Helena Matute holds a PhD in Psychology and is currently a full professor of Psychology at the University of Deusto (Bilbao, Spain), where she is the Director of the Experimental Psychology Laboratory. She has worked as invited researcher at the universities of Minnesota (USA), Gent (Belgium), Sydney (Australia) and Queensland (Australia). Her research interests include associative learning, causal learning, causal illusions and cognitive biases.
Alternative medicine is often promoted on the argument that it can do no harm. Even though its advocates are aware that its effectiveness has not been scientifically demonstrated, they do believe that it is harmless and therefore it should be used. “If not alone, you should at least use it in combination with evidence-based treatments” […]
The illusion of control rests at the heart of superstitious and pseudoscientific beliefs. It is a belief that we are controlling events which are actually occurring independently of our behavior. This is a very common illusion that occurs in most people, particularly when desired events occur frequently though uncontrollably. Examples abound not only in real […]
Imagine you are invited to a demonstration at the local shopping center. You are shown a new product, a little ring made of a very special material that has been developed in a highly regarded research center. The scientists who are describing the ring provide all types of information and answer your questions convincingly and […]