The seductive allure of neuroscience explanations
Weisberg, Keil, Goodstein, Rawson and Gray, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 20(3), 2008, 470-477. Naive adults, students and experts read short descriptions of psychological phenomena that varied in explanation quality and in whether they included irrelevant neuroscience. All groups preferred good explanations. Nonexperts also rated logically flawed explanations as satisfying when they contained neuroscience, which masked the flaw. Experts confirmed that the neuroscience content was irrelevant.
Weisberg, Keil, Goodstein, Rawson and Gray, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 20(3), 2008, 470-477. Naive adults, students and experts read short descriptions of psychological phenomena that varied in explanation quality and in whether they included irrelevant neuroscience. All groups preferred good explanations. Nonexperts also rated logically flawed explanations as satisfying when they contained neuroscience, which masked the flaw. Experts confirmed that the neuroscience content was irrelevant.
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Weisberg, D. S., Keil, F. C., Goodstein, J., Rawson, E., & Gray, J. R. (2008). The seductive allure of neuroscience explanations. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 20(3), 470-477. doi:10.1162/jocn.2008.20.3.470 https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn.2008.20.3.470