What is Pseudoscience?

The term pseudoscience can be applied to any information masquerading as science. The fakery may be obvious, as in the case of supermarket tabloids, or much more subtle, and potentially harmful, as is the case when well-known personalities recommend unproven remedies for serious medical conditions.

What are some signs that can alert us to the presence of pseudoscience?

  1. Scientific-sounding language. The language of science is a special language that is recognizable and authoritative. Many scientific words have been popularized by the media - words such as "coenzyme," "anti-oxidant," and "free-radical." When this language is used, credibility is automatically granted to what is being claimed, regardless of the validity or context of the claim.
  2. Use of testimonials or endorsements. Where science uses data to support claims, pseudoscience frequently relies on endorsements. These are often made by so-called "professionals," and most of us do not take the time to research who these individuals are, where they trained, and in what field they received their degrees - if, in fact, they received them! Other popular endorsers are actors, prominent sports figures, and "just plain folks."
  3. Claims are taken out of context. Pseudoscience frequently "borrows" the proven claims of legitimate science and applies them inappropriately to new situations. For example, it has been shown that anti-oxidants work to destroy free radicals in the body. Because of this, large numbers of people were enticed to take vitamin E as a protection against the damage caused by free radicals, even though there was no proof that this was the case. Recent studies have shown that no such protection exists in the body, and, in fact, the ingestion of excess vitamin E may be harmful (March 3, 2005 NEJM).
  4. Lack of critical review by persons knowledgeable in the field. This is also called peer review, and it is a cornerstone of good science. Before a study is published it must be read and approved for publication by other scientists who are knowledgeable in the field. Questionable study methods, data collection, or interpretation lead to rejection of a paper for publication. Peer review is a method devised by science to keep scientists honest.
  5. Lack of reproducibility. Science is a group endeavor. Scientists publish their work. They share their methods, because new discoveries require consensus before being provisionally accepted as valid. After publication, other scientists will attempt to duplicate the findings; if they cannot be duplicated, the results are called into question. Pseudoscientists will often cite the results of a single, poorly designed study as proof of the validity of a particular claim.
  6. Claims that scientists are "close minded." Although pseudoscientists are happy to borrow the language of science, they stop short of adopting the methods of science. With no legitimate proof that what they claim is valid, these charlatans are forced to attack the very establishment they pretend to represent.
  7. Claims that "doctors don't want you to know about these cures." It is human nature to search for explanations. From attempting to explain events that occur in everyday life to invoking the "everything happens for a reason" card, explanations make people feel secure in the fact that there is order in the world. When an individual can devise no rational explanation for an event (because the event is truly random), the allure of a more convoluted (but less likely) scenario is often too powerful to resist. The conspiracy theory is the result of such thinking, and it satisfies the need for order. To borrow a phrase from the popular TV show The X-files, "The truth is out there." Why can't we know it? Because a group (often a government group or a particular ethnic group, even a particular group of professionals) is hiding it from us.