| The seductive allure of neuroscience explanations. | |
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MedLine Citation:
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PMID: 18004955 Owner: NLM Status: MEDLINE |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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Explanations of psychological phenomena seem to generate more public interest when they contain neuroscientific information. Even irrelevant neuroscience information in an explanation of a psychological phenomenon may interfere with people's abilities to critically consider the underlying logic of this explanation. We tested this hypothesis by giving naïve adults, students in a neuroscience course, and neuroscience experts brief descriptions of psychological phenomena followed by one of four types of explanation, according to a 2 (good explanation vs. bad explanation) x 2 (without neuroscience vs. with neuroscience) design. Crucially, the neuroscience information was irrelevant to the logic of the explanation, as confirmed by the expert subjects. Subjects in all three groups judged good explanations as more satisfying than bad ones. But subjects in the two nonexpert groups additionally judged that explanations with logically irrelevant neuroscience information were more satisfying than explanations without. The neuroscience information had a particularly striking effect on nonexperts' judgments of bad explanations, masking otherwise salient problems in these explanations. |
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Authors:
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Deena Skolnick Weisberg; Frank C Keil; Joshua Goodstein; Elizabeth Rawson; Jeremy R Gray |
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Publication Detail:
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Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural |
Journal Detail:
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Title: Journal of cognitive neuroscience Volume: 20 ISSN: 0898-929X ISO Abbreviation: J Cogn Neurosci Publication Date: 2008 Mar |
Date Detail:
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Created Date: 2008-02-13 Completed Date: 2008-07-02 Revised Date: 2011-01-25 |
Medline Journal Info:
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Nlm Unique ID: 8910747 Medline TA: J Cogn Neurosci Country: United States |
Other Details:
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Languages: eng Pagination: 470-7 Citation Subset: IM |
Affiliation:
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Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA. deena.weisberg@yale.edu |
Export Citation:
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| MeSH Terms | |
Descriptor/Qualifier:
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Adolescent Adult Cognition / physiology* Female Humans Judgment / physiology* Male Middle Aged Neurosciences* Personal Satisfaction* Probability Learning* Psychological Theory* |
| Grant Support | |
ID/Acronym/Agency:
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R37 HD 023922/HD/NICHD NIH HHS; R37 HD023922-22/HD/NICHD NIH HHS |
| Comments/Corrections | |
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
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