Psychological Science Under Scrutiny: Recent Challenges and Proposed Solutions

Psychological Science Under Scrutiny explores a range of contemporary challenges to the assumptions and methodologies of psychology, in order to encourage debate and ground the discipline in solid science.  Discusses the pointed challenges posed by critics to the field of psychological research, which have given pause to psychological researchers across a broad spectrum of sub-fields Argues that those conducting psychological research need to fundamentally change the way they think about data and results, in order to ensure that psychology has a firm basis in empirical science Places the recent challenges discussed into a broad historical and conceptual perspective, and considers their implications for the future of psychological methodology and research Challenges discussed include confirmation bias, the effects of grant pressure, false-positive findings, overestimating the efficacy of medications, and high correlations in functional brain imaging Chapters are authored by internationally recognized experts in their fields, and are written with a minimum of specialized terminology to ensure accessibility to students and lay readers

Table of Contents:
List of Contributors vii Introduction: Psychological Science in Perspective x Part I Cross‐Cutting Challenges to Psychological Science 1 1 Maximizing the Reproducibility of Your Research 3 Open Science Collaboration 2 Powering Reproducible Research 22 Katherine S. Button and Marcus R. Munafò 3 Psychological Science’s Aversion to the Null, and Why Many of the Things You Think Are True, Aren’t 34 Moritz Heene and Christopher J. Ferguson 4 False Negatives 53 Klaus Fiedler and Malte Schott 5 Toward Transparent Reporting of Psychological Science 73 Etienne P. LeBel and Leslie K. John 6 Decline Effects: Types, Mechanisms, and Personal Reflections 85 John Protzko and Jonathan W. Schooler 7 Reverse Inference 108 Joachim I. Krueger 8 The Need for Bayesian Hypothesis Testing in Psychological Science 123 Eric‐Jan Wagenmakers, Josine Verhagen, Alexander Ly, Dora Matzke, Helen Steingroever, Jeffrey N. Rouder, and Richard D. Morey Part II Domain‐Specific Challenges to Psychological Science 139 9 The (Partial but) Real Crisis in Social Psychology: A Social Influence Analysis of the Causes and Solutions 141 Anthony R. Pratkanis 10 Popularity as a Poor Proxy for Utility: The Case of Implicit Prejudice 164 Gregory Mitchell and Philip E. Tetlock 11 Suspiciously High Correlations in Brain Imaging Research 196 Edward Vul and Harold Pashler 12 Critical Issues in Genetic Association Studies 221 Elizabeth Prom‐Wormley, Amy Adkins, Irwin D. Waldman, and Danielle Dick 13 Is the Efficacy of “Antidepressant” Medications Overrated? 250 Brett J. Deacon and Glen I. Spielmans 14 Pitfalls in Parapsychological Research 271 Ray Hyman Part III Psychological and Institutional Obstacles to High‐Quality Psychological Science 295 15 Blind Analysis as a Correction for Confirmatory Bias in Physics and in Psychology 297 Robert J. MacCoun and Saul Perlmutter 16 Allegiance Effects in Clinical Psychology Research and Practice 323 Marcus T. Boccaccini, David Marcus, and Daniel C. Murrie 17 We Can Do Better than Fads 340 Robert J. Sternberg Afterword: Crisis? What Crisis? 349 Paul Bloom Index 356