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Why do people believe in pseudoscience?

In my house, we watch a lot of things about aliens. The TV show Ancient Aliens (found, unbelievably, on the History Channel) is the worst of it – incredibly tenuous theories with no evidence, spelling out how aliens are responsible for literally everything that has ever happened. Dinosaurs, cowboys, Jesus, Einstein, Merlin, mummies, the Nazis – you name it, it was aliens. But, despite the fact that the show is such obvious hokum that the slightest bits of research can debunk, the show has an audience of people who believe in aliens and the theories this show offers. Although ancient aliens have been thoroughly denounced as pseudoscience, that hasn’t stopped people understanding it as fact. What is it about pseudoscience that encourages people to believe in it?

Pseudoscience is essentially practices or beliefs that claim to be scientific or rooted in fact, but have no scientific method to back them up. Typically, they rely on contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable claims, using things that can’t be definitively disproven as foundation (in the case of aliens, no-one alive today can be 100% sure that the pyramids weren’t built by aliens, for example, and this minute possibility is taken as proof in and of itself). Although I’m talking about aliens, there’s a whole catalogue of pseudoscience inquiry out there – alchemy, the Bermuda Triangle, graphology, palmistry and numerology are just a few. A lot of these has a historical basis – they are things that were once thought possible, but have been debunked by further scientific evidence.

Dinosaurs, cowboys, Jesus, Einstein, Merlin, mummies, the Nazis – you name it, it was aliens

The human mind is very prone to cognitive bias, and pseudoscience plays on this. The human brain enjoys patterns, and it is already inclined towards a certain theory, it is inclined to seek out evidence that supports that theory, ignoring evidence to the contrary. Coming with this is something called the sunk cost fallacy – a behavioural economics idea meaning that if you’ve invested in something, you’re more likely to fight its corner because you’ve given it value. To a believer of ancient aliens, proof to the contrary is something to be tossed to one side, and any attempt to disprove the theory will likely result in a more steadfast belief. You know how it’s almost impossible to change someone’s mind – this is a key reason as to why.

Pseudoscience also takes advantage of something called the Forer effect. This is a psychological phenomenon where individuals give high accuracy ratings to descriptions of their personality that they believe to be tailored to them, but are in fact incredibly general. It comes from a 1948 experiment by psychologist Bertram R. Forer – he gave a psychology test to 39 of his students, and told them that he would use their results to create a sketch of their personality. In reality, he gave them all the exact same sketch (with statements like ‘you have a tendency to be critical of yourself’), which the students rating it as extremely accurate.

The human brain enjoys patterns, and it is already inclined towards a certain theory, it is inclined to seek out evidence that supports that theory, ignoring evidence to the contrary

It’s the kind of thing that psychics use when they read people – playing the statistical averages or using general statements to convince people that they have a gift. This kind of generality and openness to everybody is key in pseudoscience. A lot of science is difficult to understand and comprehend – the building of the pyramids, for example, is something that a lot of people are suspicious off because they believe it simply couldn’t have been done by man. ‘Aliens’ is easy to believe, and believable is all it needs to be.

There is also a tragic side to pseudoscience, and this comes with its health-related fields. If someone is seriously ill, and traditional science has failed to help cure them, the tendency to try anything rises. Pseudoscience has a powerful property in that it is often comforting – there is a positive base reinforcement to astrology, say (you will find love, you will hold onto your health, you will be happy) that makes it very attractive, and which the cold rationality of science simply doesn’t provide. People like answers, and pseudoscience can offer them – it doesn’t have to go through the rigour of proving them because, ultimately, that doesn’t matter.

Pseudoscience has a powerful property in that it is often comforting

Pseudoscience is a tricky thing to contend with because, as we’ve seen throughout history, debunking it doesn’t stop people believing in it, and trying to convince people otherwise only strengths their resolve. Just remember that, if something seems too good and too easy to be true, it quite possibly may be.

 

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