Friday, September 14, 2018

Reforming Psychology: We're Not Going to Burn it Down!

This post is merely a placeholder for something I want to spend some time discussing with those of you who come here later. There has been a spirited discussion on Twitter and Facebook regarding a recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education (hopefully this link will get you behind its paywall - if not, my apologies in advance). For the time being I will state that although I have not yet attended a SIPS conference (something I will make certain to correct in the near future), my impression of SIPS is a bit different than what is characterized in the article. I get the impression that these are essentially reformers, something that is increasingly near and dear to me, who want to take tangible actions to improve the work we do. I also get the impression that in general these are folks who largely share some things I value:

1. An interest in fostering a psychological science that is open, cooperative, supportive, and forgiving.

2. An interest in viewing our work as researchers and reformers as a set of tangible behaviors.

I've blogged before about the replication crisis. My views on what has emerged from the fallout have certainly evolved. It is very obvious that there are some serious problems, especially in my own specialty area (generally social psychology, and more specifically in the area of aggression research), and that those serious problems need to be addressed. Those problems are ones that are fixable. There is no need to burn down anything.

I'll have more to say in a bit.

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