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Posts

April 25, 2013

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5:38 PM | The fear factor in vaccination decisions
How does fear influence vaccination decisions? by Tara Haelle       [...]The post The fear factor in vaccination decisions appeared first on DoubleXScience.
Double X Science
General Science

April 24, 2013

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2:31 PM | Vaccination attitudes are contagious
The power of social ties may be stronger than you think. by [...]The post Vaccination attitudes are contagious appeared first on DoubleXScience.
Double X Science
General Science

March 10, 2013

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10:40 PM | Extreme confirmation bias in action
How’s this for an egregious example of confirmation bias. This morning the local blog Whale oil presents this graphic to “prove” his assertions that current climate science is a “hoax’ and those who accept the science are either fools or … Continue reading →
Open Parachute
Religion and Atheism | Philosophy

February 21, 2013

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3:41 PM | ‘What Doctors Don’t Tell You’ cites paper that demonstrates there is no such thing as homeopathy
Back in that supermarket a few days ago, I again found myself driven to taking a thumb through the latest edition of QuackRag What Doctor’s Don’t Tell You, whose unscrupulously permissive advertising policy is being systematically exposed by The Nightingale Collaboration. Though I didn’t buy the rancid rubbish, I alighted on a small piece entitled ‘Homeopathy is more than placebo’, from which I noted the reference cited as voucher for that statement. From BMC Cancer, no less. I’ll […]

Rostock, M., Naumann, J., Guethlin, C., Guenther, L., Bartsch, H. & Walach, H. (2011). Classical homeopathy in the treatment of cancer patients - a prospective observational study of two independent cohorts, BMC Cancer, 11 (1) 19. DOI:

The Mawk Moth Profligacies
Religion and Atheism | Social Science
Citation

January 18, 2013

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4:45 PM | A few (unoriginal) words on evidence-based versus complementary and alternative medicine
(A variation on some accommodating words proffered elsewhere, though unlikely to make the cut...) . Science is disingenuously misrepresented by those whose agenda rely on contra-scientific promotional tactics, such as devotees of ‘Complementary and Alternative Medicine.’ Refutation necessitates an appreciation of the psychology underlying people’s needs and preferences. CAM appeals to our intuitive nature. We seek patterns and readily attribute cause and effect: post hoc ergo propter hoc […]
The Mawk Moth Profligacies
General Science

December 20, 2012

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7:55 PM | Matt Ridley Reveals His Confirmation Bias
Several years ago, the BBC aired an excellent program called, “Science Under Attack.” It was hosted by UK Royal Society President Paul Nurse, who examined why public trust in key scientific theories has been eroded – from the theory that man-made climate change is warming our planet, to the safety of GM food, or that HIV [...]
Collide-a-Scape
Environment | General Science

December 04, 2012

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1:23 PM | The Power of Confirmation Bias
It is my contention that scientific skepticism is an intellectual discipline and a cognitive skill set more than anything else. It is also a philosophy, a value system, and an approach to knowledge – but these are hollow without the knowledge and skills to apply that philosophy. This is especially true in our complex world, [...]
NeuroLogica Blog
Medicine | Neuroscience

November 20, 2012

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8:12 PM | The basis of our overly optimistic beliefs
The human brain seems to be wired for forward-looking optimism.  In 2007, Tali Sharot and a team of scientists at …Continue reading »

Sharot, T., Riccardi, A., Raio, C. & Phelps, E. (2007). Neural mechanisms mediating optimism bias, Nature, 450 (7166) 102-105. DOI:

Sharot, T., Korn, C. & Dolan, R. (2011). How unrealistic optimism is maintained in the face of reality, Nature Neuroscience, 14 (11) 1475-1479. DOI:

Sharot, T., Kanai, R., Marston, D., Korn, C., Rees, G. & Dolan, R. (2012). Selectively altering belief formation in the human brain, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109 (42) 17058-17062. DOI:

Inspiring Science
Evolution | Biology
Citation

November 05, 2012

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1:02 PM | Moderating Political Opinions
Tomorrow (Tuesday November 6th) is election day in the US. The talk of the pundits generally focuses on the fact that this is a very close election and, despite rhetoric from both candidates about bipartisanship, the country seems to be extremely politically polarized. The consensus of opinion is that Democrats and Republicans over the last [...]
NeuroLogica Blog
Medicine | Neuroscience

September 26, 2012

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11:13 PM | canine confirmation confound – lessons from poorly performing drug detection dogs
Intuitively, the use of police dogs as drug detectors makes sense. Dogs are known to have a better sense of smell than their human handlers. Furthermore, they cooperate easily. Still, compared to the generally good picture sniffer dogs have in the public eye, their performance as drug detectors in real life is terrible. The reason [...]

Beran, M.J. (2012). Did you ever hear the one about the horse that could count?, Front. Psychology, 3 357. DOI:

Doyen S, Klein O, Pichon CL & Cleeremans A (2012). Behavioral priming: it's all in the mind, but whose mind?, PloS one, 7 (1) PMID:

Hickey S, McIlwraith F, Bruno R, Matthews A & Alati R (2012). Drug detection dogs in Australia: More bark than bite?, Drug and alcohol review, 31 (6) 778-83. PMID:

Lit L, Schweitzer JB & Oberbauer AM (2011). Handler beliefs affect scent detection dog outcomes., Animal cognition, 14 (3) 387-94. PMID:

NSW Ombudsman (2006). Review of the Police Powers (Drug Detection Dogs) Act 2001, Sydney: Office of the New SouthWales Ombudsman, Other: Link

BRAIN'S IDEA
Neuroscience | Psychology
Citation

August 22, 2012

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2:42 PM | Find It Hard To Wake Up in the Morning? Try This One Thing
Every morning, first thing, to help myself wake up (it is 6:00 a.m., after all), I spend a minute or so stretching. This isn’t a rigorous or carefully designed set of stretches — more the kind of desultory stretches that we did in my seventh-grade P.E. class before running laps around the gym. I touch [...]
World of Psychology
Psychology

July 26, 2012

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7:22 PM | Skepticism and The Second Enlightenment
The information age has brought along with it the perils of having a fallible mind. Pseudosciences, scams, hoaxes, frauds, and …Continue reading »
Science-Based Life
Science Communication | General Science

December 30, 2011

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9:57 PM | The Myth of the 27 Club
A few months ago, I turned 27. Had I been a famous musician, I may well have dreaded this moment and gone into hibernation for a year, because 27 is the fabled age of the rock star death. The member list of the ’27 Club’ – those musicians who met an untimely end at the [...]
The Soft Anonymous
General Science | Art

November 13, 2011

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3:56 PM | Can Computers Reduce Bias?
Artificial intelligence has proven to be a the perfect antidote for certain failings of human intelligence. Exhibit A: Alarm clocks that move around the room in order to prevent weak-willed individuals from repeatedly snoozing. A less trivial weakness of the human mind is its susceptibility to numerous cognitive biases, and once again artificial intelligence may [...]
Peer-reviewed by my neurons
Education | Psychology

October 31, 2011

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7:02 PM | Real Life Werewolves? Dog Bites and Full Moons
Happy Halloween! I decided to revise and repost this piece from November 1, 2010, on dog bites, full moons, and confirmation bias. Click the archives icon to see the original post. Our story begins in March 2000, when Dr. Simon Chapman and colleagues from the University of Sydney published a paper in which they assessed [...]
The Thoughtful Animal
Neuroscience | Psychology

September 07, 2011

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6:44 PM | Psychology’s Treacherous Trio: Confirmation Bias, Cognitive Dissonance, and Motivated Reasoning
In 2009, a nine year-old Brazilian girl became pregnant with twins after being raped by her stepfather. With advice from doctors, her mother opted for her to have an abortion. After pleading with Brazil, which outlaws abortions except when the mother’s life is in danger or when she has been raped, her daughter was granted [...]
Why We Reason
Neuroscience | Psychology

August 02, 2011

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6:43 PM | How to Explain the Disaster at Tenerife
On March 27, 1977 the deadliest disaster in aviation history took place on the Spanish island of Tenerife. In the midst of take off, going approximately 160 mph, KLM flight 4805 collided with Pan Am flight 1739 half way down … Continue reading →
Why We Reason
Neuroscience | Psychology

June 09, 2011

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4:30 PM | Converting beliefs to “truths”
Michael Shermer‘s latest book looks interesting – The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies—How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths. Chris Mooney interviews him about the book in the latest Point of Inquiry podcast … Continue reading →
Open Parachute
Science Communication
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4:30 PM | Converting beliefs to “truths”
Michael Shermer‘s latest book looks interesting – The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies—How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths. Chris Mooney interviews him about the book in the latest Point of Inquiry podcast … Continue reading →
Open Parachute
Religion and Atheism | Philosophy

May 02, 2011

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8:29 PM | ADMIXTURE, African Ancestry Project, and confirmation bias
I’ve been running the African Ancestry Project for a while now on the side on Facebook. But it’s getting unwieldy, so I finally set up the website. The main reason I started it up is that there have been complaints for a while now of problems with the 23andMe “ancestry painting” and such for some African groups. For example, a Nubian might be 70% “European.” One might argue that this is due to Arab admixture, but this is clearly not so if you look at the PCA [...]
Gene Expression
Evolution | genetics

April 21, 2011

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4:22 PM | Genes May Influence How Often People Follow Bad Advice
What’s the News: Researchers have found that whether people stick with advice they were given, even when their own experience contradicts it, is linked to their genes, according to a new study published online in the Journal of Neuroscience. These findings suggest a possible genetic component of confirmation bias, the tendency to focus on new information that agrees with what you already know, and ignore information that contradicts your views. How the Heck: The researchers gathered [...]
80beats
Photography | General Science

March 28, 2011

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9:15 AM | A Puzzle for You
I came across a puzzle in a book I am reading at the moment (Flipnosis – the Art of Split Second Persuasion) by Kevin Dutton which poses the following question: You have four cards placed in front of you. Each card bears a number or a colour on the side facing you. Which of the cards would [...]
Molecular Matters
Science Communication
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