Dr. Lappas and Nicholas Coyne ’22 Publish in European Journal of Health Psychology

Dr. Courtney Lappas, professor of biology, and Nicholas Coyne ’22 (biology) published “Do Physicians Prefer Natural Drugs? The Natural Versus Synthetic Drug Bias in Physicians” in the European Journal of Health Psychology with two professional colleagues. The study demonstrates that physicians and non-physicians exhibit a bias for natural versus synthetic drugs, with physicians also demonstrating a bias for prescribing natural drugs. However, this bias is reduced in physicians compared to non-physicians when a “no preference” option is available, suggesting that advanced medical and/or scientific training may be beneficial in minimizing this naturalness bias.