vaccines

dunning kruger and anti-vax — The term “Dunning-Kruger” is a reference to a cognitive bias. This is where people who know next to nothing on some topic truly believe that the little they do know makes them an expert and grants them the mantle of “expert”. It’s not about bluster or pretense, they truly believe […]

Dunning-Kruger update – Anti-Vax folks think they know more than doctors

This entry was posted in psychology and tagged anti-vax Dunning–Kruger vaccines on August 22, 2018 by Dave

fake news — Before we dip into the context of Fake News, let’s first cover the basics. The vaccine concept is generally known but let’s repeat it anyway for completeness. A vaccine involves being exposed to a variation of a pathogen that will not actually harm you. That then stimulates your immune system into […]

Is it possible to vaccinate against Fake News?

This entry was posted in Fake News psychology society and tagged fake news inoculation theory john cook vaccines on April 18, 2018 by Dave

science denial — A new paper has been published within the Personality and Social Psychology bulletin entitled … Not All Skepticism Is Equal: Exploring the Ideological Antecedents of Science Acceptance and Rejection We report three studies—including an analysis of large-scale survey data—in which we systematically investigate the ideological antecedents of general faith in […]

Exploring Science Denial – New study published

This entry was posted in Critical Thinking People science Skepticism society and tagged Climate Change Critical Thinking GMO Pseudoscience science denial vaccines on December 16, 2017 by Dave

anti-vaccine — Vaccination not only works, but it works well. Smallpox is gone, and Polio, Tetanus, and Measles, have all been greatly restricted. Nobody would seriously advocate a return to the 18th century, a time when as many as 400,000 europeans died each and every year of smallpox alone, and yet the […]

Anti-vaccine rates may finally be declining

This entry was posted in news science society and tagged anti-vaccine Autism Measles vaccine rates vaccines on December 5, 2017 by Dave

vaccine denial — Meet Dene Shulze-Alva and her daughter Sage, age 5. The above is a picture of her that was highlighted within an NPR article about vaccine denial. The backstory here is that she is a hardcore vaccine denialist who has not only refused to have her daughter vaccinated, but takes time out […]

What should you do what faced with hardcore vaccine denial?

This entry was posted in Health Medicine People Skepticism society and tagged Autism vaccines on September 27, 2017 by Dave

Measles Vaccine — When we started vaccinating for measles back in the 1960s it had the intended effect; the decline and obliteration of Measles. We might think of it as a harmless childhood illness, but its eradication is truly a big deal. The prognosis for measles is that complications such as bronchitis, sensorineural hearing loss, and panencephalitis (which is fatal), […]

50-Year-Old Mystery About The Measles Vaccine solved

This entry was posted in biology Medicine science and tagged healthcare Measles Measles Vaccine vaccines on September 22, 2017 by Dave