials are just a few ways that companies can target potential consumers to sell their products. Medical information searched by consumers via the Internet has become the largest source of information worldwide. Consumers search the Internet for weight loss strategies, treatments for autism, anti-aging creams, male enhancement, and prevention of cancer and heart

Thousands of magazines, commercials, billboards, feature David Beckham and his chiseled physique. One advertisement promotes the ‘Got Milk?’ advertising campaign. Here, a shirtless Beckham with a milk mustache is holding a soccer ball. The advertisement’s main product claim is that drinking milk, along with eating right and staying active, will make you stronger and more beautiful. Milk will build muscle and make teenagers leaner. This claim is explicitly stated in the ad’s caption and can be scientifically tested. However, most of the advertisement contains implicit claims that deceive the audience. Pseudo claims seen in the ad include that drinking milk helps you “look great,” and that you achieve your idealized “body by milk.” Additionally,

Science and Pseudoscience differ in many ways. Science uses experimentation to accept or reject the hypothesis being tested while pseudoscience only looks for evidence to support the hypothesis often ignoring conflicting evidence. In science reproducible results are required before coming to a conclusion while in pseudoscience will often fail to successfully reproduce similar results. Science also argues with scientific information based of experimentation while pseudoscience lacks scientific evidence when supporting ideas. All and all the two contrast in many ways these being some of the most prominent.

The scientific community is much quicker to label this second type as quacks, whereas the scientific community has failed to gain a consensus on the legitimacy of the first type. Unfortunately, both are encompassed by the term alternative medicine. This paper will focus on the more controversial alternative medicines described in the first group.

We need to communicate that a change in lifestyle is the biggest proponent of weight. In fact, studies have shown that “interventions that promote lifestyle changes…have shown better weight [loss and] maintenance than interventions that do not” (LeCheminant 348). Since ads will continue to showcase the opposite and provide examples, it falls to healthcare providers to amplify this message. Dieticians and nutritionists and even primary care physicians need to focus on explaining that putting in work is the only way for a person to lose weight in a healthy way. However, they cannot just preach this message and expect their patients to immediately comply. Doctors also need to have a background understanding of what a patient’s life includes, and meet them where they are. For example, a poor person who lives in a food desert and buys cheap, unhealthy food is going to have a harder time losing weight than a person who shops exclusively at whole foods. Miscommunication comes when there is no understanding of the everyday hardships a person faces that would prevent them for implementing healthy lifestyle changes a doctor