The Allure of Woo: How Self-Help Drifts Away from Science | Being Well

@RickHanson and I explore how well-intentioned self-help advice can drift away from science under the incentives of the attention economy, where overclaiming, alarmist framing, and “this one simple trick” outperforms nuance. We talk about how authority gets manufactured, how the algorithm encourages overclaiming, and how “theories of everything” lead to misinformation. We also spar a bit over whether seemingly harmless pseudoscientific practices can create a slippery slope, lowering the importance of material evidence and acting as an on-ramp to more consequential misinformation.

Key Topics:
0:00 Introduction
2:20 The attention economy
9:00 The problems with clickbait
18:30 The risks of sprawling expertise
25:15 Modality capture: when all you have is a hammer
27:15 Applying this to ADHD and trauma
39:22 Sponsor
41:07 If science changes, what can we trust?
44:00 How “fringe” can become mainstream
51:40 How do you decide what to trust?
1:07:30 The slippery slope of “woo”
1:13:00 What’s a better alternative?
1:22:41 Recap

I'm not a clinician, and what I say on this channel should not be taken as medical advice.

Sponsors:
Grab Huel today with my exclusive offer of 15% off online with my code BEINGWELL at https://www.huel.com/beingwell. New customers only.

Subscribe to Being Well on:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/being-well-with-dr-rick-hanson/id1120885936
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5d87ZU1XY0fpdYNSEwXLVQ

Who Am I: I'm Forrest, the co-author of Resilient (https://amzn.to/3iXLerD) and host of the Being Well Podcast (https://apple.co/38ufGG0). I'm making videos focused on simplifying psychology, mental health, and personal growth.

Subscribe to Rick on YouTube: http://youtube.com/@RickHanson?sub_confirmation=1
Get Rick's Free Newsletters: https://rickhanson.com/writings/newsletters-from-dr-rick-hanson/
Follow Rick Here:
🌍 https://rickhanson.com/
📸 https://www.instagram.com/rickhansonphd

You can follow me here:
🎤 https://apple.co/38ufGG0
🌍 https://www.forresthanson.com
📸 https://www.instagram.com/f.hanson

Видео The Allure of Woo: How Self-Help Drifts Away from Science | Being Well канала Forrest Hanson