Smith: Pseudoscience Extraordinary Claims

1. Auflage 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4051-8123-5
Verlag: Wiley John + Sons

Buch, Englisch, 432 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 236 mm, Gewicht: 732 g

Pseudoscience and Extraordinary Claims of the Paranormal: A Critical Thinker's Toolkit provides readers with a variety of "reality-checking" tools to analyze extraordinary claims and to determine their validity.
* Integrates simple yet powerful evaluative tools used by both paranormal believers and skeptics alike
* Introduces innovations such as a continuum for ranking paranormal claims and evaluating their implications
* Includes an innovative "Critical Thinker's Toolkit," a systematic approach for performing reality checks on paranormal claims related to astrology, psychics, spiritualism, parapsychology, dream telepathy, mind-over-matter, prayer, life after death, creationism, and more
* Explores the five alternative hypotheses to consider when confronting a paranormal claim
* Reality Check boxes, integrated into the text, invite students to engage in further discussion and examination of claims
* Written in a lively, engaging style for students and general readers alike

Ancillaries: Testbank and PowerPoint slides available at www.wiley.com/go/pseudoscience.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Smith, Jonathan C.

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Allgemeine Psychologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Parapsychologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Psychologie / Allgemeines & Theorie Psychologische Forschungsmethoden

Inhaltsverzeichnis

PART 1: INTRODUCTION.

Chapter 1: The Continuum Mysteriosum.

Chapter 2: Why Study These Things?.

PART II: THE CRITICAL THINKER'S TOOLKIT.

Chapter 3: Reality Check: Are the Sources Credible?.

Chapter 4: Reality Check: Is the Logic Valid and Sound?.

Chapter 5: Reality Check: Are Claims Based on Science: (Observations,

Tests, and Theories)?.

Chapter 6: Reality Checking for Oddities of Nature and the World of

Numbers.

Chapter 7: Reality Checking for Perceptual Error and Trickery.

Chapter 8: Reality Checking for Memory Errors.

Chapter 9: Reality Checking for the Placebo Effect.

Chapter 10: Reality Checking for Sensory Anomalies and Hallucinations.

PART 3: THE PARANORMAL FILES.

Chapter 11: Spiritualism and the Survival Hypothesis.

Chapter 12: Parapsychology.

Chapter 13: Energy Treatments and Complementary and Alternative Medicine

(CAM).

Chapter 14: Supernatural Cures and Faith Healing.

Chapter 15: Creationism, Intelligent Design, and God.

Chapter 16: The Reality Checkup: Using your Toolkit.

Über Autor(innen)

Jonathan C. Smith, Ph.D., is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Professor of Psychology at Roosevelt University, Founding Director of the Roosevelt University Stress Institute, and Head of the Pseudoscience and Paranormal Laboratory. Dr. Smith has published 17 books and has written numerous articles on stress, relaxation, meditation, and mindfulness, as well as spirituality and skepticism. In 1984 he founded the Roosevelt University Stress Institute primarily to combat pseudoscience in the field. He has created classroom and online classes specifically designed to teach critical thinking skills and evaluate extraordinary claims of the paranormal.