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An accelerating crisis: Metascience is out-reproducing psychological science

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2022

Patrick D. Watson Open the ORCID record for Patrick D. Watson [Opens in a new window]
Patrick D. Watson*
Affiliation:
Minerva Schools at the Keck Graduate Institute, San Francisco, CA94103, USA. pwatson@minerva.kgi.edu; https://www.patrickdkwatson.com/
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Abstract

Scientific claims are selected in part for their ability to survive. Scientists can pursue an r-strategy of broad, easy-to-spread ideas, or a K-strategy of stress-tested, bulletproof statements. The “generalizability crisis” is an exquisite mutation that allows dull, K-strategic methodology articles to spread nearly as quickly as the fast-breeding, r-strategic memes of pop-psychology.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 45 , 2022 , e36
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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