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Conversation
The Psychological Allure of Pseudoscience; A Conversation with Mehdi Nasrin
This conversation explores why pseudoscience appears attractive and convincing to many people. Mohammad Reza Vaez and Mehdi Nasrin discuss the psychological mechanisms, emotional needs, and cognitive errors behind the tendency toward pseudoscience.
About this video
Pseudoscience is not just a collection of false or unproven claims; it often offers a simple, comforting, and understandable response to human anxieties, sufferings, and ambiguities. This very characteristic makes many pseudoscientific beliefs, especially in the fields of health, psychotherapy, spirituality, and personal success, attractive and resistant to criticism.
In this conversation from the online dossier "From Science to Pseudoscience," Mohammad Reza Vaez speaks with Mehdi Nasrin, a psychotherapist in Canada and a former faculty member of the Department of Science Studies at the Iranian Institute of Philosophy, about the psychological allure of pseudoscience. The focus of the discussion is the role of the need for certainty, hope, control, meaning, approval-seeking, and cognitive errors in accepting pseudoscientific claims.
The importance of this discussion lies in the fact that criticizing pseudoscience is not complete merely by presenting data and scientific reasoning. As long as the psychological and social needs behind these beliefs are not understood, the fight against pseudoscience will remain superficial and ineffective. This video is suitable for those interested in the philosophy of science, psychology, critical thinking, and science studies.
