Monthly Archives: September 2012

Science Utopia (Continued): Methods Integrity Workshop – Michael Kraus (Psych Your Mind)

Posted on September 30, 2012 by | Comments Off on Science Utopia (Continued): Methods Integrity Workshop – Michael Kraus (Psych Your Mind)
"Winter is coming." --Ned Stark/Greg Francis
On Friday afternoon I attended a seminar in methods integrity in research (here). The speakers were Hal Pashler of UC San Diego and Greg Francis of Purdue University. In the seminar, the speakers raised a number of interesting points that I think add to last week's post on PYM about questionable research practices (here). I'll summarize the main points that I took from the seminar:

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A Pottery Barn rule for scientific journals – Sanjay Srivastava (The Hardest Science)

Posted on September 27, 2012 by | Comments Off on A Pottery Barn rule for scientific journals – Sanjay Srivastava (The Hardest Science)

Proposed: Once a journal has published a study, it becomes responsible for publishing direct replications of that study. Publication is subject to editorial review of technical merit but is not dependent on outcome. Replications shall be published as brief reports in an online supplement, linked from the electronic version of the original.

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I wrote about this idea a year ago when JPSP refused to publish a paper that failed to replicate one of Daryl Bem’s notorious ESP studies. I discovered, immediately after writing up the blog post, that other people were thinking along similar lines. Since then I have heard versions of the idea come up here and there. And strands of it came up again in David Funder’s post on replication (“[replication] studies should, ideally, be published in the same journal that promulgated the original, misleading conclusion”) and the comments to it. When a lot of people are coming up with similar solutions to a problem, that’s probably a sign of something.

Like a lot of people, I believe that the key to improving our science is through incentives. You can finger-wag about the importance of replication all you want, but if there is nowhere to publish and no benefit for trying, you are not going to change behavior. To a large extent, the incentives for individual researchers are controlled through institutions — established journal publishers, professional societies, granting agencies, etc. So if you want to change researchers’ behavior, target those institutions. Continue reading →

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Uli is Right… – Brent Donnellan (The Trait-State Continuum)

Posted on September 26, 2012 by | Comments Off on Uli is Right… – Brent Donnellan (The Trait-State Continuum)

The Editor of Emotion does not appear to be interested in seeing the Bargh and Shalev data from Study 1a. I will probably have more to say about that decision once the dust settles and we get some clarification. Now what?

Uli Schimmack suggests that others ask for the data to have a fair hearing for our concerns (see his comment on my previous blog entry). This might be the only option left.  If the field is going to move toward more openness and transparency, I guess it will have to be a grass roots movement. So be it.

The Claim: There is something incredible about the distributions of at least one of the bathing/showering items in Study 1a of Bargh and Shalev (2012). Just seeing the distribution should lead researchers to put an asterisk on that study so it is not included in a future meta-analysis without a big caveat.

What to do:

1. Obtain the raw data. Continue reading →

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Science Utopia: Some Thoughts About Ethics and Publication Bias – Michael Kraus (Psych Your Mind)

Posted on September 24, 2012 by | Comments Off on Science Utopia: Some Thoughts About Ethics and Publication Bias – Michael Kraus (Psych Your Mind)
Science Utopia, next exit
Psychology's integrity in the public eye has been rocked by recent high profile discoveries of data fabrication (here, here, and here) and several independent realizations that psychologists (this is not unique to our field) tend to engage in data analytic practices that allow researchers to find positive results (here, here, and here). While it can be argued that these are not really new realizations (here), the net effect has turned psychologists to the important question: How do we reform our science?

It's a hard question to answer in one empirical article, or one blog post, and so that's not the focus here. Instead, what I'd like to do is simply point out what I think are the most promising changes that we, as a science, can adopt right now to move toward a solution that will help prevent future data fabrication or the use of biased hypothesis tests. These are not my ideas mind you, rather, they are ideas brought up in the many discussions of research reform (online and in person) that I have had formally and informally with my colleagues. Where possible, I link to the relevant sources for additional information.

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The Politics of Dreaming – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)

Posted on September 23, 2012 by | Comments Off on The Politics of Dreaming – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)
Dreaming and a person’s political orientation are connected. Liberals tend to recall their dreams more frequently than conservatives. Additionally, conservatives tend to report more mundane dream content, whereas liberals have more bizarre dreams. Differences in openness to experience may explain these findings. Liberals may be more imaginative than conservatives.

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What’s the First Rule about John Bargh’s Data? – Brent Donnellan (The Trait-State Continuum)

Posted on September 20, 2012 by | Comments Off on What’s the First Rule about John Bargh’s Data? – Brent Donnellan (The Trait-State Continuum)

Answer: You do not talk about John Bargh’s data.

I went on hiatus with back to school events and letter of recommendation writing.  However, I think this is a good story that raises lots of issues. I need to say upfront that these opinions are mine and do not necessarily reflect anyone else’s views. I might also be making a big enemy with this post, but I probably already have a few of those out there. To quote the Dark Knight: I’m not afraid, I’m angry.

Background: Bargh and Shalev (2012) published an article in Emotion where they predicted that trait loneliness would be “positively associated with the frequency, duration, and preferred water temperatures” of showers and baths (p. 156). The correlation between self-reported loneliness and self-reported “physical warmth extraction” from baths/showers was .57 in Study 1a (51 undergrads) and .37 in Study 1b (41 community members). This package received media attention and was discussed in a Psychology Today blog post with the title: “Feeling lonely? Take a warm bath. Continue reading →

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What Do Letters of Recommendation Reveal About Gender Bias? – Amie Gordon (Psych Your Mind)

Posted on September 17, 2012 by | Comments Off on What Do Letters of Recommendation Reveal About Gender Bias? – Amie Gordon (Psych Your Mind)
Source
Over the past month I have been putting together materials to apply for professorships. Much like applying to college or graduate school, applying to jobs means updating your curriculum vitae, putting together statements summarizing your research and teaching experience, and gathering letters of recommendation to send out to hiring schools, all in time for a fall deadline that is fast approaching (gulp). This process is a bit stressful and comes with many questions and concerns (What type of school do I want to work at? Am I good enough? What am I going to do if I don’t get any interviews? What am I going to do if I DO get interviews?). One question that had never crossed my mind was “Might I be at a disadvantage because of my gender?” But then I read an article on gender differences in letters of recommendation in academia, and suddenly it was a salient question.

Growing up, being female never felt like a disadvantage. Both of my parents worked and maintained the household, I didn’t have any brothers to create comparisons, and I was in classes with smart motivated students of both genders. The year I entered college was the first year that there were more females in college than males. Gender comparisons just weren’t part of my everyday experience. To be honest, I had little awareness that there could be any type of glass ceiling for me because of my gender. What does any of this have to do with applying for jobs? Continue reading →

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Semen an Antidepressant? Think Again – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)

Posted on September 12, 2012 by | Comments Off on Semen an Antidepressant? Think Again – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)

Recent articles in The Daily Mail and The Sun have reiterated outlandish and far-fetched claims about the health benefits for women of semen. These claim are actually based on a decade-old study that made the extraordinarily bold claim that semen has an antidepressant effect in women (Gallup, Burch, & Platek, 2002).

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Emotional Intelligence not relevant to psychopaths – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)

Posted on September 10, 2012 by | Comments Off on Emotional Intelligence not relevant to psychopaths – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)

Psychopathy is a well-known personality disorder characterised by callousness, shallow emotions, and willingness to manipulate other people for selfish ends (Hare, 1999). Emotional deficits seem to be a core feature of psychopathy.

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Opening the Mind: Where Skepticism and Superstition Meet – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)

Posted on September 6, 2012 by | Comments Off on Opening the Mind: Where Skepticism and Superstition Meet – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)
Perhaps paradoxically, openness to experience is associated with less conventional religious belief but also more paranormal belief. Higher openness can be experimentally induced. The effects of this on supernatural beliefs have not been tested.

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