Baggage Check: Mindgames

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Dr. Andrea Bonior dives into the world of psychology.

IN NEUROTRANSMITTERS WE TRUST: New research says that simply throwing in fancy language about brain anatomy can make people more likely to believe faulty logic.

In a recent study, participants were presented a series of explanations for various psychological phenomena. While some of the explanations were scientifically sound, others exhibited circular logic and held about as much water as an incontinent Rottweiler. Generally, people were able to distinguish between the sound and unsound explanations. But when a mention of the physical brain was tossed in, even if it was utterly irrelevant, participants (especially those with no training in psychology or neuroscience) ate the bad explanations right up!

Of course, this brings out mixed feelings in me. As a psychologist, I do love, like a good Brie, a nice chat about the amygdala. And I don't tend to find it far-fetched that those mischievious little neurons contribute to my love of certain hair-band ballads.

But the scary part of this study is that it shows how easy it is for us to buy nonsensical ideas, especially if they use high-falutin' (the scientific term) language we know nothing about. Like my trying to understand why the mechanic is charging me $481 to pass my car for inspection (when the real explanation seems closer to "because he can"), it's often too easy to be persuaded when we think we're in over our heads. But that shouldn't mean we should surrender to malarkey.

So, from someone who spent more time than she'd care to recollect learning about the parietal lobe, take it from me — don't let faulty science fool you. (I think the prefrontal cortex would agree.)

Talk back to Dr. Andrea by leaving a comment below. To ask a question for Baggage Check in the Express print edition, e-mail baggage@readexpress.com or submit an anonymous question here.