Study Reveals That a Lot of Psychology Research Really Is Just ‘Psycho-Babble’

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Psychlogy-GettyPsychology has long been the butt of jokes about its deep insight into the human mind – especially from the “hard” sciences such as physics – and now a study has revealed that much of its published research really is psycho-babble.

More than half of the findings from 100 different studies published in leading, peer-reviewed psychology journals cannot be reproduced by other researchers who followed the same methodological protocol.

A study by more than 270 researchers from around the world has found that just 39 per cent of the claims made in psychology papers published in three prominent journals could be reproduced unambiguously – and even then they were found to be less significant statistically than the original findings.

The non-reproducible research includes studies into what factors influence men’s and women’s choice of romantic partners, whether peoples’ ability to identify an object is slowed down if it is wrongly labelled, and whether people show any racial bias when asked to identify different kinds of weapons.

The researchers who carried out the work, published in the journal Science, said that reproducibility is the essence of the scientific method and more must be done to ensure that what is published can be replicated by other researchers. (Read more from “Study Reveals That a Lot of Psychology Research Really Is Just ‘Psycho-Babble'” HERE)

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Shocking Hire: Accused Pedophile Rocks School System

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pervertsuperHe was slated to be second-in-command at Albuquerque Public Schools, but Timothy Martinez is instead started the year as a fugitive on the run from police in two states before being captured Wednesday after he was revealed to be facing multiple outstanding child sex abuse charges in Colorado.

Martinez, 50, was hired in June as the district’s $163,000-per-year deputy superintendent under the name Jason Martinez, but quit on Aug. 20, citing personal reasons. But the real reason for his abrupt resignation, which came after weeks of Martinez dodging fingerprinting and background checks for the new job, was likely the knowledge Colorado authorities were closing in on him. Martinez was free on bond but not allowed to leave Colorado, where he faced charges in Denver of sexual contact with a boy under 15 in 2012 and 2013, incidents authorities say were part of a “pattern of sexual abuse” . . .

The Denver District Attorney’s Office confirmed to Fox News on Wednesday that Timothy Jason Martinez was arrested in Denver around 10:30 a.m. local time by the Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force. He is currently being held without bond in the Denver Detention Center, and is scheduled to appear in court Thursday morning.

The question remaining in Albuquerque is how a predator landed a job in the 95,000-pupil district.

“There is simply no explanation for exposing any of our children to an individual who has any violent or sexual criminal charges in his background,” said New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas, who announced Monday his office will look into why Albuquerque Public Schools’ safety protocols were bypassed so that Martinez was hired before a background check was completed. (Read more from “Shocking Hire: Accused Pedophile Rocks School System” HERE)

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Obama Punishing This State for De-Funding Planned Parenthood by Cutting off Its Medicaid Funding

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barackobama33The Obama administration has punished the state of Kansas for cutting taxpayer funds for the Planned Parenthood abortion business by cutting its federal Medicaid funding by the same amount. The moves comes at the same time the abortion giant is facing intense criticism over its sales of aborted babies and their body parts.

In 2011, pro-life Governor Sam Brownback signed a bill signed into law a bill that would shift funding away from the Planned Parenthood abortion business and stops abortion funding in health insurance programs. The Kansas Senate passed the measure on a 28-10 vote and the state House followed suit with an 86-30 vote.

The measure has the state budget directing over $300,000 in Title 10 money to local full-service health clinics instead of Planed Parenthood and it places $300,000 into the Stan Clark grant-matched fund for pregnancy support and adoption counseling.

The funding cuts eventually resulted in the Planned Parenthood abortion business closing one of its centers.

Now, the Obama administration, in the wake of additional states cutting Planned Parenthood funding following the massive scandal, is going after one state that already cut tax-funding to the abortion company. According to an AP report: “The federal government reduced its Title X funding to the state by about the $370,000 annually in Title X money that two Planned Parenthood facilities in Wichita and Hays and an unaffiliated clinic in Dodge City had been receiving.” (Read more from “Obama Punishing This State for De-Funding Planned Parenthood by Cutting off Its Medicaid Funding” HERE)

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Former Devoted Scientology Member Claims She Was Forced to Have an Abortion by Sub-Group [+video]

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Inside-Scientology-and-Escaping-the-Witnesses-2A woman who was a member of the Church of Scientology for 20 years says she was forced to have an abortion.

In the Channel 5 documentary, Inside Scientology and Escaping the Witness, Samantha Domingo claims when she fell pregnant she wasn’t given any other option.

Speaking to the cameras she says: “It felt like I’d committed the ultimate sin. The next thing that came was ‘what is the greatest good for the greatest number of dynamics?’ . . .

As well as being a member of the Church, Sam was a member of the Sea Organisation based at Saint Hill Manor in the UK, a group within Scientology for the most devoted members.

Sea Org members are not allowed to have young children and are required to leave but are still allowed to remain a member of the Church of Scientology itself, and can return when the child is of age. (Read more from “Former Devoted Scientology Member Claims She Was Forced to Have an Abortion by Sub-Group” HERE)

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9/11 ‘Dust Lady’ Marcy Borders Dies From Cancer Aged 42

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marcy-borders-covered-in-dust-pic-getty-images-472951149A woman whose picture became one of the iconic images of the 9/11 terror attacks, leading her to be known simply as the “Dust Lady”, has died from cancer.

Marcy Borders passed away on Monday after a year long battle against the disease.

The 42-year-old mother-of-two was pictured covered head-to-toe in thick dust after being caught up in the collapse of the Twin Towers.

Up until her death she always questioned whether her illness was related to what she endured.

“I’m saying to myself ‘Did this thing ignite cancer cells in me?” she once said. (Read more from “9/11 ‘Dust Lady’ Marcy Borders Dies From Cancer Aged 42” HERE)

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Brainy Star of Big Bang Theory Blows the Whistle on Hollywood Liberals

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mayim-arianaThe woman who stars in one of television’s most popular sitcoms is a working mom with a Ph.D., and zero respect for Hollywood’s treatment of religious beliefs.

Actress Mayim Bialik — who plays Amy Farrah Fowler on “The Big Bang Theory” and starred as a teenager in the NBC sitcom “Blossom” – told Fox 411 last week that the entertainment business is not so inviting for believers.

Bialik, 39, who is Jewish, said she doesn’t like “the bureaucracy of organized religion,” but she does believe in a “power greater than” herself.

“I have an unwavering faith in a power greater than myself and I don’t think that will change any more than my belief in gravity will change,” she stated. “In terms of observance, my social media shuts down for [the Sabbath] and sometimes we go to synagogue, sometimes we stay at home and we do [Sabbath dinners]…I believe in [Jewish law] but I also believe in the permeability and changeability in the structure of Jewish law and I think Judaism has always adjusted to the times that it lived in and it’s adjusting in the time we are in now.”

”I think in general it’s never going to be trendy to be observant or religious in Hollywood circles,” she said. (Read more from “Brainy Star of Big Bang Theory Blows the Whistle on Hollywood Liberals” HERE)

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Michelle Obama’s Lunch Rules Have Cost Cafeteria Worker Jobs

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ti0155721Hundreds of school districts in the country have made layoffs and reduced hours for cafeteria workers due to First Lady Michelle Obama’s lunch rules, a new survey has found.

Participation in the school lunch program is down, food waste is up, and 80 percent of districts have taken steps to offset financial losses as a result of the healthy rules, according to a survey released Tuesday of more than 1,000 school districts by the Student Nutritional Association (SNA) . . .

More than half (57.7 percent) of school districts said participation in the school lunch program “somewhat” or “significantly” declined since the standards went into effect in 2012, and the vast majority of schools are having trouble financially.

“Despite efforts to promote healthier choices, there is clear consensus with regard to the impact of federal nutrition standards for meals and snacks: nearly seven of every 10 respondents say that the standards have been harmful to their program’s financial health since inception of the standards in 2012,” the SNA said. “Fewer than 3 percent report a benefit to their program’s financial heath from the standards, with the balance reporting either no impact or are unsure.”

As a result of the rules, districts have had to make layoffs and reduce hours for foodservice employees. (Read more from “Michelle Obama’s Lunch Rules Have Cost Cafeteria Worker Jobs” HERE)

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Baby Gabriel Only Lived 10 Days After Birth, but His Life Proves Every Child Is Precious

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babygabrielI talked the talk. Every life is a gift, and worthy of defense. We are not promised a particular quality of life, or a number of days that we will get to live. We are only promised that our lives are God-given and their length, their demise, is not for us to determine. These are truths that I have espoused since the days I felt myself called to be an active part of the pro-life movement.

Then one day I was asked to walk the walk. In a cold, sterile ultrasound room a doctor – Not even my doctor, but some stand-in – shattered the world that I knew when she told me my child, gender then unknown, had a condition that she described as “incompatible with life.” My mother cried, my ex-husband held my hand in stoic silence, and my mind raced to try to keep up with what the doctor was saying. My child, the 21 week old fetus whom I would come to know as my son, had anencephaly. If he were born alive, he would die shortly thereafter . . .

Gabriel Michael Gerard Cude was born on June 10, 2011. His name, Gabriel, was chosen for its symbolism. Of course, Gabriel is the archangel known as the messenger angel who delivered the news of the impending birth of the Savior of Man. Since his diagnosis, Gabriel represented a message that I could only speak, but that he was living: Every life matters. Gabriel means “God is my strength,” and I know that when I was weak, it was God who carried me . . .

For ten days Gabriel clung to this world. On that tenth day, through tears my ex-husband and I told our son we loved him, that he had given us more than we could have asked for, and that we knew it was time for him to go. In our arms, Gabriel took his last breath. We washed and dressed and held his lifeless body until the funeral home’s representative appeared to take our son away. His tiny body was respectfully placed in a car and we watched as it backed out of our driveway and disappeared at the end of the street . . .

I have since remarried, and so has Gabriel’s father. We each have little girls now with our respective spouses. Life is good – beyond good. Life is better than I ever thought it could be when I was in my moments of despair. That nurse was right. We were three of the luckiest people she’d ever have the chance to meet, though happiness hasn’t looked like I expected. Happiness looks like my husband, and my beautiful little girl Eden, and the knowledge that Gabriel’s father may have found the same thing with someone else, on the other side of the country. We are only promised life, not days, not outcomes, not ease, and not happiness. We chose to make the most out of what was promised. We chose life. (Read more from “Baby Gabriel Only Lived 10 Days After Birth, but His Life Proves Every Child Is Precious” HERE)

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Duke Freshmen Refuse to Read Fun Home, Citing Christian Beliefs

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BBm3ps9Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home is one of the most acclaimed graphic novels of the decade, so it’s no great surprise that Duke University chose it as one of the summer reading selections for its incoming freshman class. But the selection has also sparked controversy among some students who have refused to read Fun Home, citing personal religious and moral beliefs.

The Duke Chronicle profiled a number of students who objected to being asked to read Fun Home, which depicts Bechdel’s experience coming out as a lesbian, as well as her father’s own closeted homosexuality. “I feel as if I would have to compromise my personal Christian moral beliefs to read it,” wrote freshman Brian Grasso in a much-discussed Facebook post. (Read more from “Duke Freshmen Refuse to Read Fun Home, Citing Christian Beliefs” HERE)

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See This Heartwarming Photo of Boy Helping Girl at School That Has Gone Viral

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Worlds Tallest Chess PieceA photo of a little boy in St. Louis, Missouri, helping a classmate tie her shoe at school went viral.

The boy’s mother originally posted the photo to the St. Louis Language Immersion School Facebook page. It later went viral after Richmond, Virginia, news reporter Karla Redditte shared it on her Facebook page, garnering over 16,000 likes and nearly 7,000 shares.

Photo Credit: Facebook

Photo Credit: Facebook

“This is a picture of little Randy, who is in 1st grade, stopping to help his classmate tie her shoe at the St. Louis Language Immersion School,” Redditte wrote. (Read more from “See This Heartwarming Photo of Boy Helping Girl at School That Has Gone Viral” HERE)

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