I want to believe: Prior beliefs influence judgments about the effectiveness of both alternative and scientific medicine
Previous research suggests that people may develop stronger causal illusions when the existence of a causal relationship is consistent with their prior beliefs. In the present study, we hypothesized that prior pseudoscientific beliefs will influence judgments about the effectiveness of both alternat...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Judgment and Decision Making |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1930297522000031/type/journal_article |
| _version_ | 1827832227841441792 |
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| author | Lucía Vicente Fernando Blanco Helena Matute |
| author_facet | Lucía Vicente Fernando Blanco Helena Matute |
| author_sort | Lucía Vicente |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Previous research suggests that people may develop stronger causal illusions when the existence of a causal relationship is consistent with their prior beliefs. In the present study, we hypothesized that prior pseudoscientific beliefs will influence judgments about the effectiveness of both alternative medicine and scientific medicine. Participants (N = 98) were exposed to an adaptation of the standard causal illusion task in which they had to judge whether two fictitious treatments, one described as conventional medicine and the other as alternative medicine, could heal the crises caused by two different syndromes. Since both treatments were completely ineffective, those believing that any of the two medicines worked were exhibiting a causal illusion. Participants also responded to the Pseudoscience Endorsement Scale (PES) and some questions about trust in alternative therapies that were taken from the Survey on the Social Perception of Science and Technology conducted by FECYT. The results replicated the causal illusion effect and extended them by revealing an interaction between the prior pseudoscientific beliefs and the scientific/pseudoscientific status of the fictitious treatment. Individuals reporting stronger pseudoscientific beliefs were more vulnerable to the illusion in both scenarios, whereas participants with low adherence to pseudoscientific beliefs seemed to be more resistant to the illusion in the alternative medicine scenario. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T05:08:08Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d564de462db94db681c9558377dbce89 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1930-2975 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T05:08:08Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Judgment and Decision Making |
| spelling | doaj.art-d564de462db94db681c9558377dbce892023-09-03T08:51:30ZengCambridge University PressJudgment and Decision Making1930-29752023-01-011810.1017/jdm.2022.3I want to believe: Prior beliefs influence judgments about the effectiveness of both alternative and scientific medicineLucía Vicente0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2769-5028Fernando Blanco1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1283-8313Helena Matute2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7221-1366Department of Psychology, Deusto University, Bilbao, SpainDepartment of Social Psychology, University of Granada, Granada, SpainDepartment of Psychology, Deusto University, Bilbao, SpainPrevious research suggests that people may develop stronger causal illusions when the existence of a causal relationship is consistent with their prior beliefs. In the present study, we hypothesized that prior pseudoscientific beliefs will influence judgments about the effectiveness of both alternative medicine and scientific medicine. Participants (N = 98) were exposed to an adaptation of the standard causal illusion task in which they had to judge whether two fictitious treatments, one described as conventional medicine and the other as alternative medicine, could heal the crises caused by two different syndromes. Since both treatments were completely ineffective, those believing that any of the two medicines worked were exhibiting a causal illusion. Participants also responded to the Pseudoscience Endorsement Scale (PES) and some questions about trust in alternative therapies that were taken from the Survey on the Social Perception of Science and Technology conducted by FECYT. The results replicated the causal illusion effect and extended them by revealing an interaction between the prior pseudoscientific beliefs and the scientific/pseudoscientific status of the fictitious treatment. Individuals reporting stronger pseudoscientific beliefs were more vulnerable to the illusion in both scenarios, whereas participants with low adherence to pseudoscientific beliefs seemed to be more resistant to the illusion in the alternative medicine scenario.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1930297522000031/type/journal_articlecausal illusioncausal learningpseudosciencecognitive biasalternative medicine |
| spellingShingle | Lucía Vicente Fernando Blanco Helena Matute I want to believe: Prior beliefs influence judgments about the effectiveness of both alternative and scientific medicine Judgment and Decision Making causal illusion causal learning pseudoscience cognitive bias alternative medicine |
| title | I want to believe: Prior beliefs influence judgments about the effectiveness of both alternative and scientific medicine |
| title_full | I want to believe: Prior beliefs influence judgments about the effectiveness of both alternative and scientific medicine |
| title_fullStr | I want to believe: Prior beliefs influence judgments about the effectiveness of both alternative and scientific medicine |
| title_full_unstemmed | I want to believe: Prior beliefs influence judgments about the effectiveness of both alternative and scientific medicine |
| title_short | I want to believe: Prior beliefs influence judgments about the effectiveness of both alternative and scientific medicine |
| title_sort | i want to believe prior beliefs influence judgments about the effectiveness of both alternative and scientific medicine |
| topic | causal illusion causal learning pseudoscience cognitive bias alternative medicine |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1930297522000031/type/journal_article |
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