The illusion of credibility: How the pseudosciences appear scientific

Abstract

The pseudosciences often bear a striking resemblance to the sciences. Using a mimicry account as a framework, this paper investigates how the appearance of social media posts influences people’s perception of the content of such posts as scientific. We present the results of two empiri- cal studies. The first, preparatory study identifies typical characteristics of “scientificness” in social media posts to inform feature manipulations for the main study. The main study then examines what happens if the features are systematically manipulated. The findings support the hypothesis that pseudoscientific digital content benefits from using features of scientificness. We discuss implications for understanding the appeal and persistence of pseudoscience.

Author Profiles

Claus Beisbart
University of Bern
David Joachim Grüning
Heidelberg University
Kevin Reuter
University of Zürich

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Added to PP
2025-02-04

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