Fix It Dr. Violet Wants to Teach His Introduction to Psychology Students

Essay

Fix It
Dr. Violet wants to teach his Introduction to Psychology students a lesson on the importance of science in psychology. He begins the semester by asking them if they have heard of "Shango." Shango, he explains, is a juice that contains mangosteen fruit, which are rich in xanthones. He recently began drinking six ounces of the juice each day based on a television ad he saw that describe its anti-inflammatory and antiviral properties. Every couple of weeks Dr. Violet tells his class he's feeling better than ever and has not gotten sick yet this semester so the Shango is definitely doing its job. At the end of the semester Dr. Violet asks his students if they would be interested in trying Shango for themselves. Sixty of his 75 students are interested. He gives them the information on how to order the product. The next day he reviews hypothesis testing. The hypothesis he uses as an example in class is "Shango prevents colds." He puts students into groups of five to develop a research plan to test the hypothesis.
Discuss what the students probably came up with during this exercise. Do you think most of the students still wanted to try Shango? Discuss why.