What does it mean to be skeptical in science?
In science, being skeptical does not mean doubting the validity of everything, nor does it mean being cynical. Rather, to be skeptical is to judge the validity of a claim based on objective empirical evidence.
What should behaviour analysts do about non-behavioral practices?
Behavior analysts should do more than avoid or ignore what they consider to be non-behavior-analytic practices.
Can human behavior be understood from a natural science perspective?
As a defense, Biklen has suggested that the methods employed in the contradictory studies are predicated on the assumption that human behavior can be understood from a natural science perspective, and that traditional scientific standards of evidence are merely a social construction (Jacobson et al., 1995). In whose plane would you rather fly?
What is the most persuasive argument against evidence-based practice?
Perhaps the most persuasive argument against evidence-based practice in its present form comes from physician Kimball Atwood (2008) and his colleagues at their superb blog, Science-Based Medicine. As they observe, evidence-based medicine relies too heavily on the results of controlled trials, and not sufficiently on theoretical plausibility.
What did AA do to help other alcoholics?
As Alcoholics Anonymous grew, hospitals began creating “alcoholism wards,” where patients detoxed but were given no other medical treatment. Instead, AA members—who, as part of the 12 steps, pledge to help other alcoholics—appeared at bedsides and invited the newly sober to meetings.
When did quacks work in medicine?
A 2012 report by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University compared the current state of addiction medicine to general medicine in the early 1900s, when quacks worked alongside graduates of leading medical schools.
Does alcohol affect the nervous system?
Among other effects, alcohol increases the amount of GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid), a chemical that slows down activity in the nervous system, and decreases the flow of glutamate, which activates the nervous system. (This is why drinking can make you relax, shed inhibitions, and forget your worries.)
How does evidence based practice affect the effectiveness of a treatment?
By constraining clinical selections to interventions that at least have some modicum of research support, evidence-based practice increases the chances that clients will receive treatments that work, and decreases the chances that clients will be exposed to interventions that are ineffective or that can cause harm.
What are the advantages of evidence based medicine?
Indeed, one of the major advantages of evidence-based practice is that like all good science, it is in principle self-correcting. As better treatments become available, they will eventually displace less effective ones. Crucially, by sorting the wheat from the chaff, evidence-based practice can also tell us which treatments are extremely unlikely ...
What is evidence based practice?
Specifically, evidence-based practice, like its predecessor of evidence-based medicine, is traditionally conceptualized as a three-legged stool. Specifically, evidence-based practice attempts to integrate (1) the best available research evidence bearing on the efficacy (how well treatments work in rigorous controlled trials) and effectiveness ...
Is evidence based practice a panacea?
No serious scholar believes that evidence-based practice is a panacea. Nevertheless, it is an essential and long-overdue step in the right direction, because it reduces – although of course does not and probably cannot eliminate – errors in clinical inference. By constraining clinical selections to interventions that at least have some modicum ...
Who conducted the experiment in which they asked their subjects to read simple arguments about politically fraught topics such as the death penalty
A couple of decades ago, the psychologists Kari Edwards and Edward Smith conducted an experiment in which they asked their subjects to read simple arguments about politically fraught topics such as the death penalty. They then invited these people to produce further arguments and counterarguments.
Is motivated reasoning a special power?
But we are all also capable of doubting what we want to doubt, and studies have found that motivated reasoning has a special power when it takes the form of doubt.
Is skepticism a good thing?
And if we want to think clearly about the world, skepticism is a good thing. But it’s possible to have too much of a good thing. Indiscriminate belief is worrying, but indiscriminate doubt can be even worse.