In 2015, for instance, the first round of attempts by the “Reproducibility Project” to redo 100 prominent studies got the same results as the original for only one-third. That doesn’t mean what the original researchers reported (that, for example, students learn more effectively if they’re taught in the “learning style” that matches theirs) didn’t really happen. It could simply be that what was true for the participants isn’t true of many, or even most, other people. The replication crisis made me look back over my columns for Mindful to see if I’ve misled you, however inadvertently. So far, I’ve been lucky (and I emphasize lucky: I don’t claim any superior ability to sniff out problematic findings): I was glad to see that I warned against believing the wilder claims about mirror neurons (my June 2014 column), about biophilia (August 2015), and about sex differences in the brain (February 2016). But I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the results I described in neuroeconomics (April 2015) and generosity (August 2016) don’t hold up as well. Scores of claims that have gotten extensive media coverage, and even made their way into textbooks, are questionable. I’ve chosen ones that offer some general lessons for consumers of psychology research:
Research: Not Myths
While many findings in psych studies have turned out to be mythical, a number of cognitive biases—mental shortcuts we use to make quick decisions—have been amply demonstrated. With confirmation bias, we seek data to support what we already believe. Loss aversion points to putting more effort into avoiding losses than making gains. They’re discussed in a popular new book by Michael Lewis: The Undoing Project, which is about two Israeli psychologists whose research on bias broke new ground.
