There’s an intriguing phenomenon called the IKEA effect and the scientific paper that named it begins with a related story. When instant cake mixes appeared on the market in the 1950s, housewives...
Pfizer and BioNTech’s RNA vaccine against COVID-19 has just been authorized by Health Canada. There will be many Internet whispers, half-truths and lies about how it works and how safe it is, so...
As we sift through more information than ever before, I would argue it’s becoming easier to commit an error in thinking known as the Texas sharpshooter fallacy. Imagine the stereotype of a Texan...
People have been asking about a video by anti-vaxxer Del Bigtree who claims that the COVID-19 vaccines have not been properly tested, made animals deathly ill in trials, and are ineffective and...
Public health measures during a pandemic (like lockdowns and mask mandates) can make some people uneasy. One argument that seems to underlie this anxiety is “masks now, government surveillance via...
There is a man on the Internet known for satirizing wellness trends who was recently censored on YouTube for spreading unfounded conspiracy theories. JP Sears made a name for himself by gently...
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization announced that COVID-19 could be “characterized as a pandemic,” meaning that this new disease was now spreading all over the world. One day, we will...
If the year 2020 can be thought of as a massive, uncontrolled experiment in psychology, I hope one of the takeaways is that confirmation bias is, unfortunately, alive and well. When it comes to...