Addressing misconceptions about psychological science

After more than 50 years of the establishment of psychological teaching in Indonesia, public understandings of the specific contributions that can and cannot be expected from psychology as a science are still scarcely rare. College students are typically involved as agent of change in many societal events in Indonesia, therefore it is crucial for them to be more psychologically literate.

“Addressing misconceptions about psychological science” event in the form of general lecture and poster exhibition is expected to facilitate participants to explore issues related to pseudoscientific practices, acknowledge the importance of science communicators, curb terminological misinformation and confusion related to the area of psychology, distinguish psychological science from psychological scientists, understand the importance of philosophy of mind and biological basis of behaviour and mental processes, recognise the power of social media platforms, and incorporate critical reading to news reports with a science component.

Acknowledgement

• Funding for this event is provided by the Association for Psychological Science (APS) Fund for Teaching and Public Understanding of Psychological Science.

Invited speakers

• Wahyu Wicaksono, Ph.D. (philosophy of mind), presentation on the origins and basic features of pseudoscience.

• Bima Pusaka Semedhi,S.Psi. (sport psychologist and regional basketball coach), presentation on pseudoscience in the contexts of sport and health.

Poster performers

Student’s exhibited posters consisted of a vast variety of topics capturing local pseudoscientific practices and therapies e.g., Acupuncture for Mental Disorder, Aromatherapy, Astrology, Attachment Therapy, Brain Gym, Brain Lateralism, Brain Wave Therapy, Conversion Therapy, Convulsion Therapy, Crystal Healing, ECT (Electro Convulsive Therapy), EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing), Energy Healing, Equine Assisted Therapy (EAT), Fingerprint-Based Mental Evaluation, Graphology, Homeopathy, Hypnotherapy, Meditation, Midbrain Therapy, Mozart Effect, NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programme), Primal Therapy, Psychodrama, Quantum Therapy, RMT (Recovered-Memory Therapy), Ruqyah, Spiritual Therapy, Supernatural, and Tarot Reading (total 42 posters).

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Further readings

• Hamilton, S. & Hamilton, T. J. (2015). Pedagogical tools to explore Cartesian mind-body dualism in the classroom: Philosophical arguments and neuroscience illusions. Frontiers in Psychology, 6:1155.
• Lilienfeld, S. O. (2011, June 13). Public skepticism of Psychology: Why many people perceive the study of human behavior as unscientific. American Psychologist.
• Lilienfeld, S. O., Lynn, S. J., &Lohr, J. M. (Eds.). (2003). Science and pseudoscience in clinical psychology. New York: Guilford Press.
• Lilienfeld, S. O., Sauvigné, K. C., Lynn, S. J, Cautin, R. L.,Latzman, R. D., & Waldman, I. D. (2015). Fifty psychological and psychiatric terms to avoid: A list of inaccurate, misleading, misused, ambiguous, and logically confused words and phrases. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1100.
• Yusainy, C. (2015). Quo vadis Psikologi sebagai sebuah kajian ilmiah? Buletin Psikologi Fakultas Psikologi Universitas Gadjah Mada, 23(1), 51-56.