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Number 4/2008
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Yet another hoax
Grzegorz Gustaw
Institute of Psychology
Jagiellonian University
Krzysztof Brocławik
National-Louis University
Abstract |
The commentary presents a critical view of the project set up by a Polish psychologist in order to, among other things,
call public attention to certain issues related to pseudoscience. We took a closer look into the author's actions
in order to answer the question: was another hoax really necessary? Our reply is: no. In this paper, we explain
why it was redundant and even harmful. We also suggest an alternative method of achieving the author's goals.
Besides, we focus on negative aspects of the project: unnecessarily violating ethics, employing an erroneous methodology,
acting for personal reasons, attacking colleagues during public discussions and performing an unfounded critique of scientific methodology
applied in modern psychology. All of the above could possibly result in a decrease of people's trust in academic psychology
which could even lead patients to attend a shaman instead of a professional psychotherapist.
Key words: hoax, methodology, ethics, popular science, psychology, psychotherapy, shaman, discussion
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