Blinded By Non-Science: Trivial ‘Scientific’ Information Increases Trust In Medical Products

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Beware of distracting graphs and other trivial figures when assessing the merits of a health product, warns new research from Cornell University.

Published this week in Public Understanding of Science, the Cornell study found that trivial graphs or formulas accompanying medical information can lead consumers to falsely believe products are more effective.

“Your faith in science may actually make you more likely to trust information that appears scientific but really doesn’t tell you much,” said lead author Dr. Aner Tal, post-doctoral researcher at the Cornell Food and Brand Lab. “Anything that looks scientific can make information you read a lot more convincing.”

Charts like the one displayed above increase consumers' trust in medical products, even if the information they contain is completely trivial.

Consumers, beware!

The study showed that when a graph — with no new information — was added to the description of a medication, 96.6 percent of people believed that the medicines were effective in reducing illness verses 67.7 percent of people who were shown the product information without the graph.

“Even those with professed faith in science were more likely to be swayed by trivial scientific looking product information,” said Dr. Tal. “In fact, the more people believed in science, the more they were convinced by the graphs.”

“What this means is that when you read claims about new products, whether it’s a medication or a new technology, you should ask yourself, ‘where does this information come from?’, ‘what’s the basis for the claims being made?’ Don’t let things that look scientific but don’t really tell you much fool you,” said Dr. Tal. “Sometimes a graph is just a graph!”