Replication, falsification, and the crisis of confidence in social psychology
The (latest) crisis in confidence in social psychology has generated much heated discussion about the importance of replication, including how such replication should be carried out as well as interpreted by scholars in the field. What does it mean if a replication attempt fails—does it mean that th...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2015-05-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00621/full |
| _version_ | 1818133488057974784 |
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| author | Brian D. Earp David eTrafimow |
| author_facet | Brian D. Earp David eTrafimow |
| author_sort | Brian D. Earp |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The (latest) crisis in confidence in social psychology has generated much heated discussion about the importance of replication, including how such replication should be carried out as well as interpreted by scholars in the field. What does it mean if a replication attempt fails—does it mean that the original results, or the theory that predicted them, have been falsified? And how should failed replications affect our belief in the validity of the original research? In this paper, we consider the replication debate from a historical and philosophical perspective, and provide a conceptual analysis of both replication and falsification as they pertain to this important discussion. Along the way, we introduce a Bayesian framework for assessing failed replications in terms of how they should affect our confidence in purported findings. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T08:53:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-23ceea5a86e8461ab7ba1222b8f4fd0c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T08:53:31Z |
| publishDate | 2015-05-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-23ceea5a86e8461ab7ba1222b8f4fd0c2022-12-22T01:13:56ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782015-05-01610.3389/fpsyg.2015.00621138286Replication, falsification, and the crisis of confidence in social psychologyBrian D. Earp0David eTrafimow1University of OxfordNew Mexico State UniversityThe (latest) crisis in confidence in social psychology has generated much heated discussion about the importance of replication, including how such replication should be carried out as well as interpreted by scholars in the field. What does it mean if a replication attempt fails—does it mean that the original results, or the theory that predicted them, have been falsified? And how should failed replications affect our belief in the validity of the original research? In this paper, we consider the replication debate from a historical and philosophical perspective, and provide a conceptual analysis of both replication and falsification as they pertain to this important discussion. Along the way, we introduce a Bayesian framework for assessing failed replications in terms of how they should affect our confidence in purported findings.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00621/fullPsychology, SocialreplicationPhilosophy of scienceFalsificationcrisis of replicability |
| spellingShingle | Brian D. Earp David eTrafimow Replication, falsification, and the crisis of confidence in social psychology Frontiers in Psychology Psychology, Social replication Philosophy of science Falsification crisis of replicability |
| title | Replication, falsification, and the crisis of confidence in social psychology |
| title_full | Replication, falsification, and the crisis of confidence in social psychology |
| title_fullStr | Replication, falsification, and the crisis of confidence in social psychology |
| title_full_unstemmed | Replication, falsification, and the crisis of confidence in social psychology |
| title_short | Replication, falsification, and the crisis of confidence in social psychology |
| title_sort | replication falsification and the crisis of confidence in social psychology |
| topic | Psychology, Social replication Philosophy of science Falsification crisis of replicability |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00621/full |
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