2 ms·
> Words would be redefined. Conclusions overstated or over applied. Even neuroscience has a hearty helping of this. The data itself is one thing, but what it's
by _delirium 11y ago
> Words would be redefined. Conclusions overstated or over applied.
Even neuroscience has a hearty helping of this. The data itself is one thing, but what it's sold as showing is quite another. For example if you read a claim that neuroscience has discovered something about "addiction", "free will", "motivation", "friendship", "love", etc., dig into how they've chosen to define those terms for the purpose of the study.
There's often a bit of concept-laundering going on, where a common term is defined using a very narrow (and often conveniently chosen) definition to show a result, but then the implications of that result are discussed with reference to the original, more general sense of the term. News articles about neuroscience are the worst, of course, but even quite a few scientists themselves do this.