

Naturopathy vs. Science: Prenatal Vitamins - tokenadult
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/naturopathy-vs-science-prenatal-vitamins/

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themartorana
Reminds me of this[1] Clickhole article that I found quite funny.

I don't quite understand the (scary) propensity towards believing outrageous
claims made by non-experts with no scientific review or consensus in many
fields - especially medicine. It almost seems that people _want_ to believe
these claims. Is it a desire to know more than someone else?

Does anyone know the psychology behind it?

[1] [http://www.clickhole.com/blogpost/my-doctor-told-me-i-
should...](http://www.clickhole.com/blogpost/my-doctor-told-me-i-should-
vaccinate-my-children-t-653)

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lauradhamilton
I think part of it is desperation. If someone is diagnosed with an incurable
or untreatable disease or condition, then it's natural to try to look for some
sort of treatment that will yield better results.

That means applying less skepticism towards "alternative" therapies.

Then you also have the following working against science: \- Confirmation bias
\- Mistaking coincidence with causation \- Overly aggressive pattern matching

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mchusma
For people who are interested in this type of thing, I recommend listening to
the Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast. I've listened for a few years now,
and it is a fun/funny way to learn about science, critical thinking, and
debunking bad science like this.

