What does education really do? Educational dimensions and pseudoscience support in the American general public, 1979-2001

A study using national survey data over twenty-three years and examining four pseudoscience topics untangles some seeming conundrums about the relationship between education levels and belief in pseudoscience. It identifies more precisely just which aspects of education influence pseudoscience beliefs.

In Great Falls, Montana, Libertarian Senate candidate Stan Jones turned blue from drinking a silver solution that he believed would protect him from disease. In 1999, Jones, a 63-year-old business consultant and part-time college instructor, began drinking colloidal silver because he feared that millennium disruptions might create an antibiotics shortage.

Adapted from the Associated Press, October 2, 2002: "Candidate's Skin Blue After Drink!"

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER readers need no introduction to the perils of pseudoscience. Here, we define pseudoscience beliefs as cognitions about material phenomena that claim to be "science," yet use nonscientific evidentiary processes. Rather than control groups or hypothesis testing, pseudoscience practitioners employ authoritative assertion (such as scripture), anecdote (ersatz "cures"), compelling stories (alien abduction), or unelaborated "natural" causes (planet positions). Although following one's horoscope or using lucky numbers to choose a lottery ticket can be fun, pseudoscience is also rife with ineffective or hazardous untested "cures," costly psychic hotlines, or a fatalistic reliance on luck. Thus, factors promoting support or rejection of pseudoscience have received serious study.

Of these, education has been studied the most. A major expected consequence of formal education, especially college, is intellectual sophistication, both in factual knowledge and skillful evaluation of information. Yet pseudoscience belief relates to level of formal education or degree attainment (the most typical uses of the term "education") in complex and inconsistent ways. Ray Eve and his colleagues (1995) found that New Age devotees can be quite well educated. When he reviewed national surveys, Erich Goode (2002) found that traditional ersatz science beliefs, especially those about Biblical creationism, declined with formal education, although other beliefs, such as time travel or alien visitation, did not consistently do so. Even science knowledge among undergraduates poorly predicted "more modern" pseudoscience beliefs.

We untangle some of these conundrums by refining what it is that educational level does to influence pseudoscience acceptance. Using more than two decades of representative national surveys of American adults, we examine four different pseudoscience topics and several educational dimensions. In the process, we identify more precisely just which aspects of education affect pseudoscience belief.

The Trouble with "Educational Level"

Confusion about how education affects pseudoscience belief occurs partly because the concept level of education consists of more dimensions than knowledge or skill attainment, the typical loci in studies of science literacy and pseudoscience support. When everyone studied is a college undergraduate, of course, educational level hardly varies. Among non-student adults, educational level may represent social class or relate to other factors such as age or gender, which could also influence acceptance of pseudoscience. Adults with higher levels of education have more exposure to science courses or may be more favorable toward science.

Pseudoscience belief may be affected by these related factors as well as by pedagogical experiences. Goode (2002), for example, identifies traditional religiosity as influencing susceptibility to Biblical creationism appeals; most American researchers also report finding that women or those less educated are more traditionally religious. Partly because those born after World War II are more likely to have attended college than those born earlier, and partly because different generations have unique experiences, in any one year, age could predict pseudoscience belief. Adults maturing in the 1960s became familiar with space exploration; teens in the 1990s saw animal cloning and recombinant DNA become reality. Age intertwines with generation, and so time itself should be considered. Moreover, America's educational average rose over time, science may be taught differently now, due to studies such as the Third International Mathematics and Science Studies (TIMSS) or endeavors such as the American Association for the Advancement of Science's Project 2061, and specific ersatz science beliefs may rise or fall in popularity. Thus, the effects of educational level on pseudoscience belief may decrease when factors such as time, age, and gender are controlled. Second, something directly related to educational experience could be important. Individuals who have elected more science courses may more easily distinguish between science and pseudoscience. College science majors may distinguish more rigorously than those trained in other fields. Finally, intellectual "products" of education, such as basic knowledge, may affect pseudoscience support, especially for "traditional" ersatz science such as astrology. Traditional religiosity generally declines with education level, while appreciation of science rises.