The+Pickle+Fallacy*

Consider the following:
A woman suffering from headaches eats a dill pickle, and the headache goes away. The next time she has a headache, she eats another, and again the headache goes away. She keeps a jar of pickles in the fridge and eats one whenever she feels a headache coming on, always with the same results. She tells others, and several of them report that it works for them, too. After reading about pickles, she starts telling people that the reason that pickles work is that they are acidic, and they help balance the body’s pH. She starts a company that advises people about how to manage their health by using acidic and basic foods to manage the body’s pH, based on her discoveries.

Answer the following questions:
‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍At what point is the woman's reasoning no longer logically sound?‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍What should she do if she wants her claims to be firmly grounded in science?‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍

Bonus
(10 points) Many real-life companies and groups are founded because of a coincidental discovery, which then becomes part of the company folklore. Find a company with a similar origin and write an academic paragraphcomparing it to this fictional account. Has any attempt been made to properly verify the claims? Make sure to meet the basic requirements for an academic essay. Submit your paragraph in the discussion below.

=References:= For more about Scientific Method see Chapter 1 (both HGD and Gen Psych) See also Barrett's Laws Start a discussion by clicking at the top of the page. Click on a subject below to see what people are saying and join a discussion. ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍include component="comments" page="The Pickle Fallacy*" limit="10"