Editing Pseudoscience (section)

===Education and scientific literacy===
There is a trend to believe in pseudoscience more than [[scientific evidence]].<ref name="Matute2015">{{cite journal|vauthors=Matute H, Blanco F, Yarritu I, Díaz-Lago M, Vadillo MA, Barberia I|title=Illusions of causality: how they bias our everyday thinking and how they could be reduced|journal=Frontiers in Psychology|volume=6|pages=888|year=2015|pmid=26191014|pmc=4488611|doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00888|doi-access=free}}</ref> Some people believe the prevalence of pseudoscientific beliefs is due to widespread [[scientific illiteracy]].<ref name="xLASt">{{cite web|last=Lack|first=Caleb|work=Great Plains Skeptic|publisher=Skeptic Ink Network|url=http://www.skepticink.com/gps/2013/10/10/what-does-scientific-literacy-look-like-in-the-21st-century/|title=What does Scientific Literacy look like in the 21st Century?|date=10 October 2013|access-date=9 April 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413130541/http://www.skepticink.com/gps/2013/10/10/what-does-scientific-literacy-look-like-in-the-21st-century/|archive-date=13 April 2014}}</ref> Individuals lacking scientific literacy are more susceptible to wishful thinking, since they are likely to turn to immediate gratification powered by System 1, our default operating system which requires little to no effort. This system encourages one to [[confirmation bias|accept the conclusions they believe]], and reject the ones they do not. Further analysis of complex pseudoscientific phenomena require System 2, which follows rules, compares objects along multiple dimensions and weighs options. These two systems have several other differences which are further discussed in the [[Dual process theory|dual-process theory]].<ref name="aoPN2">{{cite journal|last1=Evans|first1=Jonathan St. B. T.|title=In two minds: dual-process accounts of reasoning|journal=Trends in Cognitive Sciences|year=2003|volume=7|issue=10|pages=454–459|doi=10.1016/j.tics.2003.08.012|pmid=14550493|s2cid=12508462|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364661303002250|access-date=15 October 2020|archive-date=21 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181121191442/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364661303002250|url-status=live}}</ref> The scientific and secular systems of morality and meaning are generally unsatisfying to most people.<!-- <ref name="Shermer"/> --> Humans are, by nature, a forward-minded species pursuing greater avenues of happiness and satisfaction, but we are all too frequently willing to grasp at unrealistic promises of a better life.<ref name="Shermer">{{cite book|first1=Michael|last1=Shermer|first2=Steven J.|last2=Gould|author-link1=Michael Shermer|author-link2=Stephen Jay Gould|year=2002|title=Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time|publisher=Holt Paperbacks|location=New York|isbn=978-0-8050-7089-7|title-link=Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time}}</ref>

Psychology has much to discuss about pseudoscience thinking, as it is the illusory perceptions of causality and effectiveness of numerous individuals that needs to be illuminated.<!-- <ref name="Matute"/> --> Research suggests that illusionary thinking happens in most people when exposed to certain circumstances such as reading a book, an advertisement or the testimony of others are the basis of pseudoscience beliefs.<!-- <ref name="Matute"/> --> It is assumed that illusions are not unusual, and given the right conditions, illusions are able to occur systematically even in normal emotional situations.<!-- <ref name="Matute"/> --> One of the things pseudoscience believers quibble most about is that academic science usually treats them as fools.<!-- <ref name="Matute"/> --> Minimizing these illusions in the real world is not simple.<ref name="Matute"/> To this aim, designing evidence-based educational programs can be effective to help people identify and reduce their own illusions.<ref name="Matute">{{cite journal|vauthors=Matute H, Yarritu I, Vadillo MA|title=Illusions of causality at the heart of pseudoscience|journal=British Journal of Psychology|volume=102|issue=3|pages=392–405|year=2011|pmid=21751996|doi=10.1348/000712610X532210|citeseerx=10.1.1.298.3070}}</ref>