Which of the following is the best definition of the term Pseudopsychology?
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Some examples of pseudo psychology are astrology, palmistry, graphology and phrenology. Pseudo psychology is sometimes associated with fraudulent practices, but by definition, pseudo psychology is simply an approach to psychology that does not follow the scientific method. Show
Because psychology is the science of the mind and behavior, it makes logical sense that psychological methods lacking scientific evidence would be disregarded. The best-known pseudo psychologies all make the unfounded suggestion that various external events or characteristics can affect or determine personality. Astrology, for example, maintains that the planetary alignment at the moment of birth has an effect on a person’s unique mindset and behavior. Similarly, palmistry, graphology and phrenology suggest that external traits, such as lines on the palm of the hand, handwriting and shape of the skull, can accurately reflect internal personality. Over time, modern science has disproved many of the claims made by pseudo psychologists, but some practices, such as astrology, remain popular. This is largely due to confirmation bias, wherein people tend to selectively search for and remember information that agrees with their original expectations, while contradictory data is forgotten. As long as pseudo psychologists provide some information that applies to all types of people in every horoscope or reading, it is easy for individuals to attribute the expected information to themselves, while ignoring the rest. Pseudo-psychology is a field that purports to be a branch of psychological study but for which the ideas either have not been empirically challenged or do not stand up to traditional scientific testing. Pseudo-psychology falls under the umbrella of pseudo-science. Signs that a field can be classified as pseudo-psychology include a heavy reliance on technology and the frequent use of technology rather than logic to justify claims. Questionable methods for obtaining data and reaching conclusions is another sign of a pseudo-science. Finally, reductionism or over-simplifying information or conclusions is also a red flag. Pseudo-psychology is a field that is often over-hyped by media outlets that use questionable or untested findings to justify a claim being made in news stories. True psychological study requires researchers to consider more than one avenue when determining answers; which generally leads to the expansion of information and ideas. Psychologists are frustrated by the trust the general public has in many pseudo-psychological fields. Phrenology is an example of a pseudo-psychological practice that linked the study of the bumps on the head to a person’s personality. Phrenology is considered a pseudo-science because it is based on a set of assumptions that are not only untested but untestable. “”You may say, 'Well, dragons don't exist'. It's, like, yes they do — the category predator and the category dragon are the same category. It absolutely exists. It's a superordinate category. It exists absolutely more than anything else. In fact, it really exists. What exists is not obvious. You say, 'Well, there's no such thing as witches.' Yeah, I know what you mean, but that isn't what you think when you go see a movie about them. You can't help but fall into these categories. There's no escape from them. —Jordan Peterson making a clear, concise statementJordan Bernt "Red Skull" Peterson (1962–) is a Canadian clinical psychologist, a retired University of Toronto psychology professor, and Ultracrepidarian par excellence. He has falsely claimed to be both an evolutionary biologist and a neuroscientist but he is neither. He has been regarded as a member of the informal Intellectual Dark Web, which has been described as a gateway into the alt-right. Peterson has authored or coauthored more than 90 peer-reviewed articles on clinical psychology, social psychology, and personality theory. However, Peterson is mostly known for his conservative views on religion, on trans issues, and on feminism, and for his incel- and MGTOW-heavy audience. Although Peterson frequently makes morally questionable claims and engages in pseudoscience, his statements are notoriously incoherent, ambiguous, and jargon-laden, sometimes rising above vacuousness to the level of deepity, which allows him to handwave criticism as mere misrepresentations of his babbling bullshit. This is ironic, as he criticises post-modernists for basically doing the same thing. Peterson has gained something of a following for his how to live your life guidance, which mostly consists of obvious common sense, recycled ideas by the stoics, and some fairly crummy bad advice. Despite promoting personal responsibility above all and telling others how to live well, he went on to abandon his very sick wife for a while to go to Russia to do a dangerous experimental medical procedure where he would get over his drug addiction by an induced coma, thereby avoiding the discomfort of withdrawal and waking up with the problem that was much more easily solved with less personal work to do. Clearly, this must tick all the boxes in his principles of personal responsibility and "How To Live Your Life To The Fullest", because he hasn't seemed to lose that many fans/readers. This perhaps says something about his fans. He is, selectively, very passionate about freedom of speech and ignorant of clear violations of freedom of speech, depending on whether it's his friends involved or a "regressive leftist". He also doesn't like it when people use those precious treasured free speech powers to say mean things about him, and he has threatened frivolous defamation lawsuits against some of those people. His own "free speech" platform, Thinkspot, will hide downvoted comments in the name of free speech, and you will have to pay a subscription to get some of that sweet free speech. Popularity[edit]As of July 2021, Peterson had over 3.8 million subscribers and 245 million views on YouTube, and 1.9 million followers on Twitter. When Peterson's Patreonearnings were last public on 21 October 2017, he had 6099 patrons and received $66,636.40 per month ($800k per year). If one assumes that his per-patron donations remained constant, then at his peak (9918 patrons), Peterson would receive an estimated $108k per month ($1.3m per year). On 15 January 2019, Peterson closed his Patreon account to protest of Patreon's ban of Sargon of Akkad, who had violated Patreon's guidelines against hate speech by insulting his alt-right critics with "faggot" and "nigger" in a bizarre attempt to turn the tables on them and who had been mass-reported for this by right-wingers. Peterson suggested forming a "free speech" Patreon alternative, possibly taking Bitcoins. Given how other previous "free speech" experiments such as 8chan, PewTube, and Gab turned out, what can possibly go wrong? On 13 January 2019, Peterson asserted that three million copies of his book 12 Rules for Life had been sold. If we assume each book sold for its Amazon price of ~$15, and that Peterson was paid a (low) royalty rate of 8%, this implies that Peterson received $3.6 million for 12 Rules for Life. Peterson was not active in public life for a while, as he was recovering from benzodiazepine addiction. He returned to the public eye in October of 2020. He got banned from Twitter on July 1st 2022 for deadnaming Elliot Page, and refused to remove it for a while, saying he would "rather die". He released an utterly unhinged rant on his YouTube channel addressing the ban, which was met with widespread mockery and led to the genesis of the "Up yours, woke moralists!" meme. Later, he removed the tweet to get the suspension lifted but reposted the tweet as a screenshot in a petty act of defiance. Around the same time, he started working with Ben Shapiro's outlet, The Daily Wire. The Twitter ban didn't last long; he was reinstated by Elon Musk along with a shitload of other fascists in November 2022 after Musk bought the company. Trans issues and rise to prominence[edit]Bill C-16[edit]Peterson rose to popularity mainly due to his public opposition to the Canadian government's Bill C-16, which added gender expression and gender identity to the list of protected groups in the Canadian Human Rights Act. Peterson opposed the bill because he claims it mandates compelled speech and thus violates freedom of speech. René J. Basque, head of the Canadian Bar Association, disagrees with this interpretation of the bill. At the Canadian Senate hearing of Bill C-16, Senator Ratna Omidvar asked Peterson how the bill's proponents could reconcile his objection to the bill and opposing gender-based discrimination. Peterson's response was:
Brenda Cossman, professor of law at the University of Toronto, has said Peterson is "fundamentally mischaracterizing" Bill C-16. Cossman asserted that C-16 is "not about criminalizing pronoun misuse" but instead an extension of Canada's human rights laws to trans status. However, according to Cossman the bill might allow for fines if a person does consistently mis-gender someone, thus it could effectively be a form of compelled speech. When a video was shown of him refusing to adhere to the law's requirements, the dean of the University of Toronto personally reprimanded him, saying that his pledge not to use preferred pronouns revealed discriminatory intentions and that he was undermining his ability to conduct essential components of his job as a faculty member. Peterson (allegedly) uses the preferred pronouns of his students; he just does not believe he should be required to. Federal funding denial[edit]In April 2017, Peterson's grant application for $399,625 over five years for his three graduate students' salary and tuition, payments for research subjects, and travel expenses was rejected by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). Peterson alleged that this denial is in retaliation for his statements against Bill C-16, "I think that [the controversy about Bill C-16] provided someone with a convenient opportunity to make their displeasure with what I'm doing known." In 2012, when Peterson's grant was approved for the last time by SSHRC, it was for the largest amount ever awarded to a psychologist. In response, Ezra Levant spearheaded an Indiegogo campaign to raise $73,325, the first year's worth of funding, within 30 days. The campaign reached its goal in one day. Reactionary fans[edit]Given that his objections to C-16 resonate with many people, including transphobic individuals, it is unsurprising that a lot of Peterson's fans are reactionaries. Such fans like and support Peterson for his opposition stance to the bill, but also due to his views on the psychological differences between men and women (which the sexist reactionaries all love), sympathetic views towards conservative values, being against "postmodernist neo-Marxism" and for defending Christianity. On more than one occasion, Peterson has retweeted fans of his who were discovered to be alt-right or neo-Nazis. Peterson has lectured extensively, often speaking to conservatives, on the need to reject both far left and far right views and in particular on the need to dismantle political tribalism, on the problems with the alt-right, and on his claim that liberals and conservatives need each other. Peterson once called MGTOWs "pathetic weasels", though he later apologized. Peterson's comments and the reaction to them (which often labelled Peterson transphobic and sought his no platforming) sparked a controversy that earned him significant media coverage. Additionally, Peterson is a self-described anti-Social Justice Warrior. In an interview with Joe Rogan, he congratulated himself for "monetizing SJW's", and brags that the more he is attacked by them, the more money he is given through Patreon. His popularity with the right has led him to be interviewed by a whole slew of notable anti-leftists, including Tara McCarthy, Sargon of Akkad, Stefan Molyneux, Dave Rubin, and Theryn Meyer. Peterson has also appeared on the H3 Podcast. Richard Spencer has said that he respects Peterson's work, and that they "share a lot of common ground and philosophical starting points." Spencer was eventually disappointed by Peterson. Lindsay Shepherd censure[edit]In November 2017, a brief clip featuring Peterson's views on gender-neutral pronouns during a classroom debate was used by Wilfrid Laurier University graduate student and teaching assistant Lindsay Shepherd in a seminar. This led her to be censured by the university for staying neutral and not "denouncing" Peterson's ideas, acting "transphobic" and creating a "toxic climate", while Peterson himself was compared to Hitler. The university's actions were heavily criticized. In light of this, the professor and administration both apologized for their actions. Peterson wearing a trilby, ackshually “91% of those who view my videos are male. Why? Why so few women?”—Jordan Peterson, devoid of self-awareness “”I don't see any regulating force for that, that terrible femininity. And it seems to be invading the culture and undermining the, the masculine power of the culture in a way that's, I think, fatal, I really do believe that. —Jordan Peterson, femme fatale foePeterson holds socially conservative views on sex, gender, and marriage. Peterson usually justifies these views by claiming that he's opposing Cultural Marxists, that they're essential to a shared Western narrative, or that he's just really worried about it, ok? Women in the workplace[edit]—Jordan Peterson, infant craver by proxyPeterson thinks the primary desire of professional women is to be mothers by age 30. Peterson has stated that "there is something that isn't quite right in the way they are constituted or looking at the world" regarding women who don't make having children their primary desire by age 30 and that women who don't have children are "isolated" and "miserable" in the latter half of their lives. Given his belief that women should be mothers, it makes sense that Peterson believes that current "gender antipathy" may be due to the birth control pill and is unable to distinguish correlation from causation:
It'll be interesting to see what Peterson thinks of women who have PCOS (testosterone and estrogen imbalance) and have to be on the pill. Of course, Peterson may not see a need for birth control pills because he appears to believe that men and women cannot work together. For example, in an interview with Vice News, Peterson JAQed off about whether men and women can work together in the workplace. and asserted that women who don't want to be sexually harassed but wear makeup are "hypocritical". Marriage and divorce[edit]—Jordan Peterson, not a marriage counselorPeterson likes strong marriages. In fact, Peterson describes marriage's benefits primarily in terms of mutual co-improvement — working on each other's flaws because neither partner can escape. This leads to worrying implications in terms of divorce:
Of course, modern Western societies miraculously maintain the highest recorded divorce rates and lowest recorded marriage rates at the same time as the lowest recorded crime rates and highest recorded education rates. Truly, we can only learn to be our best selves when "shackled" to someone for life. Consent[edit]“”That's part of the complexity of unregulated individual sexual behavior. It's like, well, when you say 'yes' do you fully say yes? Well, what do you mean 'fully say yes'? And what does it even mean to fully say yes? —Jordan Peterson, consent understanderUnsurprisingly, given his views on marriage, Peterson has an antiquated view on consent within (and without) marriages. Discussing the 2017 #MeToo wave of sexual assault allegations, Peterson offered the following insights:
Peterson doesn't quite justify marital rape. Quite. And for those outside of marriage, Peterson maintains "we have no idea" how to reduce rapes:
It's worth noting that Peterson has been accused of sexual assault three (!) times, by his own admission:
We're certainly glad that Peterson wasn't entertained by his sexual assault allegations. Violence and women[edit]“”# 2 of questions to get crucified for asking: Do feminists avoid criticizing Islam because they unconsciously long for masculine dominance? —Jordan Peterson, open-minded feminism understander“”Throughout history, some men have justified their domination of women by simultaneously relishing and deploring an image of the dangerous and transgressive female, whose largely imaginary crimes, sexual promiscuity (with the uncomfortable question marks this poses over any child's paternity) and irresponsible drunkenness demonstrate the need for tight male control. —Mary Beard, SPQR: A History of Ancient RomePeterson has claimed that men can't control "crazy women" because using physical violence against women is socially unacceptable:
Indeed, the subject of violence is disturbingly central to his worldview. He goes so far as to view those who wouldn't resort to violence with utter contempt:
He also believes that feminists don't speak out against human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia due to an "unconscious wish for brutal male domination". Apparently, feminists in the West so urgently desire male domination that they have made violence against women socially unacceptable. Right. Also, he doesn't seem to realize that third-wave feminism is a thing, and feminists have spoken very much against human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia by creating awareness of such things in the first place. He can easily do a Google search of feminists that work in Saudi Arabia and discover that some were arrested for their jobs. Systemic barrier denier[edit]“”The idea that women were oppressed throughout history is an appalling theory. —Jordan Peterson, history understanderPeterson also believes that women aren't systemically held back. He states that it's wrong to ask why women are underrepresented in the C-suite (top corporate titles: CEO, CFO, etc.) compared to asking why men dominate that field. According to him, men dominate the field, despite more women graduating from university, because he thinks men, in general, are more obsessed with their career and are willing to work harder, all according to stereotype. From his interview with Cathy Newman, however, his claim underlies the thought that men seem to have more capacity and willingness to enter an extremely competitive field, at men's partial expense. At the same time, women are more involved in seeking a higher quality of life than devoting their life to such a draining career. This argument is rather simplistic and does not contradict the factor of entrenched gender roles and propagates stereotypes of men and women:
Heroine hater[edit]Peterson notoriously criticized the Disney animated film Frozen as being "reprehensible propaganda" for challenging traditional gender roles, being absolutely disgusted at the idea that a woman does not require men to succeed. In 2017, he wrote:
An academic review of his first book, Maps of Meaning noted Peterson's uncritical interpretation of a Jungian and hence pseudopsychological (and explicitly patriarchal) mythological framework, which portrays men through the archetypes like "the Hero" or the "Great Father" but portrays women as passive damsels in distress or through the archetype of the "Great and Terrible Mother". As the book doesn't speak of heroines or the archetype of the "Terrible Father", this was seen as a double standard. Professor Maxine Sheets-Johnstone writes:
Porn and sex ed opponent[edit]“”Intelligence and semen quality: listen up, girls… —Jordan Peterson on TwitterPeterson has spoken out against pornography, labelling it an "untrammeled social evil" even though by his own admission its introduction has been linked with a decrease in violent rape, and suggested that people should not masturbate to pornography because it is not a "noble pursuit". Peterson opposed a proposed sex education program in Ontario, claiming that a social constructionist view of gender identity was being "foisted on children" and that it is "a form of indoctrination" being pushed by radical leftists. Additionally, Peterson has criticized casual sex, claiming that it "is simply not commensurate with the demands of an advanced civilization". He has even JAQed off about whether casual sex could "necessitate state tyranny", claiming that "The missing responsibility has to be enforced somehow". There's also this lovely broadside against a writer for The Atlantic:
Gay marriage opponent[edit]Peterson has made statements on gay marriage that offer conditional support instead of fully welcoming it. He responded to a question stating that he would be against legalizing gay marriage if it was backed by "cultural Marxists" and that he's concerned about their "assault on traditional modes of being." He also states, "If the marital vows are taken seriously… it's a means whereby gay people could be integrated more thoroughly into standard society and that's probably a good thing." Finally, he states, "Those are my views. I know they're confused… because I'm in favor of extending the bounds of traditional relationships to people who wouldn't be involved in a traditional longer-term relationship but I'm concerned about the undermining of traditional modes of being…" However, either he, or his wife have supported effort to slow the progress of marriage equality in Canada:
The actual intent of the bill seems to have been to make adoption easier for same-sex couples. Ignoring real threats to academic freedom[edit]While Peterson claims to be inspired by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's political opposition to authoritarianism and refers to his own stance against enforced pronoun use as based on Solzhenitsyn's positions on the importance of students and universities in safeguarding freedom, he doesn't seem to be opposed to any contemporary threats to academic freedom of speech outside of trans rights. As well as the frivolous lawsuits he threatened against a few critics, another example of Peterson mainly using free speech for self-interest while lacking any knowledge of (or doesn't care for if the subjects are things he doesn't like) contemporary political events was especially on display when, while on a book tour in Hungary, Peterson met with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán who had already carried out an extended anti-semitic campaign to diminish Hungary's role in the Holocaust and demonize Jewish groups opposed to his authoritarianism, censoring any gender studies in Hungarian Universities as well as actually shutting down a University perceived to be critical of his policies using anti-semitic tropes and explicit Soros-themed conspiracies. While Peterson in the past appeared to have called Orbán an "authoritarian" and "dictator wannabe," the two positively discussed political correctness as a real threat according to Hungarian media which Peterson never contradicted or clarified when requested. Shortly after, while he didn't explicitly praise Orbán in an interview with Magyar Nemzet, Peterson characterized contemporary society as lacking a religious/metaphysical foundation and said that Orbán was attempting to provide that foundation in Hungary. Shortly after that, Orbán shut down the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
Following Orbán's demonization of immigrants as a means of gaining electoral success, Peterson also took the time to suggest that Islam was incompatible with democracy in the most ignorant way possible.
Opposition to Public Health Measures[edit]In January 2022, Peterson prepared for a return to public speaking with two opinion pieces in The National Post, one of the two national dailies in Canada. The first presented his decision to take early retirement and emeritus status from the University of Toronto as the result of persecution, and the second argued against attempts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic other than offering vaccines to those who want them and blamed the difficulties of life during the pandemic on public health measures rather than on a deadly, disabling disease which spreads rapidly through the air:
In this article, Peterson admired the lack of masks or social restrictions in Tennessee compared to the masks and restrictions in Quebec. He did not observe that people in Tennessee have been about twice as likely to die of COVID as people in Quebec, which is one of the hardest hit provinces in Canada. Peterson was scheduled to give a lecture Beyond Order on 2 March 2022 in Tennessee, whose government passed a law against private vaccine mandates in November 2021. Human rights denier[edit]“”Anything anyone else must supply cannot be a right. —Jordan Peterson, arguing against the right to healthcare, right to food, right to water, right to education, right to an attorney...The distinction between positive and negative is both an academic philosophical debate and a right-Libertarian or randdroid talking point against laws or policies which require anyone to do anything for anyone else ("I am not morally obliged to share my bread with a starving person because that would be a positive right, but they are morally obliged not to punch me in the face and take it because that is a negative right"). Anti-postmodernism[edit]Peterson does not like postmodernism, judging from the very reasonable number of videos he has produced on the subject. (In his book, Peterson praises Heidegger, who is sometimes described as the first postmodernist philosopher, which would therefore be ironic, sometimes.:348) Peterson also constantly abuses and misinterprets ideas by Nietzsche and Jung, both of whom he barely understands - but in typical JP fashion pretends to have some kind of deep understanding of, as well as that they wouldn't completely disagree with his Christianity-ridden worldview. Peterson believes that postmodernism is a severe threat to academic life. In this regard, he shares company with some generally more reasonable figures like Richard Dawkins, who criticized the influence of postmodernism in academia in 1998, and Steven Pinker, who considers it as part of an anti-intellectual pseudoscientific trend, claiming that "the humanities have yet to recover from the disaster of postmodernism, with its defiant obscurantism, dogmatic relativism, and suffocating political correctness." In contrast, other criticism of postmodernismtends to focus on its obscurity, rather than its omnipresence. For example, Noam Chomsky writes with frustration about the impregnability of the works of the French School of postmodernism:
Peterson maintains that the majority of the social sciences and humanities have been "corrupted" by postmodern ideology and thinks specific, more recent disciplines should never have existed in the first place:
To combat this alleged corruption, Peterson proposed creating a "postmodern lexicon detector”, which would allow students and parents to scan potential university courses and avoid the ones that are allegedly "ideological." Facing heavy criticism, he has since retracted this idea. His means of surveying the entirety of the social sciences and humanities to determine their corruption – including anthropology, archaeology, history, geography, political science, sociology, classics, English, comparative literature, music, visual arts, religious studies, and law – remains unknown. Peterson has associated postmodernism with the conspiracy theory of Cultural Marxism. He has produced multiple videos on Cultural Marxism, which he views as a threat to western civilization. Peterson supports the political repression of supposed Cultural Marxists – he accused professors at the Ontario Institute for the Studies of Education of being a "fifth column" for supposedly promoting Marxism, and stated that Institute educators "should be put on trial for treason." This is even though Peterson was, by his own admission, a "socialist" in his youth. Imperialism[edit]Early in his career Peterson emphasized that he was horrified by the atrocities of totalitarian regimes in the 20th century such as Stalin's USSR. He warned that seemingly harmless policies in Canada were on the slippery slope to dictatorship. In 2022, after Russia invaded Ukraine with stated goals of ending its existence as a state with an independent policy, Peterson started to repeat Russian talking points on the war such as: "We are now several months into the conflict with Russia. I say 'we' because we are all pretending here in the West that the real war is between Russia and Ukraine but ... if we ... provide full support for Ukraine then maybe the Russians, foolish and backwards as they are won't notice and we can simultaneously pretend that we aren't flirting with the prospect of a long, arduous and inconceivably destructive war." that that gender ideology may make the West 'degenerate, in a profoundly threatening manner' and that: “We can’t win against Vladimir Putin in any way because you cannot win against someone you cannot say ‘no’ to. Period. And we can’t say ‘no’ to Putin because we sold our soul for his oil and gas” In other words, resisting Nazi and Soviet imperialism in the past was righteous and justified, but resisting Russian and neofascist imperialism today is wicked and doomed. Just why Ukrainians must not resist Russian armies torturing and murdering them, but Canadians must resist requests to call someone by their preferred name or wear a mask in crowded indoor spaces during a respiratory pandemic, is not explained. Pseudoscience[edit]“”Spend half an hour on his website, sit through a few of his interminable videos, and you realize that what he has going for him, the niche he has found — he never seems to say "know" where he could instead say "cognizant of" — is that Jordan Peterson is the stupid man's smart person. —Tabatha SoutheyPeterson presents himself as a defender of science and criticizes poor methodology in fields like sociology. However, Peterson often makes non-scientific speculation and offers unfalsifiable opinions. Molecule-reading shamans and other DNA woo[edit]Fuxi (right) with his sister, Nüwa After reading The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledgeby Jeremy Narby (a book that hypothesizes that shamans may be able to access information at the molecular level through the ingestion of ayahuasca), Peterson came to believe that the double helix structure of the DNA molecule was being represented in the twin-snake motifs in ancient Egyptian, Chinese and Hindu art as well as in the symbol of the caduceus from ancient Greek mythology (which he mistakenly equated with the rod of Asclepius). Peterson's claims are not accepted by mainstream archaeologists; indeed, Peterson utterly fails to present a method through which humans could possess knowledge about molecular processes (on the other hand, humans can observe real live snakes mating, which would explain the inspiration of these images). When confronted about it, Peterson speculated that people might be able to have mysterious unexplained perceptions under certain conditions. Interestingly, the art he specifically references [Fuxi and Nuwa] does not include a double helix at all as the helices are not parallel as required to form a double helix, as well as the structure of DNA. If you want to enjoy the absurdity at length:
Peterson also stated in a lecture that the theory of evolution's reliance on copying errors to produce mutations is where the theory is "weak". In the same lecture, he stated that he thinks that "DNA is a very, very complex microcomputer… maybe it's a quantum computer". This claim is an old creationist canard and is considered by actual biologists to misrepresent how it actually works. Quantum woo[edit]Peterson has also dabbled in quantum mysticism. For example, in a debate with philosopher Ronald de Sousa.Peterson displayed both a tenuous grasp of quantum theory (which one might expect from a psychologist) and a willingness to knit buzzwords foreign to his subject into the fabric of an academic presentation (which one should avoid). In particular, Peterson claimed that quantum physics affirms his spiritual view of the world:
Quantum mechanics is only useful for explaining the mechanics of the universe at atomic or subatomic levels. As such, it cannot help Peterson explain anything about their field. Misunderstanding myths[edit]“”The story of Adam and Eve represents the fruit as producing a psychological transformation. So the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is an abstraction across trees, and it's trying to say: "Here's something that's common across trees, it's a fruit that's common across trees. The fruit that's common across trees is something that you might call food, fair enough. But here's something that's even more cool; food that's stable across the entire domain of food, isn't food, it's information. We use the same bloody circuits in our brain to forage for information that animals use to forage for information. Why is that? Because we figured out knowing where the food is, is more important than having the food. … That's why we're information foragers. In attempting to co-ordinate various mythologies, using Carl Jung's "archetype" psychological theory into a common narrative, Peterson runs the risk of baseless syncretism, especially as his primary concern is Christianity. For example, when describing Buddhist concepts in Maps of Meaning: the Architecture of Belief, he describes nirvana as "perfection". He equates it with the Christian idea of Heaven to draw parallels between the two belief systems.[citation needed] Some claim this reflects a but could be a problem of interpretation and conflicting theology. Global warming[edit]“”Well, that's because there's no such thing as climate. Right? "Climate" and "everything" are the same word, and that's what bothers me about the climate change types. It's like, this is something that bothers me about it, technically. It's like, climate is about everything. Okay. But your models aren't based on everything. Your models are based on a set number of variables. So that means you've reduced the variables, which are everything, to that set. Well how did you decide which set of variables to include in the equation, if it's about everything? That's not just a criticism, that's like, if it's about everything, your models aren't right. Because your models do not and cannot model everything. —Jordan Peterson, science and scientific models understander“”The climate models can predict the past. Just like models of the stock market. I defy these "modellers" to predict one stock accurately for one year and to bet their own money on the outcome. And one stock is a lot less complex than "climate" particularly out a century. —Because if you study climate for decades, then surely you can lend your expertise to the totally unrelated field of stock predictions.“”He's [Bjørn Lomborg] casually called a "climate change denier," for example, which is an appallingly treacherous term of criticism, used to denigrate someone personally by associating them with Holocaust deniers. The ethics of anyone who employs it should be instantly questioned. —Jordan Peterson“”The "unlikely" part makes it thoroughly reassuring. So it'll only cost my right to teach (as opposed to biology denier Dr. Nicholas Matte). —Jordan Peterson“”Human emissions of carbon dioxide have saved life on Earth from inevitable starvation & extinction due to CO2 [sic] —Jordan Peterson, quoting, without properly putting quotes or at least specifying it's a quote, from a denialist articlePeterson retweeted global warming deniers including Anthony Watts, Bjorn Lomborg, Richard Lindzen, and the Daily Mail. Peterson claims that his retweets aren't endorsements, but it is irresponsible for him to share climate change denial links without critical examination or without critical commentary (climate change denial is complete rank pseudoscience), especially when his conservative audience is highly receptive to climate change denial. Even if his retweets aren't necessarily promoting pseudoscience, Peterson's regular tweets downplay global warming, consistent with his retweets. For example, one of his tweets links to a blog called "NoTricksZone" (a reference to the "trick" word in Climategate): "So it turns out that it was scientists who were sensitive to atmospheric CO2 level increases?" On occasion, he supports the "global cooling" as well as the "carbon-dioxide-is-good-for-plants" talking points. This kind of self-contradicting vagueness that results from his denying that retweets are endorsements yet the regular tweeting's suggesting endorsements is another example of the obtuse manner Peterson presents his views. Drugs and the supernatural[edit]In a conversation with atheist Matt Dillahunty that discussed religion and magic mushrooms, Peterson claimed that one cannot quit smoking without divine help and implied that mystical experiences may point to (but are not direct evidence of) the existence of God. A transcript of the conversation in question is provided:
The study Peterson seemed to be referencing had a sample size of 12 people. However, it is common when testing dangerous drugs to limit sample size — for example, Vollenweider et al.'s 1998 examination of schizophrenia and psilocybin had just 25 people. Meat only diet[edit]“”I eat beef and salt and water. That’s it. And I never cheat. Ever. Not even a little bit. —Jordan Peterson in 2018You too can be featured in a bootleg book cover (created not by you, but some incompetent fanboy) as inexplicably smaller, poorly cropped, and suffering from poor camera exposure from pursuing a meat-only diet. — depressing, isn't it? In 2016, Peterson embraced a heavy meat diet mixed with green vegetables. In 2018, he cut out the greens and now only eats meat. Peterson's daughter Mikhaila is a proponent of the pseudoscientific meat only diet, and Peterson has claimed benefits from it. On this diet, they eat only beef, salt and drink water, even omitting medication. Medical experts condemn the diet (as well as stopping medication) as dangerous. It lacks critical nutrients, which could have devastating health effects. There are also adverse ecological effects, as harvesting beef requires mammoth resources. Peterson claims the diet has eliminated the symptoms of "His lifelong depression, anxiety, gastric reflux (and associated snoring), inability to wake up in the mornings, psoriasis, gingivitis, floaters in his right eye, numbness on the sides of his legs, problems with mood regulation." There is no scientific evidence for any of these claims. In 2021, Peterson revealed that he is still unhappy, and that his life's "been stressful beyond comprehension" since publicly revealing his controversial ideas in 2016 — perhaps he should try giving up public speaking? He also has stated that after adopting the diet, his body is more susceptible to changes. For example, merely deviating by drinking some apple cider "produced an overwhelming sense of impending doom", possibly caused an inflammatory response, and deprived him of sleep for 25 consecutive days. Asked how this is possible, he replied, "I'll tell you how it's possible: You lay in bed frozen in something approximating terror for eight hours. And then you get up." Poor guy. When Meaterson was directly asked if he would recommend the diet, he said no despite having fans that contacted him, claiming that following Mikhaila's diet made them lose weight. Lobsters and hierarchy[edit]“”Peterson is at his murkiest when he is talking about nature. Half the time he seems to be committing the naturalistic fallacy: he'll describe tendencies that exist, and imply that these things are therefore good. So he'll talk about dominance hierarchies among lobsters, and exhort young men to "Look for your inspiration to the victorious lobster." Of course, the animal kingdom is also a place of mutual aid, and for a man to emulate a lobster is like a woman treating the existence of the praying mantis as a license to eat her husband. —Nathan J. RobinsonIn January 2018, during an interview with British journalist Cathy Newman to promote his self-help book, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, Peterson argued that hierarchies are not a social construct, but biological to some extent. To prove his point, Peterson infamously compared humans' tendency to form social hierarchies to lobsters, which display "hierarchical" behavior in that the biggest lobsters fight off other smaller lobsters when it comes to food and mates. He also asserted that lobsters' nervous systems respond to serotonin in a similar manner as humans, which actually is true to some extent. Dr. Peterson is not a marine biologist. "No biologist would argue with Peterson that dominance hierarchies have probably existed for a long time, but it's also true that plenty of animals live together without the need to assert dominance over one another." Jungian psychology and the origins of his worldview[edit]Peterson's worldview has been most influenced by psychologist Carl Jung, philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and Soviet dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, perhaps most so by Jung since Jung was a pioneer in Peterson's chosen field of psychology. Peterson's inspiration by Jung can be seen in his use of pseudopsychological use of archetypes, myths, collective unconscious, and synchronicity. Peterson's peculiar claims that he is a Christian (favoring the Eastern Orthodox Church) and an atheist can be traced back to his being influenced by Solzhenitsyn (an Orthodox Christian) and Nietzsche (an atheist). Collective unconscious[edit]Peterson uses speculative Jungian constructs such as mythical archetypes and the "collective unconscious" in his books and lectures. The "collective consciousness" asserts that all humans have an "unconscious mind" which is derived from ancestral memory that is common to all humankind. The idea of the unconscious mind is one of the oldest ideas in the field of psychology and is still generally in use. For example, Jung's view on mythology holds that similarities in myths and narratives across cultures are something that "strongly points to an underlying commonality of structure and purpose" — i.e., that all mythologies come from a shared subconscious experience.:92 Synchronicity[edit]Carl Jung also developed the principle of "synchronicity", which purports that apparently meaningful coincidences may have a deeper psychological interpretation even when there is no apparent causal link. Jung proposed synchronicity has a possible connection with alleged ESP phenomena, and it is often misidentified as paranormal pseudoscience. In Jungian theory, astrology, the I Ching, and paranormal events are all products of synchronicity. It is the causal psychological principle from which they originate. As a Jungian, Peterson has repeatedly cited synchronicity to explain coincidences that he notices, including the apparent likeness between Pepe the Frog and Kek, the Frog-headed ancient Egyptian deity. While it's unclear if this was in jest, Peterson has made a few other paranormal claims (see above section ). Religion[edit]Peterson explaining that atheism causes hair loss “”[Question:] Why do you not explicitly endorse Christianity? Peterson presents himself as a cultural Christian who believes that atheism leads to meaningless societies. For example, in a 2011 debate with various atheists, Peterson argued that Stalin's atheism and alleged pessimistic outlook motivated his mass-murders:
In 2013, Peterson supported presuppositionalism, by using one of the worst syllogisms ever.
In 2013, among his 32 answers to the question, "If you could write a rule book for being a man, what 'man law' would you write," Peterson included the following dictates:
In 2016, Peterson supported a link between atheism and the decline of meaningful lives:
In 2017, Peterson reiterated this idea:
In 2017, Peterson described the "Kingdom of God" as a goal to reach in a poem titled "Wisdom":
In 2017, Peterson described music as filling the spiritual void in atheistic society:
In 2018, Peterson asserted that he was now an unbeliever, but supported Pascal's Wager:
In 2018, Peterson claimed that Nazism and Marxism were "atheist doctrines":
In short: Peterson appears, for the past decade, to be wholly on board with the idea that religion is essential for a functioning society, sometimes called belief in belief. However, his historical evidence is weak at best or just wrong. Given that fascism has usually been religious in nature and that neither fascism nor communism has been preceded by widespread irreligion. Defamation lawsuits and threats against critics[edit]While Peterson calls himself a free speech lover and is hailed by his supporters as a champion of free speech, he has sued several of his critics for pretty lame reasons. Lindsey Shepherd, a teaching assistant at Wilfrid Laurier University, was reprimanded by her professor, Nathan Rambukkana, for showing a video of Peterson in class. Rambukkana stated that presenting a Peterson video in class was inappropriate, comparing it to presenting a speech by Hitler. Unbeknownst to the professor, the TA was recording the conversation and publicly released the audio of the conversation. Peterson subsequently filed a defamation lawsuit against Wilfred Laurier University. Despite Rambukkana making his remarks on Peterson in private, Peterson's case stated that Rambukkana should have known audio of his comments would have been posted on YouTube and be used to destroy Peterson's reputation. When Wilfrid Laurier University's statement of defense stated that the media exposure of the case actually helped Peterson, Peterson launched a second lawsuit against the University. Since it's okay when Peterson does it, Peterson then compared Wilfrid Laurier to the Nazis, stating that accusing Peterson of gaining from the lawsuit was like saying that "those who survived the Holocaust should be grateful to their oppressors for teaching them survival skills." Peterson additionally threatened to file a defamation lawsuit against Kate Manne, who accused him of misogyny in a critical book review of 12 Rules for Life. Following a negative book review of 12 Rules for Life in the New York Times by Pankaj Mishra, Peterson called Mishra an "arrogant racist son of a bitch" and threatened to "slap" Mishra should they ever meet in person. In 2021, in response to a Twitter poster who mocked Peterson's benzos addiction; Peterson called the poster a "sanctimonious, slandering, arrogant, careless little prick", and said the poster would need a benzos should they meet face to face, implying Peterson wanted to become physically violent. Peterson additionally has authoritarian, censorious views on higher education- he has called his colleagues at University of Toronto's graduate educational institute a "fifth column" who should be "arrested for treason"- by which he means the alleged teaching of Marxism. In response to a post by Justin Trudeau calling for Canadians to get a COVID-19 booster shot, Peterson insulted the Prime Minister and said "You'd have to kill me first." Considering his feeble body and COVID-19 flying around, we don't think the Prime Minister needs to help. Fake quotes[edit]Even during his rare moments of clarity, Peterson says a lot of dumb shit. This doesn't excuse misquoting him, however. Some common examples follow: Rape would be unnecessary[edit]Twitter account "Jordan Peterson or Islamist Cleric?" made a meme with the quote "If women weren't so choosy, then rape would be unnecessary." This misquotes a set of Reddit comments Peterson made in defense of his lecture, Tragedy vs Evil:
In turn, context from the lecture makes it clear that he's making an argument that women are the sexual selectors (rather than males), and claims that the fact that males rape females more often than the reverse is evidence of this:
Real quotes[edit]
Non-expert witness status[edit]Peterson has put himself forward as an expert witness in psychology. Courts aren't so keen on him in child-related cases, chiefly because he is not a child psychologist and has no experience in custody management (if you ever wondered why Peterson is so opposed to law as an area of study, although the counter-argument could be that Peterson worked in a large law firm in Toronto for 15 years during the 2000s into the 2010s.) In Sordi v. Sordi, 2009 CanLII 80104 (ON SC), the whole document is clear and worth reading, but Justice D. Roger Timms, though not a psychologist himself, notes in particular:
In R. v. Pearce (M.L.), 2014 MBCA 70 (CanLII), Peterson failed to sell the court (Justices Barbara M. Hamilton, Marc M. Monnin and Christopher J. Mainella) on his "Unfakeable Big Five" personality test as a forensic tool — "The appellant proposed to call two psychologists (Drs. Jordan B. Peterson and Timothy E. Moore) as expert witnesses to support his false confession defence": [88] The situation here is even more remote. It is difficult to see how Dr. Peterson's technique of assessing the personality of a person for his private consulting business satisfies the Daubert factors to make it admissible for a forensic purpose. Dr. Peterson provided no evidence that his technique of personality assessment has been properly tested for the purpose it is being used for here, detecting when an agreeable person may falsely confess to the police. All Dr. Peterson could say is he hired university students to try and fake the personality assessment and they couldn't do it. That is not scientific validation. There has been no peer review of the technique of the Unfakeable Big Five. Dr. Peterson provided no rate of error or accepted deviations. In fact, he claimed, without any proof, that his assessment tool cannot be deceived while other personality assessment techniques can be. Finally, there is no evidence that the Unfakeable Big Five is generally accepted as a forensic tool. It was designed and is used for Dr. Peterson's private consulting clients to hire employees. [90] While not necessary to decide this appeal, I would close discussion of the judge's ruling on Dr. Peterson's proposed expert evidence by expressing concern about the decision to attempt to proffer Dr. Peterson as an expert witness on areas that he was clearly not qualified as he had no background whatsoever regarding police interrogations. This decision unnecessarily complicated and delayed this trial and is proof positive of the concern expressed in D.D. (at para. 56) of the detrimental impact on the justice system of attempting to use dubious expert opinion. Stopped Clock[edit]In a stopped clock moment, Peterson says in an interview with Dave Rubin that he opposes the death penalty. He says he doesn’t want to give the state the power to kill people, and he mentions the cost and complexity of death penalty cases in the United States. See also[edit]By Peterson[edit]On Peterson[edit]Further reading[edit]
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