Psychological Science Under Scrutiny: Recent Challenges and Proposed Solutions

In recent years, the prevailing view of psychology as a progressive science characterized by objective and replicable findings has been called into question, with some scholars arguing that the discipline s conclusions may be less trustworthy than had been presumed. Psychological Science Under Scrutiny explores a wide range of these contemporary challenges to psychology s assumptions and methodologies, and considers the advantages and disadvantages of various proposed remedies. In doing so, it aims to stimulate constructive debate around how the reliability of psychological research can be enhanced in order to ground the discipline more firmly in solid science. 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. The chapters are authored by internationally recognized experts, and written with a minimum of specialized terminology in order to ensure accessibility to students and lay readers. 

Introduction: Psychological Science Under Scrutiny: Recent Challenges and Proposed Remedies
Scott O. Lilienfeld and Irwin D. Waldman

Part I: Cross–cutting Challenges to Psychological Science

Chapter 1: Maximizing the Reproducibility of Your Research. Open Science Collaboration

Chapter 2: Powering Reproducible Research
Katherine S. Button and Marcus R. Munafò

Chapter 3: Psychological Science s Aversion to the Null and Why Many of the Things You Think Are True, Aren t
Christopher J. Ferguson and Moritz Heene

Chapter 4: False Negatives
Klaus Fiedler and Malte Schott

Chapter 5: Toward Transparent Reporting of Psychological Science
Etienne P. LeBel and Leslie K. John

Chapter 6: Decline effects: Types, mechanisms, and personal reflections
John Protzko and Jonathan W. Schooler

Chapter 7: Reverse Inference
Joachim I. Krueger

Chapter 8: The Need for Bayesian Hypothesis Testing in Psychological Science
Eric–Jan Wagenmakers, Josine Verhagen, Alexander Ly, Dora Matzke,  Helen Steingroever, Jeff N. Rouder, and Richard Morey

Part II: Domain–specific Challenges to Psychological Science

Chapter 9: The (Partial but) Real Crisis in Social Psychology: A Social Influence Analysis of the Causes and Solutions
Anthony R. Pratkanis

Chapter 10: Popularity as a Poor Proxy for Utility: The Case of Implicit Prejudice
Gregory Mitchell and Philip E. Tetlock

Chapter 11: Suspiciously high correlations in brain imaging research
Edward Vul and Harold Pashler

Chapter 12: Critical Issues in Genetic Association Studies
Elizabeth Prom–Wormley, Amy Adkins, Irwin D. Waldman, Danielle Dick

Chapter 13: Is the Efficacy of Antidepressant Medications Overrated?
Brett J. Deacon and Glen I. Spielmans

Chapter 14: Pitfalls in Parapsychological Research
Ray Hyman

Part III: Psychological and Institutional Obstacles to High Quality Psychological  Science

Chapter 15: Blind analysis as a correction for confirmatory bias in physics and psychology
Robert J. MacCoun and Saul Perlmutter

Chapter 16: Allegiance Effects in Clinical Psychology Research and Practice
Marcus T. Boccaccini. David Marcus, and Daniel C. Murrie

Chapter 17: We Can Do Better than Fads
Robert J. Sternberg

Afterword: Paul Bloom

Scott O. Lilienfeld is Professor of Psychology at Emory University. His principal areas of research are personality disorders, psychiatric classification and diagnosis, pseudoscience in mental health, and the teaching of psychology. He is the author or co–author of numerous publications including 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology (Wiley, 2009), and is co–editor of the Encyclopedia of Clinical Psychology (Wiley, 2015). 

Irwin D. Waldman is Professor of Psychology at Emory University. His research centers on the classification, development, and etiology of children s psychiatric disorders and behavior problems, social behavior and social cognition, and temperament and personality. He is the author of numerous articles within leading journals in the field, and is an Associate Editor of the journal Behavioral Genetics.